Free Sunday

So what does one do when contemplating action on a free Sunday in New York City? Well the beauty of living in new york is that you have a multitude of options. Of course, you have to pay for those options, in rent, and so forth. But that is why us suckers they call "new yorkers" put up with the outrageous rents and high prices for various forms of entertainment. Because we love having those options.

On Sunday, January 23rd I had one of those free Sundays where I decided to brave the cold weather and explore a little bit of the city on my own. I wouldn't say that I was exploring per say. I am a native new yorker and pride myself on knowing the city pretty well. My first idea was to hop on the L train and head towards Williamsburg. I wanted to see an art show that just opened at Sideshow Gallery call "It's All Good Apocalypse Now." This show features over 500 artists from the NYC area and includes some big names in Contemporary art. You get a feel for a certain sense unity in the art community here, and a definite leaning towards abstract expressionism. But these are the work that are most interesting here. I made an attempt to at least take a look at every piece, which I failed undoubtedly because of the amount that I had to look at. Overall, the show did not provide too much inspiration perhaps due to the claustrophobic feeling of all the work jam packing the walls. Although it was good to see the variety, there seemed to be a lack of appreciation almost for the art in the set-up which left me a little baffled and uninspired.

I ventured away from Williamsburg back on the L towards Manhattan's Chinatown, where I stopped over at Canada Gallery. I took the opportunity to ask the gallery attendant if he had any Michael Williams paintings in the backroom. Sure enough he took the time to pull out 4 paintings which I was grateful for, because I got to take a good look at the painting's all by myself wrapped up in plastic. I didn't really respond much to the Joe Bradley paintings in the Gallery which I saw as somewhat of a bore fest, although that artist is certainly putting this interesting NYC gallery on the map as far as progressive galleries are concerned of which I find that there are only a handful currently. The Michael Williams inside peak was a good look into an artist who's process I find interesting and he's one of the up and coming artists of my generation. I was also told to expect a show of his in NY late March.

After going to Canada, I took a peak in the New Museum in the east village of which I only glanced through a show called "Free." This show had a couple of interesting photographs but overall, did not get my aesthetic juices flowing. I then headed over to the Angelika Theater on Houston street to check out the movie "Somewhere." This movie is very good, although I think you have to know a little bit about the director and her history to really understand her motives as a filmmaker. The story is a simple, but the acting and cinematography make the movie. The story is about an actor who is kind of caught inside his own skin, unable to express himself emotionally in any way. When he begins to take care of his daughter for an extended period of time (he's divorced,) he develops a sense of passion for life and gains insight into himself as a person which he has been lacking for sometime. At the end of the movie, he has a breakdown which results in a chance to start over. The film was a nice one and the first I've seen in the theatre's for a long time.

After the film, I head over to Chinatown to meet my girlfriend and some of her work friends to engage in some oriental hot-pot. This meal was beyond my original expectations as I was able to eat a seemingly enormous amount of food for a set price. You cook your meat and veggies in a chili broth which makes your mouth sizzle for hours. Needless to say, it was an experience and we were the only customers in the whole place.

These are the highlights of a free Sunday in New York. New York allows you the freedom to improvise, be inspired, be filled with outrageous food for reasonable prices, and immerse yourself within the culture our society has created for itself. These are the moments I live for, wherever I am in the world. These are the moments that defy the weather because they allow you to focus on the memory of the moment as opposed to the bitterness of it.

Contemplating reality and possibilities

Art is light. The light from the sun causes everything in life to take action. Without the sun there would be no light and thus no energy, and finally no action. Art cannot exist without the sun. This is the entity that created all action here on this earth. There must be other planets in the universe that exist by way of their local battery source. Much like a computer plugged in to a socket, like the laptop I’m writing this article on, the planet receives its energy from the sun. The concept is very simple yet look at life’s ability to create. It is also easy to deduce from this that life must exist in many other parts of the universe, although who knows in what form. I would assume, using my very primitive brain that creatures on another planet would not be too much different from the kinds we see on this planet. And think about that possibility!!! This is also not mentioning the perspective that we are only capable as humans at looking at the world through a narrow perspective that are very limited gaze can really get a grasp of intellectually. I for one believe that the very next step of evolution will happen on this planet earth sooner than we can possibly think, but probably not in my lifetime. Which in the course of universal history is only a fraction of a second. I believe that the next form of evolution will occur when creatures dissolve mass and travel as light unaffected by extremes in space, and unharmed by the destruction that occurs to matter. Surely, if we can somehow learn to create armor for our bodies to the elements of destruction, and figure out a way to harness the intellectual mass over the bodily mass than we can truly reach our next stages of evolution.

Perhaps, none of this makes sense, and we will never truly be able to transcend death in physical and mental forms, then we will be force to continue the passing down of knowledge from one generation to the next. Eventually the step I described above will result in true evolutionary progress. How long will we choose to be bound to the earth while the rest of the universe is moving in different modes of creation than we can possibly imagine. A telescope and magnifiers can only do so much to show us this reality. I want to see it with my own mind and know for myself the truth of the universe rather than be bound down to my body and to the earth.

Zach Seeger: Magical Mystery Painting

Zach Seeger, A Complascent Shrug Towards Apocolypse

I came across Zach Seeger's work through a friend of mine who studied with Zach at a residency at the Vermont Studio Center. My friend believed that there was an affinity between the way I work and Zach. I began to research the work and realized that although there are certain similarities, there were also considerable differences. The main thing being that Zach's painting is some of the most advanced and interesting painting I've seen by a living and relatively unknown painter in my life.

Zach lives in Binghamton, NY which is about 5 hours north west of New York City. It's not exactly a hot spot for a young artist. Binghamton is mostly known for it's fine SUNY college, which is where Zach received his BFA. The artist must find some solace in this remote location outside the squalor of urban glory, because the work exhibits a well of creative ooze that the urban areas seem to be lacking. For instance, visiting galleries in Chelsea frequently, I notice that there seems to be an obsession with painting that lacks any form of expression. Abstract formalism, like it has for almost 50 years dominates American painting. Painters come and go out of art schools painting exactly like their professors. This to me is a real problem because it suggests that we're in a cultural rut as far as painting is concerned.

Then comes an artist like Zach who's abilities seem to simmer above these urban artists. It seems as if he has an infinite reservoir of creative energy and he does not contain it by any stretch of the imagination. He pours his marks onto canvases sometimes as big as 20 feet and bombards the canvases with designs and images that almost explode out of the artist vivid imagination. The color of these works are harmonious and psychedelic. If the music of the 1960's could be translated into paint, they are visually realized in Zach's work. In a painting entitled "a complacent shrug toward the apocalypse," we see the artists range as far as figuration vs. decorative and how he can combine all of these elements to create a balanced composition on a scale of 144" x 109!" Zach uses all kinds of materials, but in this painting he uses oil paint. His sense of control over oil paint is enormous, especially for me because I struggle with the medium. For him he uses oils like acrylic, and combines his use of transparent washes and opaque glazes with no strain to his palette, which remains vibrant and shimmering. The primitive quality of his imagery is magical in the sense that it seems to flow from his mind without any filter and he leaves no space unnoticed. There is no such thing as dead space in a Zach Seeger work.



Zach is a primitive painting shaman with magical ability. His work transcends our own time. He is a modern caveman painting the future but digging from the well of primordial ooze. Galleries, patrons, and artists alike take notice, because a painter like this comes along but once in a lifetime.



http://www.zachseeger.com/

Basqiuat and Voodoo

Basqiuat and Voodoo are two very separate entities. However, in the art of Jean Michel Basqiuat we see them merge into a form of creation which in the very essence is positivity. Voodoo is an religious practice that finds it's ancestry in West Africa. However, in the African forced diaspora of the 1700's, Voodoo came over as a religious custom and thrived in places like East Cuba and Haiti, of which the latter we see the origin of Basqiuat. The Voodoo spirit can be summed down to the worship of inanimate objects that ward of evil spirits. Does art not function in the same way?

The works of Jean-Michel Basqiuat need to be viewed in it's entirety to be fully understood. I have had the pleasure from seeing the wonderful exhibition of paintings at the Brooklyn Museum retrospective in 2005. In this exhibition one can view first hand the artist' unique craft. His marks seems to be almost meticulously perfect, yet so free form that it seems almost accidental. His ability to mix thick and thin paint, texture and wash, scale and color, with masterful virtuosity is prominent. For all his brilliance as a painter, he continues to receive criticism from art world aficionados, but what they cannot really detect or acknowledge is the impact that he has and will continue to have on a legion of artists for years to come.

Like Voodoo paraphernalia for those who practice this occult religion, Basqiuat's work takes on a talismanic quality for inspiring artists. WE recognize his genius, yet are incapable of reproducing it. In the 1996 film "Basqiuat" directed by Julian Schnabel, there is a great scene where Gary Sinise tells the artist "your audience hasn't even been born yet." I for one was only 5 year's old when Basqiuat died of a heroin overdose, so technically I was not born yet as an artist realizing that this passion would consume many years of my life.

His influence as an art world rebel, and creator of a genre of art that has yet to be accurately described (neo-expressionist does not cut it) will continue to influence generations of artists that work on this planet. He is one of those painters who will continue to take on a cult following and people will worship his works of art and images like those in Voodoo worship their religious iconography. He is representative of a Haitian-Creole Voodoo aesthetic that artists like myself will continue to salivate over and admire for many years to come.

Jean-Michel Basquiat in his studio, 1985. Photograph © Lizzie Himmel

Brice Marden Gets It Done

Brice Mardin

Mathew Marks Gallery

October 29^th 2010, January 22, 2011

The paintings of Brice Mardin are certainly enjoying their current place on the walls of the Mathew Marks Gallery on 22^nd St. The spacious atmosphere lends itself well to these large paintings. There is a nice selection of drawings in the back room of the exhibition which is a nice place to contemplate the impetus of these monumental paintings. The inspiration of these paintings are from manuscripts in the National Palace Museum by Sung dynasty poet Huang T'ing-chien. The back room of drawings shows more in depth how the artist gains his inspiration from Chinese calligraphy. However, his paintings are defiantly removed from this inspiration and is more inspired by American painting techniques in the 20th century. Mardin is taking these influences and reforming them thus creating himself to be the prime abstract painter of the 21st century. His paintings look as though they were created with ease. Compositions seems to be exhibited with ease. The quality of his work shows a mature refinement as they envelop the viewer with calming effect that is felt from the color quality and the respect left for space. Each painting is bordered by two grayish columns which give the effect of centering the compositions. This helps illuminate the center, where most of the quality and composition is perceived. But we see illusions to the under-painting throughout the work which creates a subtle feeling of harmony. In order to pull off painting like these, which are very simple in their composition, the artist must get every part of the painting correct. And Brice gets it done in a masterful way.