Jean Grangeon

at Tria Gallery

Lost in the creek

You are trying to extinguish all the fires at once. You fix things with the duct tape. But the fires are popping up like popcorn in the microwave oven. It is not an ocean, not a river. It is a creek, but still you are being drawn by a wave of small events. You lost your direction, your focus.

Armin Boehm

at Harris Lieberman(Frieze Art Fair New York 2013)

GO-ZL,2012

You understand the natural world from the ground up(the lower quarter of the painting). You obtain the root first - fundamental knowledge and skills. Based on that foundation you build your map of reality. The imaginary world of art, metaphysics and other philosophies you start to explore by the leaves peeking into your tangible world (the grey structure).

Jenny Nelson

at Tria Gallery

Set Sail

You don't know where you are going. Everything is foggy. But you have hull of steel confidence. Your sails are full of hope. Your engines are curiosity and search for new knowledge. The desire for new adventures lights your way(orange spots). The chances are big that before you get to the adventures, the routine(grey fields) will dissolve you. Or you will too close to the danger and will be burn as a butterfly which got too close to fire.

Sam Reveles

at CRG Gallery

Wilderness Study #23, 2007

A Scandal brings grief, problems and a turmoil for people that are directly involved (the dark blue doodles). Then it turns into a material for news and gossip(the blue doodles). Over time it become an anecdote(the white doodles). And of course you need a supply network to keep the flames glowing - tight knitted community of people (the background).

Pia Fries

at CRG Gallery

Untitled, 2003/2004

All the tinsel will be washed away over time. All the unimportant stuff will be forgotten. The essence of your past emerges. And if you had a happy life (though you didn't realize it, while the events were unraveling), the happiness will dominate your memories(the light turquoise spots).

Steven Bindernagel

at CRG Gallery

Untitled, 2011

This is a look into a big company. From the outside it could look as a big solid skyscraper from glass and steel. But these are the dirty insides that every company has. Everyone is building his own project. Everyone is trying to get as high as possible. It does not matter by what means. You can use your neighbor's plumbing or just build on top of the his room. If it is good to you, you can cooperate with others, and then abandon them in the middle to move to a better place. Welcome to the corporate jungle.

Juan Uslé

at Cheim & Read

SIN DESENLACE, 2007

The routine (the white lines that go from left to right) changes you. You can't feel it, because it does very very slow. As time goes by (the grey vertical lines) you are changing. The routine gets in the way. It annoyingly disturbs the the main picture. You think : "This is just a day job, but I am actually an artist". But you are wrong. You are only part-time artist. Only if you can use this to your advantage(the blue background triangular figure in the lower middle), you can get you break-through (the white figure in the center). Otherwise the conveyor of life will be moving without you notice ( the grey horizontal ribbons in the upper part).

Bill Jensen

at Cheim & Read

WITH COLOR XXVIII, 2009

Woman (The big dark figure in the center). She could be secretively dark. Outside there is a bright sunny day, when everything seems simple, fun and easy to understand. She is full of unknown wisdom. The mystery pulls you in. You want to dive into the deepest darkest corner. You are marching willingly into a web of lust, forbidden pleasures and unending secrecy.

Barbara Kasten

at Bortolami Gallery

Construct LB-5, 1982

Curiosity drives you. Just as a butterfly flies to a light (a construct in the lower left corner), you are moved toward a black hole of Unknown (upper right corner). Your wings are desire(red) and mystery(black). After getting some height(accumulating some knowledge) and crossing some lines (red line from the center to upper middle), you understand the more you know the less the subject is clear. The desire to explore the unknown really opens up the wings(the red figure in the right part of the painting).

Thomas Scheibitz

at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

Schlact, 2003

This man is very social. He is funny. He is the center of any party. He stands out in the flock of people. He converses, jokes and very likable. But he is an actor. Inside he is very lonely, empty and sad man. The external joyfulness is the symptom of the ongoing internal battle to conquer the desert in the soul.

Iva Gueorguieva

at Ameringer/McEnery/Yohe

Contamination Check,  2011

Memories : blues, red pain, scars, black despair. Some parts are not connected, because the connecting parts are forgotten. Memory catches the significant events, so the past seems packed. The future is calm, melancholy and static.

Suzanne Caporael

at Ameringer-McEnery-Yohe

Suzanne Caporael, 263, 2012

Love is created from small pieces, subtle details and things that got out of hand. It is an imploded explosion. Love is a gentle flower. It needs attention and protection. You should keep Love in a box.

Dorothy Dehner

at Levis Fine Art

Untitled

Dance party. It's dark. People are seen in the flashes of background light. You don't see them moving continuously, but as in a stop frame video. You not only hear the music, you feel it. Everything is vibrating with the rhythm.You feel somehow connected to other people in the room. You all are one in the dance.

Budd Hopkins

at Levis Fine Art

Aquarius III, 1971

You have planned everything. You have anticipated every possible outcomes. But then suddenly your left underside got loose(the greyish figure in the lower left corner). This "disaster" tilts your whole structure to the left. You think that everything is ruined. But actually it gives you a new perspective, a unique point of view. The uniqueness boosts you up, and you are getting ahead of the pack. The imperfections are not bad, they are engines of progress.

David Thorpe

at Casey Kaplan (Art 43 Basel 2012)

The Real Life, 2006

People need laws. They need rules to live by. People are social in nature. When you have a group, you have to have some rules in place, otherwise it is very lonely and cold place. Besides well defined and written laws (the yellow fences) there are some unspoken rules of individual behavior (the stakes in the foreground). Those rules look weak and easy to overcome. But you need real courage, rebellion and love for freedom (the black figure) to step outside the self imposed borders.

Charline von Heyl

at Friedrich Petzel Gallery (Art 43 Basel 2012)

The Antiplatonick,2011

Friendship is love without physical pleasure. We can call friendship between two people that are in theory sexually attractive, as a platonic love. The problem is that they are staying friends because they have to. They already have someone else that they are intimately involved with. Or the society forbids them to cross the border between the friends and lovers. The feelings are there, they don't go away. They just get covered up.

Brice Marden

at Matthew Marks Gallery (Art 43  Basel 2012)

Window Study #6, 1985

In the winter everything is gray. Those are the colors of winter : white, black and gray with bits of blue. Toward the end of winter, even the snow gets gray hues. The depression is piling up with layers of long cold nights.Everything looks smaller and packed. You start to think when you will get a break - a spring break!

Hélio Oiticica

at Lelong Gallery (Frieze Art Fair New York 2012)

Untitled, 1956

The night is very romantic time. It is as well a very philosophical time when you are alone. It gives you a boost like a hit of a cue stick into the snooker ball. You start moving toward another person. Before that this person was living in a parallel universe. You didn't notice her existence. She is the absolute opposite of what you are. Nevertheless you are so attracted to her, only a collision can stop you.

Jeremy Gilbert Rolfe

at Alexander Gray Associates (Frieze Art Fair New York 2012)

Dawn in any city, 2011

People make up the face of a city. They can brighten a gray, gloomy and depressing city. They can ruin a perfect town. People add colors to the buildings and streets. But as the number of people swells, you start feeling overwhelmed by the mobs. You feel like a sand grain in the sea - isolated and insignificant. You feel very lonely and crowded at the same time. That's why you are trying to escape : behind a newspaper, into the headphones or onto the internet.

When I finished writing about this work, I have realized that I already have a post about it. So for those who are interested here the link to the same artwork.

Armin Boehm

 at Harris Lieberman (Frieze Art Fair New York 2012)

Aliya, 2012

Aliya is the Jewish immigration to Israel. It comes from the verb lealot - to raise. You need to move when you feel that you don't belong to your current place. You have to raise above the deep roots that you have, because you are drying out(the trees). You have to overcome the burdens of  the journey (the desert behind the trees). Your previous experience and background will help you to establish in the new place (the small town near the mountains). The life there would not be easy, those are pretty dangerous mountains surrounding this small place.But when a man has an ideal, a dream, he can move everything, even mountains.