Dialectical Revival

This week has been another full week. Since the fall I have been developing a new body of work based on the idea of Rhizomatic Foam. Inspired by the idea of rhizome theory in Deleuze and Guattari's classic, A Thousand Plateaus, the image has fed me with countless lines of possible expression. As a maker, I am driven, almost obsessed with the desire to make. As a contemporary artist, I want to participate in the current dialogue and that is strongly conceptual. But, things evolve and art evolves in an amazing and most complex manner making it a very special place to call home.

Last week I had the privilege to participate in a conversation in Chelsea at the Gasser and Grunert Gallery. Artist Alyce Santoro, whose works are on view there through February 16, held a series of talks, no, actual conversations called a Dialectical Revival. As a matriculating student, bona fide PhD candidate, I have been reading my fair share of Hegel. His ideas still compel us because they are so powerful? Perhaps they really touch on a depth of thought that inclines to higher being.

Anyway, it was an exciting afternoon and inspired my week in the studio. I resolved several issues in the Rhizomatic Foam pieces although I still have a ways to go. I bought a box of 1/2 inch foam core and started cutting it up and covering it with fabric. The drawings can then be affixed to the foam core instead of the wall. Hammering nails into walls was a violent act I used 20 years ago in an early work(s) but today I am much less inclined to advocate the destruction of private property, i.e walls––Gallery walls, museum walls or the walls in a collector's home. I think it changes the pieces dramatically to reflect a friendlier me, a friendlier resolution to the issue of how to hang a semi-sculptural drawing/collage.

On another note, yesterday I got my study ready for the new semester. I need to stay focused for the academic work I am engulfed in or I can get really lost. We are reading Heidegger on technology and Neitzche and Junger on Pain this week. I am also making some headway on this semester's paper which will discuss fluid economies vs. static economies and artists whose work I feel reflect a proclivity toward the former. I'll try and post more about that in coming weeks.

So, my goal for 2013 is post something here weekly. Saying that out loud deepens my challenge so forgive me for engaging in such an obvious ploy, but, I think it will help my thinking all around. I hope you will stay tuned. Thanks for reading. :)

Line and Color

Thompson Giroux Gallery
September 17-October 30
Hours: Thursday - Monday: 11-5PM
57 Main Street
Chatham, NY
518.392.3336

Jean Feinburg, Splitsville, 2009, 16" x 10", oil on wood

Jean Feinburg's work is constructed from repurposed wood, possibly from crumbling barn structures or other scarred effigies. She constructs simple configurations that are then carefully painted with muted tones, earthy and calm. Shapes are masked, edges are crisp. There is comfort in the work in spite of the rough hewn materials. These are objects of quiet beauty, well crafted and cared for. The works date from 2002-2011 indicating commitment to a process and style. Feinburg employs very simple and specific modes of conveying a refreshing arithmetic of squares and rectangles. One piece that gives a sense of spiritual essence is "Splitsville" 2009 16" x 10" -- a cross painted on a piece of wood that has a crack down the center. The title belies the shape of the geometric figure on the wood structure. A cross. Iconic and unmistakable.

Emiliy Cheng, Canopy, 2002, 50" x 48"

Emily Cheng is an artist who has embraced the beautiful without apology. Her paintings "Spin" and "Flutter" both from 2005, resemble lengths of fabric tied into a knot and fluttering in the breeze. Their red border serves to differentiate the edge in a striking separation between the object and the ground of the painting. "Canopy" takes the shape of an umbrella and turns it into a mandala, rotating around a ground of arabesques with detailed surprises around the edges of the canvas. Paint drips dry in different directions, suggesting the canvas was worked on in rotation . The texture of the paint is left as evidence of the making. "Protecting Three Graces" is an earlier work, a monotype of layered imagery -- Botticelli's "Primavera" and eastern thangka images with Cheng's own shapes. A curious juxtaposition of Asian and European art history.

David Paulson, Homage to Masson, 2010, 25" x 42", oil on board

David Paulson's painting has the heroic quality of a demonic nature. The visceral work is thickly painted in oils or acrylic and pays homage to modernist artists such as Andre Masson and early Jackson Pollock. Paulson uses paint to build up a surface that emboldens his graphic abstractions and layers color in ways that repel while drawing the viewer in. Painting with such physical quality is difficult to fathom in its purely formal elements. "Startled Figure" 2009 is an emotive, anxious response of the startled figure. A nervous agitation beckons the viewer to reflect on her own irritable volatility. Black scumbling and raw oozing acrylic, hardened and caked on the surface exhibit an organic, primitive quality. Brutish and dark. "Homage to Masson" 2010 is expressive, emoting the pure joy of laying paint down on a surface. An homage to the early surrealist Masson suggests Paulson uses automatic drawing in his work and the composition certainly supports this assumption. Automatic mark making creates a completely non-objective picture in a manner used by the surrealists, but in the hands of Paulson, renders a romantic possibility of immediacy.

Tom Hope, Down to the Waters Edge, 1996, 66" x 46", oil on canvas

Tom Hope's one picture in the show, "Down to the Waters Edge" 1996 is the most narrative piece in the exhibit. Mythic in scope and large, 66" high x 46" wide, the painting seems to evoke a dream. Fishermen surround nets of fish laying in a boat that becomes a stairway leading up to a door where a nude woman floats above them all. Watching men stand a bit back from the fisher men, taking stock, perhaps to bid on the fish or take their cut. The entire picture is floating in the night sky with stars in the background. Much more illustrative than the other works on the show, Hope's work has a surrealistic quality. The dream evokes a mystery and captivates the viewer in its puzzling allure.

Michael Tong, Ben Franklin, 2003, 20" x 14", welded bronze on steel

Michael Tong has several different types of pieces in the show. His works on paper are reminiscent of Chinese landscape painting. "The Big Pink" 2007, 60" x 82" is a watercolor/guache on paper. To begin with, the color itself is a surprise. Pink monochrome sets the stage for the rest of the picture which includes tiny humorous tableau in the distance. Trucks and unexpected figures clamor up the hillside in a quietly anomalous mise en scene amidst the grandeur of this pink mountain scape. "Lakeside" 2007 also calls to mind Chinese landscapes, but again, the quirky inclusion of a modern home on stilts in the water and a two story american cabin complete with brick chimney and motor boats harboring next to their fantasy domiciles leaves one smiling if not outright laughing. Humor is clearly an aspect of this artists intention. His jewelry is also pretty funny. In particular "Ben Franklin" 2003, welded bronze on steel is an impossible golden chain with the symbol of an American hundred dollar bill on it. A wry wink at the golden chain culture.

Laura Sharp Wilson

Screen,2010

Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper mounted on wood

27 ¼ x 26 ¾ inches

Yelling at Strangers, 2010

Acrylic and graphite on Unryu paper mounted on wood, 12 x 12 inches

McKenzie Fine Art

511 West 25th St. NYC

I was fortunate to see this show before it closed on April 30th. Working on a small scale, Wilson's work is very dense and intricate. She applies rice paper to the surface of prepared wooden panels and creates these fantastic worlds of densely patterned string like meanderings. Binding and fencing are recurring themes. There is a beautiful prison stuck here. These are precious works of art with a tortured and meticulously rendered surface that synthesizes multiple decorative elements. These compositions are fascinating to look at. They hold the eye and do not disappoint. Botanical references are insinuated, all of the linear elements seem to bind themselves up in a carefully contained composition just this side of chaos. These little lovelies are obsessive and lyrical in their layered and nearly cacophonous resolve.

Daniel Weiner

I have been meaning to write about Dan Wiener's work for a while and am finally doing so now. I have know Dan for close to 20 years, having met him at the suggestion of Saul Ostrow, my erstwhile studio spy that often suggested relevant artists for me to meet and talk to. Those suggestions have led to winning friendships and lifelong acquaintances. Dan is one of those happy encounters.

I was drawn to Dan's work in the late 80's because of it's high quirk factor. Always on the lookout for work that resonated with my own, I felt a kinship with Dan's unusual visual language, one seemingly drawn from an Ursula Leguin novel or something. His inventive sense of form and otherworldliness is quite fantastic. I love the way he makes works on paper, then sculpture, not as exact replicas of the paintings, but as sisters and brothers. Friends in a small tight knit community. Dan's work has a playful, humorous quality that invites you into his narrative. I feel transported when I look at one of Dan's watercolors. His sculpture makes me smile and sometimes laugh out loud.

See his current show at Lesley Heller in New York City for one more week.

Bart Gulley

Mona Mark and I ventured further afield last week to see a show of work by painter Bart Gulley. The show was held at the Foreman Gallery at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY.

Bart's work is a sophisticated blend of collage and design. He utilizes swathes of color torn or cut and lays them in a random collective of overlapping layers. The outcome hints at architectural thoughts; monumental slabs of colorful substance leaning against structurally impossible lines of contrasting material. Some of the work is raw cardboard and flotsam acquired in vaguely memorable ways, adhered to the surface of each piece with care.

Bart's work is handsome and striking, formal and almost beautiful. It was well worth the trip.

Tinku Gallery

I am leaving shortly for the airport and off to Toronto for my first one person show in 5 years. I will be showing with Tinku Gallery, the brain child of Amrita Chandra, gallerist extraordinaire. I look forward to working with Amrita and am honored to be selected for representation by her gallery. This is a new time for art in the world. I hope to learn as much about its role in the 21st century working with Amrita as I have in all my years in the field. I have written a Manifesto with the title "The Role of Art in the 21st Century". hehe. Can't figure out how to post a PDF here on Blogger though, so that will have to wait until I change to my new WordPress platform, launching soon!!! Stay tuned...

technorati tags: art, Toronto, Tinkugallery, ceramics