Marcel Schaffner

at Galerie Carzaniga (Art 43 Basel 2012)

Untitled, ca. 1957

Jealousy starts from a small event. When you feel that someone is better than you. someone is closer to your object of devotion than you. After it started, you will look at anything as suspicious. Anything will add oil to the fire of Jealousy. Any attempts of Logic and Common Sense to get through would fail(gray figures).  The only logic you use is to justify and to rationalize your actions.Those actions will build a wall that will bury away from your devotion.

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. 

Charles Biederman

Charles Biederman at Menconi and Schoelkopf Fine Art, LLC (The Armory Show 2012)

Untitled, 1935

This is the birth of a great idea.It is started to crystallize seemingly from thin air (the blue figure in the left center).  But actually you are filling the empty carcass of the idea with your previous experience, common sense and logic (lower greenish gray part of the painting). And the second source of inspiration is your passion, your feelings. The idea is changing forms, it is flexible as you progress with your thinking. You have your doubts whether it is something worthy(the waves from the center to the lower right corner). Now you are pretty advanced in developing the idea, so you are starting to think about a real implementation(the rectangles with black border).

Jason Fox

Jason Fox at Peter Blum Gallery

Untitled, 2011

 People are afraid of the Unknown. They can't stand it. They have instincts of hunters-gatherers, so they need to explore. They are always in the search for new things. This is the only way people can survive. They have to color all the white spots on the map.You use the common sense and logic to pave the way(the brown rectangles). The next layer is hope, energy and imagination (the green rectangles).

Weekend Edition 17

Paul Gauguin

Brittany Landscape The David Mill, 1894

 A man has a house to live in , a business to take care of. But he is dreaming(The mill on the left half). He is dreaming of moving to another place, doing something different(The remote house in the middle). Or he is even dreaming of  something that he does not know exactly what it is or where it is(the remote forest and the cloud in upper right corner). This last dream is most appealing. The man always seeks new experiences. He always dreams of something new. What keeps him from doing dangerous and maybe stupid steps toward his dreams are common sense(the tree in the center) and his family (figures in the lower middle).

Louise Lawler

Louise Lawler at Metro Pictures (Art Basel Miami Beach 2011)

Red, White and Blue

The first (from the left) brown line is common sense. It is depended on steel-sharp logic(the grey lines). The rightmost dark brown line is your inner desires.They are mixed with small amount of common sense and dreams(blue line). Only bold, even somewhat rough insertion of Will can turn those dreams and desires into the victory red carpet.The will spans over the logic and the common sense. The fulfillment satisfies you more than before, but the dream has gone.

Frederick Hammersley

Frederick Hammersley at Ameringer McEnery Yohe (Art Basel Miami Beach 2011)

And so on

You have some problem to solve, some riddle to crack It sits in your brain like that black stain. No matter what you are thinking about, you always return to the problem.And only wisdom(purple), common sense(brown) and hope(green) will help you get around that mental block.

Richard Diebenkorn

Richard Diebenkorn at Leslie Feely Fine Art (Art Basel Miami Beach 2011)

Art Basel Miami Beach

Untitled

Rules are here for the reason. They help us to resolve things that are not obvious. The rules are represented here by a street light(red ring, yellow ring and green line in the middle left). The rules that work are based on common sense and pragmatism. They solve conflicts even before the conflicts start. Those rules are a balance of what you can and can't do(dark brown area at the top, lighter brown area in the middle right and constructs in the middle of  them). When the rules are broken and nobody follows them, you find that your nice fast highway(the black object in the middle left) is over. And you are balancing on a high wire trying not to fall(lower right).