in answer to the post; FLUXLIST: Re: untitled
From:"Micheal Ellis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> it seems it is most bad with the "traditional" visual arts like painting and sculpture, which may point to the fact those forms are obsolete in some way. > > A Profusion of Painting, Very Much Alive > > May 10, 2002 > By ROBERTA SMITH > > THE idea that painting is dead is more pass� than ever, > judging from the medium's dominance in New York City's > commercial galleries this weekend. Perhaps it is taking its > revenge on museums that have been mostly otherwise engaged > this season. Maybe dealers have put their best (selling) > feet forward for the annual rite of spring auctions. But > let's not quibble. There's too much to be seen. > > The so-called death of painting has made sense only when > the medium has been narrowly defined. Current circumstances > call for a wide-angled approach to the two-dimensional that > takes in a global and multicultural amalgam of pictorial > arts. The ages-old surface power of ceramics and textiles, > for example, is evident in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's > resplendent show of Renaissance tapestries. The > liquid-crystal screen is only the latest in a succession of > flat surfaces to transfix the artistic imagination. More > than ever, painting is a house of many mansions. The > current plethora of shows amounts to a movable seminar. It > offers a rich progression of calls and responses between > different generations and reputations, voiced by artists > from around the world in exhibitions that are often only > steps apart. > > The last time Brice Marden was so involved with the primary > colors was probably in his Renaissance-inspired > "Annunciation" series from the mid 1970's. Now, inspired by > those natural, sculpturally enhanced wonders called Chinese > scholar's rocks, Mr. Marden has forsaken his wan, pale > backgrounds for forthright robustness. > > In his new paintings at Matthew Marks on West 22nd Street > in Chelsea, winey, stained-glass shadows of deep orange or > purple grounds are crisscrossed by lines whose impure > shades favor red, yellow and blue. The lines undulate, > curve or meander inward from painted borders that are > reminiscent of the work of Ralph Humphrey. These > roadmaplike networks are held under pressure by the borders > and might almost be generated by them. > > In one back gallery, craggy stick-and-ink drawings pay > direct homage to scholar's rocks; slightly earlier works, > at the other Marks gallery on West 24th Street, show Mr. > Marden's path to one of his strongest positions in years, > one that almost suggests a veering back toward his early > monochrome paintings. > > At the 303 Gallery opposite Mr. Marden's West 22nd Street > show, Sue Williams is doing her own tricks with thick, > animated lines, in continuous translucent brushstrokes that > suggest balloon animals. At Charles Cowles on West 24th > Street, Beatrice Caracciolo investigates the possibilities > of scratchy, broken lines, this time in charcoal. > > Peter Halley > > As for straight lines, Peter Halley, in his > show at Mary Boone in Chelsea, continues to posit geometric > abstraction as a happening, techno-Pop thing, with slightly > crazed results. The new works hang, � la Warhol, on > wallpaper whose computer-generated patterns suggest chip > circuitry or Op Art explosions. > > The individual paintings are similarly overloaded. In some > cases, small panels, each painted with the artist's > signature jail cell window, have been ganged together into > single surfaces. In others, his battery motifs sprout > multiple conduits. One painting layers cell windows over a > battery cell. The mixture of high-impact Day-Glo tones and > darker, more subtle colors increases dissonance. The > abrasiveness of Mr. Halley's work used to be more > outer-directed; now it threatens to implode, but its > optical subversiveness remains intact. > > Linda Besemer > > It's all Day-Glo all the time in Linda Besemer's solo debut > at Cohen, Leslie & Browne in Chelsea, where shiny sheets of > stripes and plaids consist of nothing but stand-alone > acrylic paint. Drawing on Op Art, Lynda Benglis's poured > paintings, the Los Angeles finish fetish and Barnett > Newman's zips, they hang on bars like big, slick towels or > tablecloths, sometimes spooling onto the floor in luscious > folds. The colors dazzle, especially when striped, but the > technique is so laborious that the works can seem > machine-made. > > Other excursions into geometry are in Chelsea at the Stark > Gallery, where Alan Uglow's spare, beautifully proportioned > abstractions are on view, and at the Massimo Audiello > Gallery, where Warren Isensee's new work treads lightly > between painting and design with Formica oranges and greens > and deliberately generic patterns. And at Ameringer Howard > Yohe's new West 57th Street gallery, the Color Field > pioneer Kenneth Noland returns to his signature targets, > experimenting with glittery paint and hazy pastels. > > John F. Simon Jr. > > John F. Simon Jr. is known for digital > abstractions whose percolating grids, shapes and colors > might have beguiled Mondrian. But with his second solo, at > Sandra Gering in Chelsea, he moves into analog space, using > lasers to cut designs in linoleum, Formica and Plexiglas. > The Formica paintings are dull, the Plexiglas works > cheerful. The linoleum, cut in an interlocking pattern > inspired by M. C. Escher, is promising. But the most > digital work, "Swarms," is thoroughly engaging. Across two > gas-plasma screens, flocks of iridescent triangles coalesce > into grids, splinter and rush on. The show feels > transitional, pointing to several new paths without > venturing very far down them. > > At Ronald Feldman in SoHo, Carl Fudge transfers > computer-derived patterns to silk screen on canvas, and > adds color. The intricate geometries evoke DNA structures, > abstracted anime characters and Bruce Conners's totemic > spidery symmetries. Works like "Tattooed Blue" achieve a > shimmering, viral menace, but too often the patterns remain > their most singular aspect. > > Dominique Gauthier > > Looser patterns dominate the splashy paintings of Dominique > Gauthier, a French artist whose New York debut show at > Roebling Hall in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is part of an > exchange between Paris and Williamsburg galleries. > > Catalogs of Mr. Gauthier's previous work reveal a > Neo-Expressionist in recovery, then a low-budget Frank > Stella. But his current mode of street-smart style, spiked > with hints of graffiti, maps and diagrams, makes good on a > persistent interest in structure. The surfaces imply a > skillful interplay of processes and paint densities and an > attention to Pollock and Tachisme. > > Big, tight spirals; stenciling; spray paint; and random and > controlled flooding create a combustible energy, as well as > a distinctly French brassiness that usually works. > > Ouattara Watts > > Ouattara Watts, a native of the Ivory > Coast based in New York, shares Mr. Gauthier's flair for > scavenging. His works can emphasize his African roots, as > in his ponderous, Schnabelesque paintings in the Whitney > Biennial, or international-style elegance, like the buoyant > abstractions now at Leo Koenig in SoHo. > > Originally intended for "Documenta XI" this summer, the > efforts at Koenig may be too modestly cheerful for such a > big arena. Their twisting propeller shapes, reminiscent of > George Condo's work, are in electric oranges balanced by > earth tones, with occasional additions of textiles and > scrawled words. Mr. Watts is definitely better when his > touch is lighter and less forced. > > The young South African artist Thabiso Phokompe makes more > subtle, genuine use of African cultural roots. Now living > in Brooklyn, Mr. Phokompe is showing earth-stained burlap > pieces - part painting, part shield, part votive object - > in his New York debut at the Axis Gallery in Chelsea. He > dots his roughly patched, unstretched surfaces with beads, > safety pins and amuletlike cloth packets, and often > attaches a wood staff as a finishing touch. > > The results are somber and delicate, suggestive of ancient > rituals, but also related to the work of 20th-century > artists like Alberto Burri and Lenore Tawney, who were > indebted to non-Western traditions. > > `Testimony' > > At the AXA Gallery, "Testimony: Vernacular Art of the > African-American South" offers further insights into the > pictorial legacy of African culture. Organized by > Exhibitions International and the Schomburg Center for > Research in Black Culture, the show is drawn from the > collection of Ronald and June Shelp of New York. Most of > the works were bought through William Arnett, a prominent > Atlanta dealer known for his discovery of Thornton Dial > Sr., who looks especially strong here. Outstanding among > his jarring, ruthlessly energetic paintings is a > flower-bedecked lion painted on carpet. > > The show is a seminar of its own about painting's > absorption of discarded materials and the use of automatic > drawing. (Pertinently, Judith M. McWillie's essay in the > accompanying book reproduces works by Mark Tobey, Cy > Twombly, Mr. Marden and Fr�d�ric Bruly Bouabre.) > > Painting's tendency to move toward three dimensions is best > exemplified by the reliefs of Ronald Lockett (Mr. Dial's > nephew), some of which resemble Mr. Phokompe's work. There > are also outstanding efforts by J. M. Murray and > lesser-knowns like Henry Speller, Joe Light and Jimmie Lee > Sudduth. > > Sarah McEneaney > > Although Sarah McEneaney has a degree in fine arts, there's > a strong outsider undercurrent in her work. Like Florine > Stettheimer and Loren McIver, she might be called a > consummate city rube. In her second solo show at Gallery > Schlesinger on the Upper East Side, she continues to paint > herself, her home and studio, and her Philadelphia > neighborhood with intimate precision. > > One painting doubles our pleasure: it shows a community > garden bordered by a big wall painted by Ms. McEneaney with > a mural of the garden. In a self-portrait, the artist > sprawls on a mango-colored bed with her two cats, with > carefully indicated textures of wallpaper, brick and lace > curtains pushing forward from the background. A third work > depicts a trash-strewn lot with magical meticulousness. > > Through strong color and by repeating details that often > accumulate into abstract passages, Ms. McEneaney makes > every centimeter of canvas count. > > Susan Rothenberg > > There's a lot of abstract figuration in New York galleries > this month, including, in Chelsea, Carroll Dunham's latest > renditions of furious, phallus-nosed frontiersmen at Metro > Pictures and the suicidal Civil War heroes of Barnaby > Furnas's paintings at Marianne Boesky. At Maurice Arlos, a > new gallery on Franklin Street in TriBeCa, Kyle Staver > searches out new terrain between Matisse and David Park > with deftly physical brushwork and resonant colors. > > Susan Rothenberg's commitment to abstract figuration dates > from the early 1970's, when she was painting horses as if > they were Jasper Johns flags. Since then she has moved ever > closer to an antic discombobulation of space, narrative and > image, which has lately been stimulated by living on a > ranch in New Mexico with lots of animals underfoot. > > She is also trying to get in touch with her inner colorist. > Her usual palette of chalky whites, grays, pinks, reds and > infrequent blues has been supplemented by a rich thalo > green, which may be related to the night-vision-camera > green that dominates the video installation by her husband, > Bruce Nauman, at the Dia Center for the Arts in Chelsea. > > Radically different senses of time and space rule Ms. > Rothenberg's latest paintings, which are inaugurating > Sperone Westwater's relocation to West 13th Street in the > West Village. In some, including the confidently painted > "White Deer," the action is fast and furious and seen from > above, as if from the high fence of a corral populated by > frantic animals and the occasional hapless human. In > others, time all but stops as disembodied hands and arms, > noses and eyes contemplate games of dominoes. But fast or > slow, all the images tilt and roil, as if figure and > ground, or dream and reality, were battling for supremacy. > > Emna Zghal > > Two shows reflect painting's closeness to > other mediums. Emna Zghal, a Tunisian-born artist, shows > diaphanous mixed-media works in her first New York show, at > the Scene Gallery on the Lower East Side. The strongest are > lushly tinted woodblock prints mounted on canvas and > finished with touches of vivid color, both painted and > stenciled. With fuzzy grids, swirling patterns and > woodgrain at the fore, the surfaces resemble textiles and > walls, but the added highlights bring intimations of > mysterious landscapes. These surfaces could be less > refined, but their quiet pulsing power and sophisticated > technique are very promising. > > Chie Fueki > > Refinement, promise and something of a double technique > also figure in Chie Fueki's paintings on paper at Bill > Maynes in Chelsea, her first Manhattan show. Ms. Fueki's > imagery and meticulous craft and the fragile, ceremonial > air of her work reflect her Japanese heritage. > > Her tissue-thin, quiltlike surfaces, made from specially > painted mulberry paper and further embellished with paint > and graphite, offer mirages of shifting colors, ghostly > images and sparkling, jewel-like expanses. Especially > prevalent is a chrysanthemum pattern, rendered in soft > graphite or teased out in raised dots of paint that > accumulate into repouss�-like filigrees. > > The densest surfaces are best, as in "Sun," where gold rays > seem to be refracted versions of the Japanese flag, and > "Window," with its four-way symmetry of nocturnal > landscapes. Ms. Fueki understands the potent union of > decoration, technique and symbolism found in Japanese > screens, kimonos and lacquerware. But she also shares > interests with other paper-based pictorialists like Toba > Khedoori and Amy Myers. > > Other notable debuts in Chelsea include Stefan K�rten, > whose trippy landscapes at Alexander & Bonin push Gerhard > Richter toward Klimt, and Jayashree Chakravatry at Bose > Pacia, whose weavings of figure and ground have their own, > more tactile kind of captivating undergrowth. > > And the end is not in sight. The National Academy of > Design's "177th Annual" is unusually lively this year, > culled from across the country, with paintings in the > majority. For lovers of the self-taught, Ralph Fasanella's > populist paintings are at the New-York Historical Society, > and the poetry-inspired paintings of a little-known Finnish > artist, Tyyne Esko, have just gone up at the Luise Ross > Gallery in SoHo. > > Opening today or tomorrow in Chelsea are shows of new > paintings by Nicola Tyson at Friedrich Petzel, David Reed > at Max Protetch, Ed Ruscha at Gagosian and Richard Prince > at Barbara Gladstone. Forget about shopping till you drop: > look at paint till you faint. > > Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company -- carol starr taos, new mexico, usa [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.CarolStarr.net
