Good show of painting at the Hand Workshop Art Center, who said these were dead months for art? There seems to be more going on now than there has been all year! Today I went to an Eleanor Heartney lecture.
The Hand Workshop's show is called Adaptation Syndrome: Painting in Contemporary Image Culture, curated by Dinah and Paul Ryan, and includes artists Scott Barber, Jane Callister, Margaret Evangeline, Rosemarie Fiore, Ron Johnson, Shirley Kaneda, Ziga Kariz, Sylvan Lionni, Jeff McMahon, John Pomara, Daniel Raedeke, and Vincent Szarek.
The statement accompanying the small announcement asserts that "the most persuasive means of visual production no longer rests with artists, but with media gurus, theme-park designers, genetic scientists, fashion photographers, the military, advertising designers, and computer engineers" and asks "when almost anyone can create an arresting visual image, how do painters respond?"
Say what? Is that what painting is all about? Competing with theme-park designers and media gurus to create arresting visual images?
The announcement continues with how the artists in this exhibition "embrace the pervasiveness of contemporary image culture and interact inventively with it" but actually, only the very weakest pieces in this show do merely that - if I even get the statement at all. Curatorial conceit aside, I'm glad they threw in some good artists anyway. My current favorites in this show of twelve artists are Ron Johnson(VA), Shirley Kaneda(NY), Jane Callister(CA), and Daniel Raedeke(MO).
Later tonight or tomorrow I'll go into more depth with Johnson and Kaneda.
Awesome!
ReplyDeleteJane Callister was my first drawing teacher at the University of Nevada- Las Vegas, circa "91-92". She's really nice, a great artist, has a wonderful accent, and is quite fetching. She uses the 39 cent brushes from the hardware store where I used to work (until Home Depot came along and squashed us). A lesson for all you "gotta have your $242.00 martian chin hair brush" painters. Glad to see she's got Anaba's support.
i don't think he was knocking painters cristina, just the ones that think they've gotta have all the best gear to get it done. you know, like aspen skiers.
ReplyDeletei think your being overly sensitive because you just spent $500 bucks at main art - hey, you won that!