Mark Creegan Thumbs-Up Comment

Mark Creegan left a really nice comment on my uber page, about the Thumbs-Up Photos -

"This is one of those projects that its so wrong its right. It flies in the face of the 'professionalism' that pervades so much art worlders in its fuck-it-all attutude. It is both fun and sad, and sincere in its demonstration of approval seeking.

It's about access of product, the access you have in getting these artists to see the work, the access thru approval, and the potential access such an endorsement brings. It's meaningful in that it's meaningless. What is going on thru these artists' minds at that moment? No doubt some enjoy the work and doing this, some seem to have taken some arm twisting and must be anxious by the simplicity of it all. A "limp" thumbs up and expressionless face replaces the appropriate "congratulations on your show". Your paintings, rich serious abstract ones at that, are playing a role of interloping backdrop to some impromtu poltical positioning."

(i'm posting it here with mark's okay)

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: The Black Factory... PLUS!

This is The Black Factory.... Team 2006!

This photo was taken in Richmond. JT saw them in DC. Libby saw them in Philadelphia. I saw them in Richmond.

Previous Thumbs-Up All-Stars:

Pat Adams
William Bailey
Nayland Blake
George Clinton
Carl Dennis
Lois Dodd
Inka Essenhigh
Roberta Fallon
Jonathan Franzen
David Gates
Peter Halley
Julie Heffernan
Wolf Kahn
Ray Kass
Sarah McEneaney
Melissa Meyer
Carl Phillips
Libby Rosof
Sherod Santos
Peter Schumann
Judith Stein
Kai Vierstra
Larry Woiwode

PLUS: Ryan used that photo for his RVA Magazine article on them. Also included in that issue is the following photo -


this is from page 76 of this month's rva magazine, an arts and culture monthly here in richmond. i was looking at this fashion feature thinking.. hmm, so familiar, until it dawned on me that it looked like my front door. so i went out into the hall and held up the magazine... it IS my front door!

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala - CONTINUED!!

It's been a while since I last posted a Photo of Recommendation (George Clinton!), so here are TWO - in front of the same painting at different states of completion.


This is Peter Schumann, the Bread & Puppet Master! He is toasting, not giving a thumbs-up. What do you think is in that cup? He is looking at it with LOVE.


This is Julie Heffernan.

HERE IS THE FINISHED PAINTING.

PREVIOUS THUMBS-UP MANDALA DIETIES:

Pat Adams
William Bailey
Nayland Blake
George Clinton
Carl Dennis
Lois Dodd
Inka Essenhigh
Roberta Fallon
Jonathan Franzen
David Gates
Peter Halley
Wolf Kahn
Ray Kass
Sarah McEneaney
Melissa Meyer
Carl Phillips
Libby Rosof
Sherod Santos
Judith Stein
Kai Vierstra
Larry Woiwode

ABMB: Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: George Clinton

This is George Clinton giving a thumbs-up to my meatballs in front of Art Basel Miami.

I was at a party on Saturday night around the pool of a really nice hotel and he was in a roped off section making a collaborative painting. George Clinton likes art!

Previous Thumbs-Ups here.

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: Judith Stein

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: Judith Stein, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is art writer/collector/curator Judith Stein.

Carol Es just wrote that she visited with Judith while in Philadelphia and that "Judith has co-curated a show at Slought with Gabe Greenberg called Comicology: The New Magical Real, which includes original comic book art".

I remember seeing Judith's Horace Pippin show at the PAFA, it was so good. Great paintings, great setting.

Pat Adams
William Bailey
Nayland Blake
Carl Dennis
Lois Dodd
Inka Essenhigh
Roberta Fallon
Jonathan Franzen
David Gates
Peter Halley
Wolf Kahn
Ray Kass
Sarah McEneaney
Melissa Meyer
Carl Phillips
Libby Rosof
Sherod Santos
Kai Vierstra
Larry Woiwode

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: Sarah McEneaney

Sarah McEneaney, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Sarah McEneaney, giving a digital thumbs-up. Marlene Dumas, Humberto Maturana... are you out there???

Pat Adams
William Bailey
Nayland Blake
Carl Dennis
Lois Dodd
Inka Essenhigh
Roberta Fallon
Jonathan Franzen
David Gates
Peter Halley
Wolf Kahn
Ray Kass
Melissa Meyer
Carl Phillips
Libby Rosof
Sherod Santos
Kai Vierstra
Larry Woiwode

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: Melissa Meyer

Melissa Meyer, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Melissa Meyer. She has a show up at Elizabeth Harris Gallery until this Saturday, October 8th. Why haven't I read about it yet??? I think artcritical is going to post something soon, thankfully.

GO SEE IT!!!

Pat Adams
William Bailey
Nayland Blake
Carl Dennis
Lois Dodd
Inka Essenhigh
Roberta Fallon
Jonathan Franzen
David Gates
Peter Halley
Wolf Kahn
Ray Kass
Carl Phillips
Libby Rosof
Sherod Santos
Kai Vierstra
Larry Woiwode

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof

This photo of Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof was taken at my Art For The Cash Poor table in Philadelphia this summer. It was so HOT. I spent most of my time sleeping in the shade under my table. I didn't sell anything, BUT I did buy a piece from Roberta and Libby - it was only fifty bucks and is painted on both sides.

Here is my Art For The Cash Poor White Hot Market Report.

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala (Literary Week!): Larry Woiwode

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala (Literary Week!): Larry Woiwode, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Larry Woiwode.

I chose a poem from his collection Even Tide and asked Larry if he'd write it on my painting. In this picture you can see Larry holding the book and transcribing the poem. He changed it a little bit from book to painting; the original poem was written about twenty-five years before the transcription. I'm very thankful to Larry Woiwode. Below is the poem taken from the book, tomorrow I'll post an update showing how it was edited for the painting.

I stared the stars in the face for an answer
And the moon appeared – it was no apparition,
The gold round host
In a cold sky.
It spoke:

Dark is nearer my heart than light;
I arrived, as you, out of equal circumstance,
And I, as you, reveal myself at night.
You see death has taken my face
And ages before the rest but my eye
Looking down wondering why you tremble
When you contend only with her or a her and I
With the irresuscitability of myself,
Myself, myself, and this – ambiguous sky.

BONUS!: this is the same painting Jonathan Franzen posed with earlier. Here's the finished painting.

UPDATE 7/11/2005: the last line is the only thing different on my painting, he omitted the word "ambiguous".

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala (Literary Week!): David Gates

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala (Literary Week!): David Gates, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is David Gates.

Here's an interview with and short story by David Gates.

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala (Literary Week!): Sherod Santos

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala (Literary Week!): Sherod Santos, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Sherod Santos.

Here's an interview with Sherod Santos.

Thumbs-Up Magic, Activate!

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala (Literary Week!): Jonathan Franzen

Photos of Recommendation: (Literary Week!): Jonathan Franzen, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Jonathan Franzen. This isn't a Thumbs-Up photo, but I'm posting it anyway. He was this close to doing it but before I could take the picture he changed his mind. He said that he'd posed for a few photos in which the photographer had asked him to do something strange, and he regretted it afterwards. Jonathan Franzen is very cautious.

The Corrections is one of my favorite novels; I met him before it was published but he read from some of it. I think it took him like ten years to write.

Powell's interview with Jonathan Franzen.

BOMB interview with Jonathan Franzen.

Slate's "Jonathan Franzen: A Defense".

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala (Literary Week!): Carl Phillips

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala (Literary Week!): Carl Phillips, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Carl Phillips.

Buy some poetry!!!

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala (Literary Week!): Carl Dennis

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala (Literary Week!): Carl Dennis, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Carl Dennis. He won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for his collection Practical Gods.

Here's a short interview with Carl Dennis.

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: William Bailey

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: William Bailey, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is William Bailey. Here's a recent Brooklyn Rail article on William Bailey.

Thumbs-Up Mandala dieties featured to date:

Peter Halley
Lois Dodd
Nayland Blake
Pat Adams
Ray Kass
Wolf Kahn
Kai Vierstra
Inka Essenhigh

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: Inka Essenhigh

Inka Essenhigh, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Inka Essenhigh. Here's the Chuck Close version.

Inka gave a lecture at the VMFA last year and one piece of advice she had still sticks in my mind, especially when considering her own work. Talking about her abrupt switch from enamels to oil she said she did it because she knew that she wanted to eventually start painting in oil and decided there was no reason to put it off; she should just switch immediately. I’m not sure if I’m wording this very well but the gist of the advice was that if you can see yourself doing something differently in five or ten years you should make that change now.

Today on Franklin Einspruch's Artblog they are discussing Richard Serra's work; frequent commenter oldpro states "like Kelley and Johns and so many of our current art culture heros his {Serra's} virtue is to have evolved a "signature" style and stuck with it, unaffected by the changes inspiration always forces on art, for decades. It really is soulless stuff... ". I'm pretty sure that oldpro is not an Essenhigh fan but going by his definition above I don't think he could call her work soulless.

All of the following are recent Inka Essenhigh paintings: Ice Cliff(2005), Bullies(2005), Brush with Death(2004). This newer work has so much more emotional depth than the earlier stuff - much richer. Haircut(2005) is so sweet, almost like a Norman Rockwell. The earlier work had an art-nouveau futuristic feel but much of the latest stuff seems to be looking back to American art of the 30’s and earlier. I’m thinking of some members of the Ashcan School like George Bellows, Everett Shinn, and especially the under-known William Glackens (click on the title of an image and then click on the thumbnail to enlarge), and also Ryder and Rockwell; I wonder how much she and husband Steve Mumford influence each other and share sources.

RELATED: The VMFA recently acquired a 2002 Essenhigh, Green Wave, which Jennifer Reeves describes thusly at the end of this short essay on Essenhigh's work.

"One gigantic eyeball hovers among huge waves, in a recent painting, wherein a figure attempts to rise at the shoreline. This eyeball clues us in to the powerful undercurrents of imagination ready to be harvested from our very souls. Refusing to be beached along the shores of the unconscious, Essenhigh plunges headlong into its ocean of mysteries. May we take on the high waves with her, navigating between the dangerous undertows, devoutly awash in the grace of blue greens."

P.S. I had a great studio visit with her; she really narrowed in on some things, very sensitive and helpful.

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: Kai Vierstra

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: Kai Vierstra, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Kai Vierstra.

Kai is included in Fresh Meat at Kim Foster Gallery until July 2nd along with a number of other recent graduates of VCU's MFA sculpture program. Some of the others showing are Diana Al-Hadid, Sarah Bednarek, Gabriel Bennet, Tim Devoe, and Fernando Mastrangelo. The VCU Sculpture program is ranked #1 in the country so those curious what all the fuss is about should try to see the show. I heard Jerry Saltz came by and took a bunch of notes.

Kim Foster Gallery doesn't seem to have it's own website, just an Artnet page which hasn't been updated, but fortunately Kai has a good website with all of his work including in-progress shots of Earthquake, his Kim Foster piece.

Kai is currently in residence at Skowhegan. Sarah McEneaney is up there as visiting faculty - I bet she's making some good paintings.

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: Wolf Kahn

Wolf Kahn, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Wolf Kahn.

Wolf Kahn is cool. He immediately agreed to pose for a thumbs-up photo but then turned and faced the wall. I asked him to pose for another one in which I could see his face and he pointed to a sparkly paint puddle on the floor (beneath a work-in-progress) and gave it a big thumbs-up. Wolf Kahn has a huge following but he's still underrated.

When I was at the Vermont Studio Center in 1999 we were eating lunch when Louise Von Weise, a co-founder, noticed that some ducklings were being swept downstream away from their mother and so she had me and Jon Gregg jump into the river to save them. Wolf Kahn wasted no time stripping down to his underwear and jumping in too. He didn't catch a duckling, but he tried. That was fun.

I have a confession to make. I did it with Wolf Kahn!

(someone just told me his paintings are queer and he looks like an old woman, but I'm having none of it. Why do these non-art people hang around me when I'm blogging?? Go away! He's great!)

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: Ray Kass

Ray Kass, originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Ray Kass.

Ray Kass is lecturing at the University of Richmond tomorrow night, Thursday, June 2nd, at 6:15pm. I can't make it but if you go please share your thoughts.

P.S. - finding that Ray Kass image I came across another critic with good things to say about Marlene Dumas, Barry Schwabsky.

Photos of Recommendation: Thumbs-Up Mandala: Pat Adams

Pat Adams
Originally uploaded by Bromirski.

This is Pat Adams. Holy smokes! Some of her stuff looks like some of my meatballs!! Wow, she's pretty good!!!

Woah! She's using acrylic and sand and I'm using acrylic and sand!! Am I copying?!? I hereby want to announce due credit to Pat Adams! Something has rubbed off!

For you little people lovers - this is an awful photo of that painting but there are five little bearded men living in that painting's caves. They're trying to make it work!

(this thumbs-up photo is smaller than the previous ones, I'll try to make it bigger later)

CLARIFICATION: These thumbs-up photos are not of the artist with their work, but of the artist with my work. Please click on the links to see examples of the featured artist's work. Pat Adams is great.