there are a lot of wizards and the all-seeing eye, hobbit huts, mystical business and what not. the paintings are arranged in groupings this time and are framed. I was not so into the frames. i know, it seems like i would like all the wizards and such, but i am less into these. there are still some great paintings in this bunch but the subject matter felt a little dead to me. what i like about his work is the oddball, spastic and funny characters and the beautiful (if a touch cheesy) way that he makes paintings. his last show was funny and surprising and audacious and fun to look at. they still are all these things but the whole wizard thing feels a little heavy-handed, you know? and almost too cheesy even for me. YES, I GET IT. stoned out hobbit people and the whole world of imagery accompanying that stuff is pretty goofy and fun but it's too generic. i still liked the show - but was a bit less dazzled. and this applies to some of the paintings too - seemed repetitive - black background, same palette. seeemed a little churned out. maybe i am being too hard on andre. what do i know?
The other surprise hightlight for me was the sterling ruby show at metro pictures. yucky, dripping alchemy. big grafitti/mantra post-apolcalypse stonehenge. it's yucky and big and dumb and compelling. i was surprised by this - that there was a lot to ponder. the framed photos/collages or whatever they are are interesting. they make you reassess what it is you are looking at and why. what are you expecting vs what this object is vs art vs abstraction vs found object/excavation under the highway. there is a looseness to the work that manages to keep my attention because i don't know what to make of it necessarily. urban primitiveness - a reflection of modern man as not at all modern.
Went to see the dana schutz. i liked this show a lot too. my least favorite painting was the big operation thingy. too much, can't focus, don't care. i mean, it's okay but some of the less showy work really hit it. i love the brain painting and the woman on the phone from the back with the gigantic hand. even the nudes with the cut out shapes/black velvet holes are working for me. go and see the show.
it was a good day. i left chelsea thinking about subject matter and imagery in my own stuff. I can't be an abstract artist anymore (not that i ever really was one).
35 comments:
sean landers show = sucks and made me sad. what happened?
i'm grateful for this.
I am glad you liked Dana Schutz, FB. I haven't seen it yet but hear all sorts of controversy. Something tells me I will like it too. The imagery thing. I think about this a lot. Part of me wants to have more. More subject matter. But I like the idea of nothing being jammed full of somethings. Nevermind. I makey no sensey. Your mini-review is inspiring.
I agree about the Schutz show. The big lab (or whatever) painting had a more-than-she-could-chew feel to it, but the others were good. I didn't like the bits of tape pulled off the dance party painting... they seemed like an empty gesture. but I liked the holes. I think the critics are having a reactionary moment against her, which is too bad. She came out of the gate too fast maybe...
You are so right on about the Sterling Ruby show. I couldn't figure out what I liked about it, other than a certain dumbness that i'm interested in at the moment, but your comments really nailed it. There's something about that work that is in the air right now.
yeah, sloth i didn't like the pulled off tape bits that much either - that dance one was less convincing i thought but the holes were strangely good, right? and yeah, the sterling ruby was dumb. I love dumb as long as it's not really, actually dumb - which this was not at all - no what I'm saying?
hey, went to see this wacky movie/performance last night: "brand upon the brain" - pretty cool. john ashberry was the narrator. there was a live string section and foley sound effects team. movie features a lighthouse, orphans, harvesting brain nectar, fleah eating, gender-bending love affair, etc. good stuff. there a re still a few showing left...
mm, i am interested to see what you do with the imagery. maybe make a new one that is jammed up with stuff just to see? but i understand too - that the strength in your work can come from the empty places - the stillness - that is accented by the shifts in scale of mark-making.
i think i tend to use imagery as notation sometimes - like i want to use just enough to clue the viewer in but I'm not so interested in drawing a thing. imagery as shorthand to context?
I liked the sterling ruby very much, but got worked up by my jealousy over the space he must have had access to while making the giant sculpture... how much it cost to produce etc.... I may be jumping the gun, but only the privileged can make that kind of work. It was grand and messy at the same time.
He is lucky is all I mean. And that is good.
He is the son of banks violet and I don't know what other man. but it will come to me.
i think banks violette is harsher than this work - and more of a "style" somehow than this work. but there is definitely some relationship.
he is lucky to have the space/materials to make this work. agreed. the scale is important.
hi. off topic. at my new beige i tend to make stupid mistakes. i don't know how i do it but i do. i just got in trouble again. it's something like having so little to do that then i have no concentration and then i mess up? ugh. punishment corner for me. what am i supposed to say? clearly i am not fit for employment. maybe that is it. time to go homeless. i care - - sort of. now i have to sit and suffer the indignity of not nesting the html in the folder called html. i just messed it up. how ? so stupid.
FB, thanks for the report from the trenches. You make it seem less daunting and more worthwhile. I am going to the forest this week.
I am finding it hard to believ you are making mistakes FB. Very hard to believe.
I wanted to see that movie too--only with Isabella Rosselini narrating.
peeds, chelsea was fun. i went right at noon and no one was out yet. perfect. incognito.
isabella would have been a great narrator - lou reed too. i was imagining their voices instead of mr. ashbery's at times just for fun. he was good though, mr. ash.
peeds, it is true. i can be a careless worker. i always thought i was detail-oriented. not so much i am finding. i guess deep down i really don't care. that is wrong but probably true.
I know what you mean. I do know that I am not detail-oriented, so I just crack a few jokes when I make mistakes...OR I blame it on my 80yr. old boss.
it's tough. i just acknowledge my mistake and stand there silently until i am told, weirdly, "thank you" and dismissed. seriously though, i didn't mean to goof up. there is no explanation. i am like, please, fire me. i don't know. do you want 5 dollars back or 20? jesus.
in my mind i said "do you want to spank me?" but i knew better than to vocalize this. i think they need to find someone else who likes to sit and do nothing all day. not moi.
i am seriously going to start writing short stories.
You should write the stories fb! You sure do have a way with the words.
yes to short stories, fb! The world always needs more good stories.
fb, I am the biggest bumbler at beige... my final act at the office last week was to accidentally print out an entire Quark document when I only really meant to print out 1 page. It was the very end of the day on a Friday, an impatient co-worker was staying late to lock up after me because I am a slow slow slothy, and I printed 30 oversized pages on their expensive color printer, heh.
fb, I suspect that we are unconsciously sabotaging ourselves because we really don't want to be at effing beige.
i got two rejections today...
1. for a studio space thing in ny, one that - honestly - doesn't even look that great.
2. for a $21,000/year gallery coordinator position (1708 gallery) in richmond... a job most recently held by someone directly out of undergrad. not even an interview, and i was hoping for that one.
i am ready to throw myself to the hippoes.
Don't throw yourself to the hippoes Martin. Just leave Richmond post haste. Richmond is bad news and 1708 is ridiculous.
i'm not in richmond. i left in january, after richmond raft shut down.
martin, i just heard about a job opening for a preparer here in NYC. i will email it to you. maybe the hippoes will have to stay hungry.
i have the opening lines for my short story. the character part is easy to think of but what about plot. plot is hard. i can't think of much for these guys to do besides complain. i may have some time later to explore this. i am taking my characters from some people i saw on an animal rescue show on tv combined with boys i went to high school with imaging grown, or something. i might be gross.
"1. for a studio space thing in ny, one that - honestly - doesn't even look that great."
-This is common in NYC. NYC will inspire you, but it is def. a shabby chicness. Unless you have that pile of $ some seem to have.
plot is an overrated device fb. no one uses it anymore. go existential.
I'm with Krix. also complaints are plots too.
writing is super hard. my story sucks balls. this project could keep me occupied for a few days though.
At least you have Arthur for the editing. Perhaps a ghostwriter?
My job is so lame. And I made a tiny mistake today and got scolded. but I just ordered my dinner and that makes me happy. I think about food all night long. send me any drafts if you feel like it fb. I have nothing to do here and plenty of time. So far today I have answered a few calls, gone to the post office and downed a soda. I am planning on some websudoku for later. Poor me, I'm not working in a sweatshop!
The red haired menace was seated next to me a the assistant's day dinner.
where does your story take place?
hi hammy! i am home from beige and feeling very lazy and nappish. after work I could have gone to the shack, but instead I shopped for shoes but no findy. Feets are a half size and plus look like flippers, so I need special flipper-shoes that are hard to find.
Too bad about the menace. Did you spill red wine on her? or is it a him?
Hi Slothy, Welcome back! Are your classes all finished?
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