In Like A Lion

Lawrence 'Judd'  Williams
  at Axom Gallery, Rochester, NY

To wrap up my ideas from the last two weeks and prepare for SPRING, I was thinking back to a friendly event at Axom Gallery, it was a reception for Judd Williams.  He was going to do an artist talk - with old friends gathered around.  Judd was teaching at R.I.T. where I first met him; he was involved with printmaking and more, with a sense of humor and modesty unusual for a visual artist.  The show at Axom was of recent pieces - drawing and sculpture - some of which evolved as the show was about to get underway.  Judd has had some recognition from this community - and not just from his students - recently he was a participant in one of the Biennials held at The Memorial Art Gallery.  The art on view at Axom Gallery included constructions of cut wood ( floor planks? ) with demarcations of color tape which  implies a kind of provisional or improvised aesthetic - but looks can be deceiving.

'Judd' Williams at Axom Gallery

Judd Williams' art is unpredictable and there is always that humor and also sensitivity to materials with a kind of home-grown formalism that is engaging and not pedantic.  That evening,  his talk was about growing up to become an artist - all the comings and goings of a teenager interested in drawing and how his pursuits formed the man, or at least provided the conditions in which to grow.  Oh, I forgot to mention that Judd also draws beautifully, and in the show there were figures as well as abstracts to conjure with.

Down in New York City, at the Metropolitan Museum I tried to see the Matisse show of paintings through a thicket of people - there were so many people in fact that movement in the galleries came to a halt - very claustrophobic - but even with that the art was terrific!

Nicholas Krushenick

Thinking more about the art shows at the Armory, and the Armory Shows at the Piers, a couple of artists' work stood out for me that I forgot to mention in my earlier posts - one is a fellow painter I met when I was in my twenties - and that is Nicholas Krushenick.  I thought his painting looked fine - very active and present.  Another artist whose art stands out was Alighiero Boetti  - his embroidered words in puzzling squares ( 'arazzi' -  which have been crafted by Afghan women over thirty years ago ) hold up remarkably well - and I would like to own one!

Alighiero Boetti at the Armory Show


Back in Rochester, I drove over to Albert Paley's studio in a snowstorm and had an advance look at towering sculpture that is to be installed along Park Avenue in New York City this summer.  This group of thirteen works is in the midst of the fit and finish necessary for command over the traffic in mid-town Manhattan.  What a maximum opus this will be for Mr. Albert Paley!

The Very Next Day

On Park Avenue, NYC
"The Art Show"

Want to find a more enjoyable venue than Piers 94 and 92?  Tired of fighting the crowds?  How about a show at a real armory?  Sunday, around noon, upon entering I found the art of Jean Arp - reliefs that he is known for and pedestal works that remind one of Brancusi.  Arp is not as stylized as Brancusi, so call this organic abstraction, and think of the impact of silhouettes and simple form ( you will see it again in the Arthur Dove watercolors scattered around the other exhibitions ).

Tam Van Tran waves in the air next door.  I wondered how his gossamer panels of copper leaf were ever transported to and from the show. ?

A few Edward Hopper watercolors were on view,  Hirschl and Adler had "Towards Boston" a memorial to a little train station ( in South Truro according to Gail Levin ).  I was introduced to Hopper's watercolors by my father, Arthur Singer, who was also a terrific watercolorist.  In fact, some of my father's paintings will be part of a show that will open in April at The Edward Hopper House in Nyack, NY.  This is where Edward Hopper grew up, and it has been turned into an art center.

Back in the aisles of The Art Show I found the art of William Delvoye at Sperone Westwater.  His is an intricate re-appropriation of historical styles that in this show diverge into sight-gags ( the printed pig ) and substitutions ( the gothic cathedral filigree ).  Looking into the little silver bulldozer or the cement mixer and I am reminded of Chinese ivory carvings and other kinds of detailed trophies - they are startling... and then what?

William Delvoye
at Sperone Westwater

Gallerie St. Etienne had a strong selection of Egon Schiele works on paper - I would call them "psychological portraits" and it is as if you could look into the minds of these subjects and read them like a book.  Very engaging.

I loved the simple beauty of Robert Adams' photos in "The New West" from 1968-1977.  these were matter-of-fact documentary scenes from the western states in the midst of expansion - construction sites, some desolation, wide open vistas, and empty streets.  A recent publication from Yale University is dedicated to these photos, so find all three volumes in the set "The Place We Live".

Across at the next booth, Tibor De Nagy had a selection of John Newman works in a solo show titled " Everything is on the Table".  Here is an art that has paradox, and a sense of humor.  These works, whether they are sculpture or drawings have a playful attitude towards form, they are often richly patterned and have elements in a kind of suspended collage.

John Newman at Tibor De Nagy

My Spring Fever

People gather for
Art at the Armory Show, March 2013

People flock to the Big Apple for a taste of contemporary art at this time of the year, and the city does not disappoint.  I stepped into the elevator with about a thousand other people to feast on the Armory Show which is actually held at Piers 92 and 94 out over the Hudson River.  Was it coincidence that the world's largest private yacht - the Eclipse - was tied up in the next birth? Talk about conspicuous consumption!  If you want to get an idea of the extent of this show you can go online and look at the site: http://artsy.net/thearmoryshow.com

Marca-Relli at Michael Rosenfeld

I was starved for something challenging, but first at the Armory Modern side I checked in with my cousin Michael Rosenfeld at his spacious booth featuring the art of collage.  Michael has just moved his business from 57th street down to Chelsea, and many of the artists that he represents were on view at the Pier.  I particularly liked the Conrad Marca-Relli shown above, and a little beauty by Anne Ryan ( she is almost always terrific but hopefully not forgotten ).

Giorgio Morandi

A few steps away I found a buttery Morandi show full of small delights - paintings and prints.  It is remarkable how fresh Morandi still seems, and how engaging.  There was also a late De Chirico - perhaps a re-painting of a favorite theme for this artist also at the Galleria D'Arte Maggiore G.A.M.

I dashed back out into the cool sunny day because I wanted to see what was on the contemporary side - seeking something more challenging - and it was getting more crowded as the minutes went by.  Past the entrance I found wider aisles filled with people, and the booths filled with artworks by artists like Nick Cave at Jack Shainman Gallery.  I  have been struck by this art and the connections made to the art of Oceania -  Nick Cave seems to channel the spirits of the Pacific Island cultures along with a cross between figurative art, the comics, and a toy store.

Nick Cave at Jack Shainman Gallery

At Peter Blum I stopped in to look at David Reed's works on paper which demonstrate his talents layering colors ( with copious notes ) in what looked like recipes for a test kitchen.  My impression from looking around the galleries represented here was that there was a lot less large scale photography, a lot more geometry, and a certain restraint - maybe less creative risk-taking.

David Reed at Peter Blum

Also, interesting to me were drawings by Anthony McCall, and some devilish shapes ( monoprints ) in black all in rows by Allan McCollum.  Allan McCollum has been featured in an Art 21 episode that I enjoyed watching in the past, so I was interested to see how his art held up in this sprawling show.

Allan McCollum

The Pierogi Gallery once again had attractions like Tony Fitzpatrick's collage images, and stunning micro-dioramas from Brooklyn artist Patrick Jacobs.  How does this artist have the patience to work with tweezers and a microscope in order to put his art together???  Look at the details of "Stump with Red Banded Brackets" - it is all of six inches across!

Patrick Jacobs at Pierogi

A historical note was struck at the Howard Greenberg Gallery with a Gordon Parks photograph "Department Store" of 1956, that highlights the cause for racial equality.  Also as a historical footnote to this Armory Show were the many tributes to Andy Warhol and Pop Art in general.  Paintings from the 1980's - long ago - by Steve Gianakos were daffy and amusing at Fredericks and Freiser.

Getting tired and on the way home - thinking that there was little shock value left in the contemporary art scene, I was struck by a painting from Oda Juane, the wife of Jorg Immendorff.  In her painting, a young person seems to be undergoing an autopsy.  The painting is titled inexplicably "Candy", and the man standing next to me says, "I should have bought that painting".  So I turn to him and tell him I have a friend - Cliff Wun - in Rochester who has made paintings similar to this one - and then I notice that my neighbor seems to be wearing a sculpture on his back... not exactly his heart on his sleeve - and he is a walking advertisement!  This fellow is a sculptor by the trade name of Mandad, and I asked him to pose with the painting "Candy", and the result is right out of the art of Rene Magritte.

Mandad and "Candy by Oda Juane at Daniel Templon

Winter Wonder Wander

John Ahearn's "Ernestine" at the 
  Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art
  Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Let's go see what is on view in Ithaca, New York on a winter's day.  Up the hill, The Johnson Museum beckons at Cornell University.  At the entrance to this I. M. Pei designed edifice, I found this wall mounted "portrait" in painted plaster by John Ahearn who was studying at Cornell when I was an MFA candidate there in the early 1970's.  John made the painted plaster cast his medium, though when I first met him he was a traditional painting student.  It is the artist's job to take common materials like plaster and transform them into something that captures your attention.  I think John's artwork is not too different than figurative sculpture from the past few hundred years, though his subjects are often folks who volunteer to have themselves cast wherever John makes his studio whether is is in the Bronx - or Brazil.

Another figurative artist catches my attention and this time it is Storm Tharp, a more recent Cornell grad from 1992.  His medium is mostly ink on paper, but also color and pattern play a role, as does a fierce characterization for each person portrayed.  In his portion of the exhibit space a vitrine holds sketchbooks and artist's keepsakes and memoranda - all of which help to personalize the show.

Storm Tharp at The Johnson Museum

Walk upstairs to the next floor and there is an exquisite drawing show of masterworks by European artists like Bronzino, Bernini ( the architect and painter ), Watteau, and Ingres.  This is one show you won't want to miss: "Drawn to Excellence": Renaissance and Romantic Drawings from a Private Collection.  Since I teach drawing, I had more than enough reasons to stop in to see these remarkable works on paper by some of Europe's finest artists.  I have great respect for this art that captivates the mind and eye and satisifes on so many levels.  Just take a look at the trois-crayon method in the Watteau drawing of a man playing a guitar - the particular marks made to indicate the thumb and fingers are so concise and add to the entire framework of this little drawing.

In some ways this art resembles the bare trees outside the museum - a world of lines and marks made in the wind.  Back inside, a study of a leafy tree by Annibale Carracci has the vitality and sound of spring.  You can find favorite artists, and many obscure ones in this show.  One of my favorites was a pencil portrait by Ingres, that couldn't have been more than eight inches square.  A portrait of precision, Ingres' drawing reveals the personality of his wife Madeline, while the artist has added his own image off to the side at a later date.

The great benefit of The Johnson Museum is that you can see so much of the world's culture by only taking a few steps down the hall.  If you venture into another gallery you can take in an exhibition of Southeast Asian weavings, and see wonderful batiks and long loom lengths of intricately detailed fabrics made to be worn.

When I ran out of quarters to feed the meter outside the museum, I went downtown in Ithaca to the Ink Shop on State Street to see the new exhibit "No Land Escapes".  There, I found the curator of the show, Barbara McPhail and more than thirty works at the gallery that make up a show illustrating the effects of fracking.  This exhibition provides visual testimony to the ravages of the land by the push to drill for natural gas, using the controversial method of extraction known to pit neighbor against neighbor.  In prints by these six accomplished artists:  Craig Mains, Pamela Drix, Elizabeth Durand, Teri Power, Kathleen Sherin, and Barbara McPhail we see a variety of styles in art that range from miniature prints to panoramas often filled with the notorious drilling rigs and the attendant devastation that surrounds these launch pads.  Sometimes the image is as simple as the rainbow sheen left on the surface of water that reflects on the quality of what might happen to our natural resources - in ways that alter what we can't reverse.

Barbara McPhail,

  artist and curator of "No Land Escapes"

  at  The Ink Shop, Ithaca, New York

Art Reflected / A View Back to the Future

"Art Reflected"  
      February 10-March 16, 2013
The Memorial Art Gallery on
University Avenue hosts a centennial celebration

In Rochester, The Memorial Art Gallery is in its' centennial year and one of the ways they celebrate their role in this community is to inspire people to be more creative.  As an exhibition, "Art Reflected"
provides a catalyst for artists and the general public to open their eyes to the Memorial Art Gallery's collection of art and artifacts, and choose a work of art as a starting point for a dialog.  Regional artists were invited by the museum to pick out an artwork from a list of 100 masterpieces in the MAG collections, and to develop a new work of art using their choice as an inspiration. The goal was not to have the artists copy but to use the earlier art as a touchstone for an entirely new creation.  Then, these 41 artists got to work ( over a period of several months ) and brought to life new art to be installed for this month in the museum ( alongside the earlier original work ).  Also, this is a fundraiser for the Memorial Art Gallery, and ultimately the new works will be sold.

As one of the artists invited to participate, it is a little daunting to suddenly have my art hanging next to an artist whose paintings I have admired for most of my life!  In a way, it is also a dream come true.  Having chosen a painting by Stuart Davis ( I lectured on this painting "Landscape with Garage Lights" at the MAG almost ten years ago ) I set about planning new prints that would make use of some of the same elements in a setting like the Gloucester, MA harbor that Davis had visited.  At opening night I was happily surprised to see that Nick Ruth, a professor from Hobart William and Smith College, was also fond of the same Stuart Davis painting, and Nick made a colorful work which sat alongside the master ( see photo below ).

 Stuart Davis " Landscape with 
     Garage Lights, oil on canvas 1931-32

This would be a great time for you to visit MAG to go on a treasure hunt to find the works in the galleries that inspired all of these local artists.  Here is a list of the participating artists:
http://mag.rochester.edu/mag/index.php?page_id=36402

I took a tour after listening to the ceramist Stephen Merritt speak in the auditorium the day after the preview party.  Stephen introduced the audience to a small oil "sketch" by the Hudson River landscape painter Thomas Cole, titled "Genesee Scenery" which portrays a rustic bridge crossing a gorge above the falls in what is now Letchworth Park.  The Thomas Cole is a tiny oil on board, and Stephen Merritt's clay and wood sculpture is a bit bigger but still in proportion.  It is interesting to see the transformation from painting to sculpture, and how Stephen Merritt makes his choices of color, texture and space. Stephen took time to explain that his father and mother had donated the original Thomas Cole to the Memorial Art Gallery, and it was his father's love for this painting that remained in Stephen's memory.

This is a gallery visit that the whole family would enjoy - finding the works in "Art Reflected" and making some comparisons - it is really like an engaging lesson in art history, and at the same time it offers more personal choices and attitudes towards materials and issues in the visual arts.  Witness Shawn Dunwoody upstairs with his assemblage below a 14th century altarpiece - where his use of found objects, signs and curiosities highlight his African-American heritage, and this throws into relief the ideas involved in "Art Reflected".

I went along looking at everything with new eyes.  I found many artists whose work I was familiar with showing some new aspects of what they normally present.

Right next to the Stuart Davis painting was a boldly imagined work by Nick Ruth, and I was interested to see that he found the elipse as an organizing principle ( his work is titled "Can You Hear Me Now" ).  I have an elipse in my print too, but we didn't know that each of us had selected the Stuart Davis artwork out of all the art in the museum!

Some of the original artworks are transformed by a change of medium, so that a famous painting by Winslow Homer of his studio in Maine surrounded by fog became a bracelet by Loraine Cooley, and a sculpture by Gould called "The West Wind" translated into a video of curtains by Anne Havens.  This was the kind of magic I saw; artists pulling the rabbit out of the hat and delighting the gallery goer. You will want to see every spot on the map and enjoy the trip!

Vernissage

A day before the show opens to the public, I gathered along with artists and invited guests for a reception at the JGK Gallery, 10 Vick Park A in Rochester.  I looked over the 2013 Art Roc Showcase and I was especially pleased to see one of my students ( Gareth Fitzgerald Barry ) as a featured sculptor among eleven other artists chosen for this exhibition.  The JGK Gallery is in what appears to be a renovated carriage house close to the museums in the Neighborhood of the Arts.  Relatively new to the area, the JGK Gallery brings together regional talent in this new show, and I was attracted to the nearly abstract landscape images in Alejandro Gutierrez's paintings made with enamels and resin.  Other artists deal with abstraction such as Carey Corea and Jeanne Beck who is also known for her art quilts.  A nice article accompanied the show (published in Rochester Magazine written by Michelle Cardulla) and hopefully that will bring in curious gallery goers.

"Makers and Mentors" at
Rochester Contemporary Art Center, 137 East Ave., Rochester
From the left:  Bleu Cease,Director, and artists: Peter Monacelli, Kurt Feuerherm, and Kristine Bouyoucos.

This week is witness also to a new edition of the "Makers and Mentors" series at Rochester Contemporary Art Center.  This year's artists include Kurt Feuerherm, Peter Monacelli, Kristine Bouyoucos, and Patricia Dreher and all of these artists contribute two dimensional works that have color and verve.  It is good to see Kurt again in this area, he's moved back to Rochester from the seaside community of Wellfleet, MA.  I can see a bit of the scrubby landscape elements from the Cape in Kurt's paintings - which are very vigorous - brushy yet still descriptive - and all of a modest size.
Kurt is a well known teacher having been at Empire State College, and the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC.  Kurt was mentor to many budding artists.  I think he was pleased to be so honored with an exhibition at RoCo especially in light of the fact that there is now a campaign to buy the building where the show is being held.

One could say that Kurt's paintings are very environmental - all about kinds of space with a great sensitivity towards nature without being realist in his approach.  Peter Monacelli's series titled "Midtown Transfiguration" is also a guide to space but in this case it appears to be about architecture and the abstract patterns and geometry of many a building site.  Peter told me that it is important to known that he had a construction company and that the Little Theatre had been one of his jobs.  Peter's wall of artwork at RoCo is thrilling - and once again it is all about color and space.

Kristine Bouyoucos makes prints which feature music notation and aspects of nature; fine old trees - almost somber in their tonality - yet these works of art are also about space, rhythm, and color.  Of all the work on exhibition in "Makers and Mentors" Kristine's art demands a closer look, in effect to really see it is to get up close enough to read the notes.  These prints also have a friendly quality, the botanical elements along with the musical theme is uplifting.

The small paintings of Patricia Dreher portray gritty scenes from the Port of Oakland, California. If you fly into the airport during day you can see acres and acres of containers waiting to be put on board boats bound for voyages elsewhere.  Maybe it is a coincidence, but Patricia's paintings have some of the same colors and abstracted space as Kurt's.  One hopes that the "Makers and Mentors" project will continue to shine a light on the relationships among the many working artists in our midst.

Big Tent Shows

Robert Heischman
at the Bevier Gallery at R.I.T.

December is the month of the art fairs in Miami, and the idea of a warmer climate and all that visual stimulation motivates me to go out and see what's up in our area.  I didn't have to go far, because there is a faculty exhibition at the Bevier Gallery where I teach at R.I.T. and this show has some attractive aspects.  One of my favorite pieces in the show welcomes close inspection: a carved and sanded wood plate by Rich Tannen that employs a kind of Sol Lewitt design of cubes divided into parallel lines on a subtle wavy panel of glorious simplicity.  Robert Heischman paints the streetscape of India, complete with sacred cows, while on the other side of the partition there lurks a glass block with what looks like a cast of an ancient trilobite.

installation view at MAG
of "Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3"

If you want to open a new avenue of art exploration you must see "Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3" now on view at The Memorial Art Gallery.  There are so many new things to see, and such a vital call for your attention, we are honored to have this traveling exhibition here in our midst. You can also learn a lot by noting how this exhibition is arranged: three categories, art is aligned with a point of view - 1.  Evolution and Exploration  2.  Natural Selection  3. Historical Provocation/ Decoding History.

Native american contemporary art has not been given this kind of forum often, but things are changing and a market is developing for these artists.   Some of the featured artists carry over craft traditions from the trade goods of the 19th century - updated and upgraded - an example of which I found in the works of Dawn Walden ( Anishinaube (First People)) and Jeremy Frey (Paint Basket).

I haven't been in many museum shows that include decorated heavy weight punching bags ( Jeffrey Gibson's "Everlast" ) or a chain of animals made out of packaging tape by David Hannan.  There are delectable objects in this exhibition that capture my eye like Dan Townsend's amulet "Speaker of the House/Warrior made out of mother-of-pearl oyster shell that both recalls Mayan Art and Keith Haring at the same time.

Alan Michelson at  MAG
part of the Changing Hands exhibition

The political angle of being effective as a Native American artist is explored in some powerful ways, just go see this show and find Alan Michelson's "Phoenix" made out of handmade paper, or Shan Goshorn's "Educational Genocide: The Legacy of the Carlisle Indian Boarding School" made out of a sliced up historical photo of Indian children in front of the notorious school.

I was glad to find the products of G. Peter Jemison in this show -his signature decorated shopping bags were found in a long vitrine.  Last year I had Peter come to R.I.T. to speak to students about some of the same artists that are in this show.  Buy the catalog to read the essays and you come away from this gallery experience with new respect - and you will want to see more!

Peter Jemison at MAG in
Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3