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Tuesday, May 29th
Search for the Real
 “Is abstraction an end in itself or a means to an end?”
This brief question posted in relation to a review of the Al Kresch show last year just seems to keep popping up in discussion after discussion. I know I’ve discussed it at various times to various degrees. But Jose’s straight forward question keeps coming back to me.
I remember Margaret Armbrust, my undergrad art history professor, often saying “anyone who thinks this painting (referring to a rather realistic Belgian artist’s work) is real should be in an asylum.” The naïve realism that is most often practiced simply assumes that our ability to perceive reality directly is a little silly. Our sensory abilities are a step away from reality at best. We touch a thing and the nerve endings of our fingers send an electrical charge to the brain which translates it into the feeling of touch. Light reflects off an object which then is collected by the eye which again fires the optical cells in the eye sending a similar energy burst to the brain to be translated into the vision of the thing on which we’ve focused. Our perception is a step away with lots of in between transactions in the brain which ultimately translates or interprets our sensory stimulus. Even at that time I was in school the interface between objective and subjective painting seemed a priori to me. But I hadn’t really thought about it much until she put it in such clear terms. Only a fool or a madman things a painting or a photo is the thing itself.
Walter King on 05.29.07 @ 07:39 AM EST [more..]
Thursday, May 24th
Whose Art Is It Anyway?
I like to read the blog by New York gallerists, Ed Winkelman. He’s been a fixture on the high-end fine art scene for years. He delves into lots of interesting topics and generates substantial comments from many of his posts. His May 10 post grabbed my attention. It is titled, Alternatives to the Commercial Gallery System for Selling One's Art.
The post opens with this sentence: “Ever since I got verbally beat up by a neo-socialist artist on a panel discussion, for having the audacity to associate art with commerce, I've been careful to preface any lectures I give with the belief that having one's art be seen is simply part of being an artist, of having that dialog with the public, and that there is a wide range of channels through which to do so, a commercial gallery being simply one of them. Not only does it seem to effectively silence the sort of attacks I had endured on that panel, but I actually believe it. I personally love the commercial gallery system, but I'm rather fond of many alternatives to it as well.”
Barney Davey on 05.24.07 @ 01:50 PM EST [more..]
Sunday, May 20th
Life and Painting
 The legacy of painting
There were years when no famous critic who reviewed my work failed to recognized an echo of Bacon’s painting in it – some in the content, others in the colours, the style, or the expression - disregarding the obvious "indivisibility" of the artist’s work. And this has increasingly legitimized the comparison between my work and that of the great English artist.
One could say that this excessive insistence has ended up becoming banal and showing up the lack of originality of some reviewers. To demonstrate the validity of this comparison they have even altered the character of Bacon’s painting.
Bacon is, above all, a great and tragic realist painter, oscillating between nightmare and agony. When Bacon is given as a point of reference for my artistic research, he is depicted as an artist who paints loneliness, emptiness, the suffering of existence, whereas, in fact, the scenario that stimulates Bacon’s imagination is completely different: it is a nightmare environment inhabited by men disfigured by a fierce expressionism who, between latrines and couches, show what is not really loneliness, but rather a disrespectful and terrible detachment.
Alberto Sughi on 05.20.07 @ 03:30 PM EST [more..]
Friday, May 18th
No controversial or brainy ideas this time, just an update
 In December I told you about my move to [OD]. Over the past six months my space has gone from feeling like a concrete cul-de-sac to something where I am feeling at home. It took some time, and all the while my work seemed to be moving in circles but now I’ve grown beyond the walls that surround me and I’m making some progress. One of the improvements was investing in a loft-type structure for storage. It allows me more space at floor level and I can also go upstairs to take a look at the paintings from above which was a habit I acquired in my last studio.
Jose Freitas Cruz on 05.18.07 @ 07:11 AM EST [more..]
Monday, May 14th
DEAN MITCHELL: Easy in his own skin
 Dean and I used to sweep the halls and studios together at CCAD back in the late 70's. We both had scholarships though I'm sure Dean's was bigger than mine. We were both on the Federal work-study program because it helped us with a little more food and rent money each month. We swept, moved studio furniture, mopped and waxed all weekend or after class in the evenings during the week. It gave us a lot of time to talk. Dean always wanted to be a realist. He liked Hopper and Wyeth. I on the other hand was into expressionism and liked Matisse and Diebenkorn. We often debated about the differences. I remember him working on a small egg tempera while we were in school. It was a small self portrait done in a warm palette. One of the faculty found it while cleaning out an old storage room. I run across it sometimes when I'm looking for examples to show students. I keep meaning to get it back to him but I can never lay my hands on it when he’s on campus. The little piece is only about 5" x 7" and was in the style of Wyeth but with better color. Dean's color came more from Hopper than Wyeth.
Walter King on 05.14.07 @ 10:16 AM EST [more..]
Thursday, May 10th
DeGrazia and the Indians
 No artist in modern time has been more closely associated with the American Indian, particularly the Indians of the American Southwest, than Tucson's Ted DeGrazia.
Before his death in 1982 at the age of 73, DeGrazia not only painted Indians, he lived among them, worked with them, brought them to his home and his table, shared their rituals, championed their causes, loaned them money, bailed them out of jail, donated art for tribal fund-raisers, shared their beliefs and studied their history, all the while gaining an insight into the Native American way of life that helped make his work known and admired throughout the world.
A maverick in every sense of the word, DeGrazia's feet-on-the-ground persona -- beard, sunglasses, Western hat, dusty jeans, boots, and enough silver and turquoise jewelry to outfit a small trading post -- was as well known as his art. He was outspoken:
"The government should abolish reservations."
"With the coming of the white man, the Indian lost his land. But worst of all he lost his freedom."
"Treaties were made and broken. The Indians should have been made equal citizens from the beginning. Instead, they were moved aside, pushed back and forgotten."
"Washington has been trying to do something for the Indians for over a hundred years, but all it's done is add more white people to the government payroll to take care of them."
"When you create a reservation you create a separate nation. The Indian thinks he is in a foreign country. If you've ever felt unwanted, you can understand how the Indian feels."
Ron Butler on 05.10.07 @ 09:48 AM EST [more..]
Thursday, May 3rd
ARTCHICAGO
(CHICAGO) - Even the best art fairs tend to be meat markets.
It's unavoidable. Art lovers are rounded up, herded into elevators like
cattle and the art may as well be meat hanging on the walls, ripe for
snatching at the hands of anxious dealers for ravenous collectors.
So why did I bust my chops to be here? Well, it's ARTCHICAGO! I didn't buy
any art (I wish), but I certainly bought into the hype.
As I browsed the menu on the seventh floor of the famed Merchandise Mart,
all I could think about was Art Basel Miami Beach. I've always hated it
when people make comparisons, but in this case, it seems fitting. Art Basel
Miami Beach has quickly become what many describe as the nation's premier
art fair. I no longer agree with that. I'll tell you why in a moment.
Michael Corbin on 05.03.07 @ 07:20 AM EST [more..]
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