Falalalalalala! Looking Ahead. And a New York New Year’s Party
I’m pleased to report a successful gathering of Vasari21 members at the home of Andrea Broyles in Santa Fe on the 14th. Thanks to many contributions of grog and vittles, the food was extraordinary and from what I can tell, people seemed to be enjoying the new connections. I, for one, had a blast meeting old and new subscribers.
Don’t ask me to identify everyone in the above shots, but I am reasonably certain the last is Sheila Miles (left) and me. Photos by Mokha Laget.
There will be another party on January 4th at the home of Julian Hatton and Alison Berry in SoHo, because I’m in New York for two weeks (yay!) and hoping to meet up with as many members as possible. I tried to track down everyone in the metro area to extend invitations, but if somehow I missed you, email me for details.
Lest you get the wrong impression, it’s not all fun and games at the Casa Vasari. I am busily planning new editorial to start posting after I get back to Taos on the 7th. A report on artists who use recycled materials; some advice about artists’ estates and what to expect when you or your creative loved ones head off to the great beyond; critics talking about what art moves them the most (and what doesn’t); another drawings round-up (because you can never get enough of drawing); and a gorgeous portfolio of bird photography from Marcie Begleiter. Plus podcasts: as of now, I’m hoping to line up the formidable Joan Snyder, biographer Phylllis Rose on Alfred Stieglitz, and critic Eleanor Heartney on her now book, Doomsday Dreams, about artists and the apocalypse.
So there are many good reasons to look forward to the new year, and in the meantime here’s how some members are ringing in the holiday season.
Melissa Stern and Karen Snouffer are both part of a sprightly and often irreverent show called “Ornament: Ho Hum, All Ye Faithful” at BravinLee Programs Chelsea (through January 25). This is the third iteration of a seasonal array of unexpected seasonal trimmings, including Ron Brown’s creepy sliced shoes (Miss El Toe), Jac Lhav’s RBG Mistletoe (the redoubtable Justice wears a fanciful leafy collar); Melissa’s spooky tribute to Hanukkah; and Karen’s Collapsing Hedonism which, she says, “refers to saccharine pleasures associated with seasonal celebration, to the yearning for glitz, decoration and artificiality, as all around us seems to destabilize.”
Melissa Stern, Spider Boy (2019), papier mâché, paint, objects, metal, 4.5 by 6.5 by 2.5 inches
Karen Snouffer, Collapsing Hedonism (2018), wood, acrylic, pom poms, glitter, beads, plastic, 10 by 8 by 7 inches
V21 members Martin Weinstein and Francine Tint are both part of “Remember When It Winter Was” at Lichtundfire on Rivingston Street in New York, through January 12, described in the press release as “a group exhibition of works in all media, reflecting snow, ice and winter in various ways by composition, concept, palette, temperature and texture, and ranging from abstraction to abstracted representation.” The exhibition’s title also “connotes a potential dystopia, as a result of climate change, evoking the unsettling feeling that nothing will remain the same, and that soon we will nostalgically reflect upon the time when winter was still a substantial and lived experience in our lives.” Gloomy words, but beautiful work!
Martin Weinstein, Terrace, 4 Winters (2018), acrylic on multiple acrylic sheets, 28 by 31.5 by 3.5 inches
Francine Tint, Looking Glass (1990), acrylic on canvas, 53 by 58 inches
Carole D’Inverno’s provocatively titled show “Transumanza: Masillon, Ohio” is at the Masillon Museum through January 26, 2020, and draws on the history of both the town and the state of Ohio, taking inspiration from the legacy of abolitionism, the Ohio and Erie canals, football, and the steel industry. Transumanza is an Italian word that loosely translates to crossing the land. “As a child growing up in Italy, each spring during the full moon, I was awakened by the passage of shepherds driving their flocks of sheep to the upper reaches of the Apennine Mountains. The sounds of hooves, bells, dogs barking, and low whistles seemed magical,” she says. “Transumanza is, for me, both an action and a metaphor that can be applied to the historical changes that have shaped the United States—our shared history of crossing lands, breaking boundaries, accessing and losing territories, our comings and goings."
Carole D’Inverno, Eons of History (2019), vinyl paint on linen, 46 by 170 inches
I missed posting about Elisa Decker’s work in “Sculpting with Light,” a show for members of the group Professional Women Photographers at the Atlantic Gallery from December 10 to 21, which included Decker’s lovely Venetian Shadows 2, below. So I hope to make up for the omission by directing you to her excellent catalog for the exhibition “Sympathetic Magic,” an extraordinary 31-artist exhibition that included Mary Frank, Gwen Fabricant, Mary DeVincentis, Elaine Norman, and others. This was a museum-quality show at the Westbeth Gallery last year, curated by Decker and filled with works celebrating the shamanic and supernatural potential of art in many different mediums. If you’re still doing your holiday gift shopping, the catalogue would be a great volume for any art lover.
Ylise Kessler is the co-curator, with the Webster Collection, of “Neo-Geo Now” on Lincoln Avenue in Santa Fe, NM, through February 29. The exhibition continues the aesthetic of a movement that emerged in the early 1980s (think Peter Halley, Ashley Bickerton, early Koons) and includes artists Ben Dallas, Eric Garduño, Damien Hoar de Galvan, Jill Levine, and Tom Martinelli. “Geometry is said to study the properties, measurement, and relationships of points, lines, angles, surfaces, and solids,” says the press release. “The artists in the show utilize geometric principles in their unique interpretative processes.” Of Martinelli’s work, the organizers note: “For the past several years, ellipses and circles have been his dominant motif. “Martinelli is a colorist at heart, and his use of both acrylic and fluorescent acrylic paints produce paintings that pop with their color combinations, depth, and simplicity.”
Tom Martinelli, Big Venus (2019), acrylic on canvas, 60 by 46 inches
"Let It Bee: Art/Advocacy/Education" is the title of an exhibition featuring V21 member Dona Mara (along with Jan Sandman and Peggy Smith) on the second floor of the Garage Cultural Center in Montpelier, VT, through January 12 (gallery hours: Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) The show explores encaustic as a medium in both painting and photography, with the announcement noting that Mara "is a painter with a 40-year continued exploration in two dimensional space and surface. Her paintings are infused with an abstracted vision of nature and an individual field of color, line and texture, influenced by her personal connection to her surroundings."
Dona Mara, Upside Down (2019), encaustic and oil on formed paper, 18 by 18 inches
Cora Jane Glasser is part of a show called “Picturing Space: Artists Imagine Architecture” at the Art and Design Gallery of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, continuing through January 5, 2020. Glasser has an ambitious two-part installation called “The Archeology of Architecture 2007-2019” and in her statement explains, “My work speaks to paradoxes inherent in urban structure: past and present; presence and absence; solid and void; fragility and sturdiness; permanence and mutability. I view these paradoxes through the layered lens of archaeology. The floor component of the lobby installation shows layers of density, translucency and transparency to reveal in varying degrees architecture no longer in existence…. The suspended component represents the new, but still, just another layer. Though I hardly ever depict people, I examine those layers as representative of human activity. If we dig deeply enough, all that remains of that activity are the remnants of architecture and the artifacts of behavior within those lost structures.” Below, a couple of installation shots. The materials Glasser uses include Masonite, wood, Homasote, encaustic, ink, Plexiglas sheets, acrylic cubes, archival ink on Silkjet transparencies, fabric, glass. dichroic film, Tyvek, duct tape, artists’ tape, and steel cables.
Through January 11, Charles Heppner has work included in “Looking Out, Looking In,” a winter group exhibition at Davis Gallery in Austin, TX. The show is “focused on the personal philosophies of premier Austin and Central Texas based artists,” says the gallery’s website. “This amorphous concept allows artists to explore the theme freely, and in their own voices. Sacred Geometry, the importance of family, life and death, our connection to Nature, and spirituality are among the perspectives that artists have chosen…. “ Heppner says of his constructions below, part of the series he calls "Sanctum Box," that they are “grounded in the booklet of modern reflections written by St. Jane Keegan RDC on the Stations of the Cross.” These box constructions, he adds, are “visual meditations on personal growth and spirituality.” All date from 2019 and are made from cigar boxes, archival ink-jet prints, wood, shellac, brass nails, and mirrors. An installation shot is below.
“The earliest art images known to man were cave paintings which depicted animals to help tell the story of their lives, giving animals a mythic and symbolic presence,” writes curator Anne Trauben, who organized “The Big Show: All Animals Welcome” at the Drawing Rooms in Jersey City, NJ. “Artists have continued to be interested in animals as subject matter.” She cites Picasso’s Guernica, Edward Hicks’ Peaceable Kingdom, Deborah Butterfield’s horses, and Louise Bourgeois’s spiders as just three examples. “Animals are of great importance as companions to humans, bringing joy and comfort into our lives. We cherish animals as part of our families, and also consider them our friends and protectors. Animals, insects and even micro-organisms have important roles in the ecosystem, co-existing and balancing each other out….” And so Trauben’s show includes nearly 70 artists working in a diverse array of mediums who pay homage to critters of all sizes, shapes, and species. V21 member Andra Samelson has three works in the show, including the one below.
Andra Samelson, Animaux 3 (1997), oil on canvas, 12 by 14 inches
And more thanks to donors from the recent fund drive….
“Pictured here are eight self-portrait photographs taken and displayed in my studio,” writes Candace Compton Pappas. “Each measures 24 by 36 inches, and they were taken over the last two months. From top left to bottom right, brief titles: Asian Bittersweet Foliage, Knowing Not Knowing, Mourning Cement, Heavy House Heavy Mind, Summer Grasses, Asian Bittersweet Vines, End of Spring, Clay Body. I live in woods that are overrun with various invasive species. I started taking these photos when I committed to remove the Bittersweet, a voracious vine. As this usually is a relentlessly hopeless endeavor, I replaced doom and dread with an approach that was slow, methodical, and consciously non-linear, with no beginning middle or end. An immersion happened for me, one that opened up a treasure trove of questions, thoughts and explorations on how I approach all I do. This series is a record, to date, of that exploration.”
When Mark Sheinkman, whose career I’ve followed for more than 20 years, made the transition from working in black and white and shades of gray to bright color, critic and artist Brian Dupont noted that “[t]his change is not as drastic a departure from his decade-long engagement with grisaille as it might initially seem. For over a decade he built up graphite grounds and then worked the surface back to the white priming, not so much building up his smoky ribbons as excavating them. The resulting works were polished and serene, and skirted the line between gesture and representation….The addition of color in the newest works allows him a broader exploration of space and mark making, and all feel transitional in the best possible way: they are about simply starting without preconceived destination or velocity, for the sake of learning from the journey.” And I, for one, will be curious to see where this road takes him.
Mark Sheinkman, Kingston (2019), oil on linen, 55 by 72 inches
"I've spent many years visiting Cape Cod and working from the abundance of its natural beauty, particularly of the outer cape,” writes Marla Lipkin. “High Head Road is right off of Route 6, where a bit of marsh exists. The light and colors of the cape are unique unto themselves. I've recently moved to Santa Fe and though I am no longer coastal, there is light and color and amazing landscape to explore right here in my own backyard. Getting ready to start painting and excited to see what happens!"
Marla Lipkin, High Head Road (2014), oil on canvas, 40 by 60 inches
“I'm beginning a new suite of work, ‘Lake of Light,’" writes Karen Fitzgerald. “I began explorations for this series at the Shed, a workspace my husband and I built on family land in central Wisconsin. It's a simple pole shed, but our contractor insulated it and finished the interior with ‘car siding.’ Over the past few visits, I've built the necessary interior components to make it a workable studio and tiny house. It's completely off-grid. With the recent addition of a small wood-burning stove, it's become a highly functional retreat where I love spending time. When I'm working at the Shed, I open corner adjacent windows and listen to the woods: wind, bird chatter, and the haunting, halting conversation of a pair of owls.”
Karen Fitzgerald, Lost Dust (2019), oil with 23-kt gold on prepared paper, 32.25 by 23.25 inches
I hope that’s enough visual stimulus to stuff your stocking until 2020.
And I’ll remind you again: If you’d like to attend the Vasari21 post-holiday party in New York on January 4, please reply here for details. Or email me directly at ajlandi33@gmail.com.
