Apr 30, 2012

David Schnell

at Galerie EIGEN + ART (Frieze Art Fair New York 2012)


Metrum
People don't like open space. They make people feel insecure. People like to observe open spaces from above.When you are on a high ground, you seem in control. People can't comprehend huge things. In order to understand something big you need to divide it. You need to count it. You need meters, counters, gauges, timers, watches. The time is the ultimate open space. When you finished compartmentalizing, you can carve your path in the thick forest of statistics and reports.

Apr 29, 2012

Weekend Edition 25

Henri Matisse


Snow Flowers, 1951

You are hopping from a rectangle to a rectangle, trying things out(the white figures). But you don't feel attached to them. They are too white, too cold. You are looking for a passion, for something that could be you. Then suddenly you hit the black figure. It feels right. This is definitely you. It embraces you. It intrigues you. You have found your passion. Yes, you did have an orange rectangle before(in the lower right corner). But it was not a right time or the right place or the right figure. To find your passion you have to be in the right time/place/ state of mind.

Apr 27, 2012

Victoria Morton

at Sadie Coles HQ (Frieze Art Fair New York 2012)


Figurine, 2011

The person's life consists of myriads of small dot-sized tasks. There is a lot of commotion that fills up all your space/time/soul. They are necessary things to do. But because you are busy you are postponing your big things - your dreams. "When I grow up". "When I get rich". "When I graduate". "When I retire". "As soon as I turn 30/40/50....". People think that the time is unlimited resource. When they get to the point where they suppose to start implementing their dreams, they find other more urgent things to do. So they move from a checkpoint to a checkpoint in their life, but their dreams are left out. The dreams are only frames to dot-filled pictures of their life.

Apr 26, 2012

Joan Mitchell

at Cheim & Read (Frieze Art Fair New York 2012)


Untitled, 1959
On the first look, the person looks calm, easy going, even plain. He seems joyless, removed and cold. Then you start getting to know the person. You dig a little bit deeper, and you see that he's  got  dark side. It is full of feelings, internal motion and passions. And all of those are a lot more powerful, concentrated and even fearful, because they are concealed and don't have an outlet.

Apr 25, 2012

Uwe Henneken

at Galerie Gisela Capitain (Frieze Art Fair New York 2012)


Gehend, 2011
You see a pastoral : cute accurate fields, cute small village. Sun, blue sky, green grass - what could be more ideal? Then you see something you think it is confetti. But it turns out to be holes in your idealistic picture. The holes show what is there behind the mirage. It's soil, brown soil. It's hard work, mud and boredom.

Apr 24, 2012

Thilo Heinzmann

at Bortolami (Frieze Art Fair New York 2012)


Untitled, 1999

We always try to measure ourselves. We want to put everything into numbers - how we perform at work, at home, at life. We draw a line and we are pressing ourselves to get to the finish. Then we draw another line and we force ourselves to jump over it.Slowly we transfer our existence into statistics producing machine.The problem is after drawing too many deadlines to cross we lost our way.

Apr 23, 2012

Phillip Allen

at The approach (Frieze Art Fair New York 2012)


Permanence of the Unexpected Windfall, 2011

Our life experience as it moves from the current events(the bottom of the painting) to the distant past converts into logs. Wood logs (the central and upper parts of the painting). The father the events in time( farther up from the bottom) the more the logs are condensed, some events even collude creating a memory of an event that is actually several events happened a long time ago. All those memories (the logs) burden down onto our life, influencing our behavior and decisions. But we are getting help with this load. Our memory fails(the white-bordered semi-transparent figures). It fails for good reasons. It lets us make new decisions easier. It makes our memories feel better than they were.

Apr 22, 2012

Weekend Edition 24

Robert Delaunay


Rhythm, 1912

The rhythm is created bu separate sounds, nevertheless they obey certain laws and rules(the left pane). The timing between the sounds is what distinguish the music from a cacophony. But the timing is the delay between sounds, but the delay is the silence. So the silence defines the music. From another perspective the rhythm influences you. It creates a mood for you(yellow-blue art in the upper left corner of the right pane that creates yellow-blue-red-green-blue-black circle in the upper right corner). Those taps can go deep into your memory to bring up some things from the past(the green arc in lower left corner of the right pane, red-yellow-blue arc from the center to lower right corner).

Apr 20, 2012

Victor Vasarely

at William Weston Gallery Ltd( TEFAF Maastricht 2012)


Kapolna - Réponses à Vasarely. Replies to Vasarely, 1973

 It's a box. You are looking inside the box.Usually you hear: "Think outside the box". But life in the box is not as easy as it seems. The inside is not a big empty space. It is sets and sets of collections of other smaller boxes, figures and shapes. It is a difficult task to arrange them, so they fit into a nice pattern.And for those who want to go outside, there are always doors. You just need to find them (orange and violet figures).

Apr 19, 2012

Gerhard Richter

at Van de Weghe Fine Art (TEFFAF Maastricht 2012)


Abstraktes Bild (889-12), 1932

There is a conflict. The man conquers nature( a beige pipe in the lower center background) by erecting in its place a huge cement block(the porous gray-blue figure in the upper right part of the picture). The orange flames in the upper left corner show the ongoing struggle. Despite by feeling victorious the man starts an internal conflict. He tries to change the barrier he himself created(the blue scratches, yellow and red lines on the cement) . But it is a much harder task to accomplish.

Apr 18, 2012

Joan Miró

at Waterhouse and Dodd (TEFAF Maastricht 2012)



Sans Titre
You have a hive of different thoughts (the gray figure in the lower left corner). You have passion (the red figure in the lower center). Then one of the thoughts adjacent to the passion gets extended, becoming an idea(a black line between the gray figure and the red figure going up to the black figure in the center). Fueled by the passion the idea grows into a  something real. It is already a thing that you do. Combining it with other ideas of yours(the black line bordering the red figure from the right) and with ideas from others(the black line from the yellow figure) takes your thing to another level. In the process of doing the thing you create other ideas(the black lines extended from the black figure). They may not lead to anything else. And maybe the thing will die off eventually, but the main thing is that while you are busy with all of these, you find new passions(the color circles : green, blue, violet, gray).

Apr 17, 2012

Joaquin Torres García

at Galeria Sur(TEFAF Maastricht 2012)


Estructura Universal con tres arcos, 1945
 The person is divided into two parts: basic instincts - animal(the left small arc) and spirit - soul(the right small arc). The human basic instincts part is the same as in any other animals - they want to eat, to breed and to be safe. The spirit part is what makes us different from the animal world. This is logic and abstract thinking.It let us observe and conclude.A mix of these two building blocks gives us the universe of personalities, characters, feelings and behaviors. This is the third big arc. That arc lets people do almost anything they can think of.

Apr 16, 2012

Chu Teh-Chun

at Salis and Vertes(TEFAF Maastricht 2012)


Untitled
This is a meditation.To heal and recharge your mind(the darker upper half of the painting) you need to connect and to listen to your body(the lighter lower part). It is difficult to communicate because your conscience is blocking low level signals(the multitude of spots in the middle). Some signals are getting though but are distorted and misunderstood.

Apr 15, 2012

Weekend Edition 23

Edgar Degas


End of an Arabesque, 1877
The artist is working. The first thing you notice is the yellow glow of the shirt. The glow represent the magic of the dance, the artwork. Next, you see the ballerina. She looks like a real simple person. There is nothing magical about her. How coud she create something so beautiful and enchanting? She've got something special, the talant(the bouqet). It is the flares inside her soul(the flowers inside the wrap) rhat she use to illuminate the world. She absorbs the surrounding world through the talant. This creates the magic and glow of the dance. If you look to the background, you will see that not all figures posses the same magical glow.

Apr 14, 2012

Geer van Velde

at Kunsthandel Rueb(TEFAF Maastricht 2012)

 
Composition, 1960
People build castles virtual and real. The thing is that the foundation is mostly non-existed or virtual(the blue figure in the lower right corner and the open space between it and the gray figure in the lower left corner). They take the facts(the gray figure in the lower left corner) and their dreams (the blue figure in the lower right figure) and span them with predictions, feelings and hopes. The newly built layer is used as a foundation for the next layer. Sometimes this method works, sometimes it does not. The main thing is when it does not, you should just start over.

Apr 12, 2012

Karel Appell

at Osborne Samuel(TEFAF Maastricht 2012)


Personnages, 1960
A great movie or a play has several layers of content. There is a main plot that is easy to spot and follow(black paint). There are several supporting plots (red and blue paint). They are shorter, less obvious, but not less important. All plots are interacting, intersecting and converging with each other. These interactions create the sandbox where the personages live. The last layer is the number of citations, visual clues(the doodles). They connect the movie to other pieces of artwork, thus putting the movie in th global art context.

Josef Albers

at Galerie Vedovi(TEFAF Maastricht 2012)

 
Study for Homage to the Square, 1961
Square is a perfect figure. Anyway you look it is the same. The perfect square has only the squares inside.But nothing is perfect (the inner squares are off center). The inner squares are darker, more mysterious. The perfect orange square that is attracts you initially. The unknown inner imperfect squares create a tunnel that draws you in. This combination builds a new love.

Apr 10, 2012

Otto Dix

at Richard Nagy(TEFAF Maastricht 2012)

 
Franzosisches Dorf, 1918
You travel to a nice small village. Everything seem different, new, even strange : colors of buildings, people's clothes, stone-paved streets. But as the mystery of new place wears off, you are stRting to feel the urge to move on. The purpose of the journey is not the destination, but the process of traveling, exploring the unknown.

Apr 9, 2012

Gerhard Richter

at Anthony Meier Fine Arts(TEFAF Maastricht 2012)


25 Farben, 1932
Something is going on. you can feel it. The Change is everywhere : people are changing colors, sides and rules of the game while playing.The problem is you can't grasp what it is. You are too close to the game. you are so close that you don't see the entire board. You understand that you need to move away, so you can get a good overlook. But you are so afraid to miss any piece of action, you are just frozen the epicenter.

Weekend Edition 22

Jackson Pollock


Male Female

This is a date. You can feel a lot of flirtation in the air with undertones of desire. Information intake is in the overdrive (ears, eyes are all over the place). Some things are put in the open( the white rectangle in the center). But most of them are behind folding screens that with time would be taken down. Some bits of personal information are strung together. The missing pieces are calculated behind the scenes(the black rectangle with white chalked numbers). There are a lot of unknown - mystery that really attracts you.

Apr 6, 2012

André Derain

at Landau Fine Art (TEFAF Maastricht 2012)


André Derain Bateaux sur la plage à la Collioure, 1905

People are dreaming of big things and far away lands(green, violet and orange stains in the background). They want to journey to exotic places, they want to do grand things. Everyone has a dream about something that would / should be a purpose of his/her life.With big hopes they even build boats(the blue boats in the lower part). But most of them prefer to sail without leaving the port. Where the competition is fierce, but everything is familiar, without threatening mystery and you know how to maneuver for a better spot. Only a single one who didn't build his boat on hopes, but on practicality and common sense, sailed away to explore new lands. 

Apr 5, 2012

Eva Hesse

at Kukje Gallery (TEFAF Maastricht 2012)


No Title, 1960
Fear. It is full of jealousy, intolerance (yellow), steel(gray). The threat looks like a bomb coming your way(The big black figure slightly off center to the right). It is inevitable. You are frozen, can't move. You feel trapped in a steel cage(gray frame around the picture). But there is hope(white figures). There is always hope. That's why people do anything when they are really afraid. And the bomb looks a lot like an amphora, so this is not new.

Apr 4, 2012

Geer van Velde

at Frans Jacobs Fine Art (TEFAF Maastricht 2012)


Composition, 1962

Things that happen to us in life are shaping our personality. Every event breaks apart a layer of inside (a black triangle in the bottom left center, black figure in the top center and a big gray arrow with navy end in the upper right corner). The broken pieces are trying to get back together like a planet that builds itself from the star leftovers. The pieces are not fit well as they were before.So our personality is a mosaic of our character and events.

Apr 3, 2012

Riddle Edition 2

Leonid Golender







It is time for a new entry in Riddle Edition (150th post). What is your take on this?

Apr 2, 2012

Afro Basaldella

at Haunch of Venison (TEFAF Maastricht 2012)

Coro Di Santa Sabina, 1962
The faith(red) provides you with a moral code(black), some rules to guide your behavior. Sometimes it is easy to follow (thin black lines), sometimes it requires you to do big sacrifices(black stains). In rare cases the sacrifices are so huge, they take you out of the picture(the black stain in the upper left corner). But your sacrifices helps others followers to solidify their faith and to continue the journey. Every faith has an underlining of intolerance(yellow background) to other faiths, this is in human nature to think that your believes are the right ones.