"A Journey to the Center of the Unconscious"
The center of the earth is what Professor Lidenbrock was looking for in Jules Verne’s 1864 novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth, and it is also what Larry Poons was looking for in 1969 with his encrusted topographical paintings. What Lindenbrock and Poons have in common, is that they are seeking to find the essence of humanity through the geographical.
Through a Greenbergian approach, I’ve selected artists who have found what they are looking for. The layers and textures of applied paint are symbolic markers of their journey. Each brushstroke is the next step in finding the truth, and thus, the essence of their personal artistic voyage. Although their final products can only be viewed through the postmodern beliefs of Roland Barthes’s reception theory; each painting is symbolic to the artist in their own way. It’s up to the viewer to interpret the work through their own ideas, cultural background and life experiences.
They are experimenting with linear geometry to find balance and unity through the use of preexisting shapes and forms, and through rhythm and balance. The rhythm of the compositions appear to be accidental, like most Abstract Expressionist works, but some are actually very calculated. A few of the paintings are created from a pencil drawn grid and the placement of the elements are carefully calculated. It seems easy to just think of these works as intensely colored accidents, but they are more complex than that. Form, rhythm, balance, geometry, science, the natural world and the hand of each artist all come into play. Like many modern painters they’re experimenting with what a painting can be.
Their interest in the surface texture of the works are prominent, but the references to nature come out strongly in all of the paintings. These works aren’t just representations of nature, they are nature. They are from the dirt – they are the oxides that compose the earth’s crust. The paint is the materials that make up the dirt, both in element and in texture. They are gritty, textured and organic. The geographical references are clever, but one would immediately wonder the location the artists are representing. The surfaces of the paintings – dark, textured and often muted – actually look like layers of earth’s interior. It’s quite astonishing that these artists are able to achieve such a texture using the influence of nature.
Flowing lines and forms combined with measured and assumed properties of space and unity bear the mathematical. Gravity forces the paint to assume the linear. They find a system on the canvas in front of them, and they stop when they see something they like, and that something is typically unity. Although spontaneous, they are calculated through process, repetition and learned craft.
Humans are always looking to explore their environment, whether it be a new city, the planet they call home, or even their own unconscious. This is what the artists in Center Of The Universe are aiming for through automatism. Through the act of painting, they strive to tap into their deepest emotions, from the highest highs to the lowest lows, and transfer these feelings into a visual form.
January, 2010
"A Brief History of the Rythmic Figure"
The history of artistic renderings of the human form goes back as long as we have existed. From the earliest Paleolithic cave paintings at Lascaux from some 30,000 years ago, to the Minoan Bull-Leaping fresco from the Great Palace at Knossos, man has deemed depicting himself as central to our artistic enlightenment. These early paintings were mostly depictions of animals and hunters, and the human forms were predominately curvilinear, but showed movement with innovative means, such as superimposing legs or juxtaposing a succession of multiple drawings, evoking the feeling of motion.
The classical period of Greek art, which depicted the human body in its ideal form, with mathematical proportions, and placed an emphasis on true naturalism and balance. Myron’s Discobolus depicts a figure that is about to release his throw. This work is a prime example of rhythm, harmony and balance. Although the figure shows no signs of muscle strain or emotion, the rhythmic quality is what prevails in the mind of most viewers.
The Renaissance was the age of Michelangelo. His masterpiece David is considered one of the most important works ever created by man. The marble statue portrays David in a contrapposto stance, just before the battle against Goliath. David is tense and ready for combat, but his shows movement from positioning himself into stance, as he twists his body swinging the sling over his left shoulder.
In the late 19th century, the most important artist with regards to representing the human form was Rodin. In 1878, the sculptor created the work John The Baptist. This work was an unorthodox figure of the holy man wandering the desert, full of fervor and fierce expressions. Rodin’s goal for this piece was to create a moving sculpture, and he did just that. By placing both of the figures feet on the ground, he created the effect of walking by combining successive images, similar to the Bull-Leaping fresco.
Just as a reference, John The Baptist was completed one year after Muybridge settled, with a single photographic negative, whether or not Leland Stanford’s racehorse Occident became airborne in the midst of gallop. He was able to photograph the entire stride of the horse, with twenty-four stop motion cameras. Muybridge’s work The Horse In Motion was a serious victory for developing new ways to present bodies in motion.
Degas spent his entire career studying the rhythmic figure in the form of drawing and painting dancers. Half of his mature work displays his mastery in the depiction of movement, and is clearly the key figure in understanding representation of the human form in motion.
The artists in The Rhythmic Figure continue the tradition of representing the human form, and have a common interest in studying the natural rhythm that occurs in bodily movement. The conception is to show how contemporary artists are representing the human figure, with a concentration on musical patterns, and how they continue on with the tradition of rendering motion through artistic means. Just as it was 30,000 years ago, the path towards enlightenment is still understanding ourselves as human beings.
December, 2009
"A Foot In The Grave"
Humanity as a whole has pondered the notion of life and death for as long as one can remember, but modern society must ask when does life begin, and when does it end. Does religion answer the question of life, or does the government? Is Jung right, and does the collective unconsciousness determine existence? Was Freud on to something when he believed that consciousness was the key to understanding life?
The artists in A Foot In The Grave have forgone the question of when life begins and have taken on their social duty to examine when life ends, and what it means to be alive. Through multiple mediums and artistic styles, they examine their own lives to see what it is to be alive, and what it means to society in today’s world. With numerous and abundant medical treatments and medications, life expectancy is extended well past the customary human limitations. The 20th century brought forth the reinvention of life and death. Was Dr. Kevorkian right for allowing terminally ill patients to choose the moment of their death, instead of living a painful existence, and prolonging death? Do the French have it right, is "le petite mort" the bridge between a spiritual and physical death?
Hernán Cortés arrived in the "New World" in the early 16th century and observed how the Aztec’s chose humans to sacrifice in order to appease their gods. Modern scholars still do not know who was earned this honorable right. They had a ballgame, which was called tlachtli, and it has been noted that the winners or the losers’ blood was spilled to the gods. The mother of all the gods Coatlicue, gave life to the sun, the moon, stars, and devoured the corpses that were placed into the ground, as the earth both consumes and regenerates life.
The Day of the Dead is a Latin American holiday that originated from an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. Dia de los Muertos is a celebration that focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Diego Rivera used these ideas in many of his paintings and murals.
During the famous radio interview in 1964, Frank Stella declared "Painting Is Dead," which ultimately ended the tradition of painting being the epitome of what art was to the masses. The New York school had to develop new perceptions of painting to give new life to this so-called "obsolete" art form. Through new forms, techniques and mediums, a new type of artist was formed, one who conceptualized and produced works from ideas, not from traditional means of creation.
A new breed of artistic thinker has emerged in the past few years, and I have chosen works by artists from around the globe in order to examine how fragile the balance of life and death actually is. With terrorism, horrific natural disasters and new diseases taking lives prematurely, we begin to ponder what it actually means to be alive. Death has been depicted through the entire history of art, and will do so until the last human expires.
November, 2009 |
