After the Show is Over

In May of 2007 I exhibited the results of a year of painting. A year of painting and planning and photographing and writing about my work. Feelings of postpartum depression and lethargy have dogged me since then. More than two months have passed and, now mid-summer, I am finally able to return to my studio with a fresh eye and a determination to work. Until this time I have been overcome with inertia. And I am not alone.

Many artists become hyper-energetic during the frenzied preparations to mount a show. It is the afterwards that is problematic. When the work is hung and the studio is emptied of this latest grouping, questions have room to expand into the empty space. Why am I doing this? What am I doing? What will I paint next? Milton Resnick, a major abstract expressionist painter and teacher said it well. Artists, he said, “….have their ups and downs….for a while everything you do is wonderful or you think it is then you slide down….pulling yourself up again is the most important part of your life.”

For me, it has been a process of returning to basics. I have started a number of paintings, and drawings. I have been talking to other artists and reading about other artists and I have been looking at my own work. I am surprised at the helpfulness of the internet in this regard. My website provides a chance to have an overview of what I’ve done recently, what continues to look fresh and exciting and where I’d like to go. This exhibit without walls allows me to look at my work objectively as often as I’d like. The show may be over but the work continues.

New York - still the center of the art world?

In the late 20th century, American culture dominated the world. In Art, the mandate was more specific – New York was the center of everything aesthetic. From the time of the Abstract Expressionists through the debacle of September 11th, the galleries of the city were filled with excitement, innovation and art of a different level.

I wonder if that is still the way it is? Although the Columbia University MFA scene is the hottest program in the country and guarantees gallery placement as did the Yale MFA's of Chuck Close and Richard Serra, it is clear that the Manhattan art scene has become complacent, dependent upon what was. Visit the renovated MOMA (which now resembles nothing more than a suburban mall Macy's) - it is strangely subdued. Picasso's "Woman in a Mirror" is just one of the many artworks that have been hanging since I was a child. I'm not the only one comparing the new NY MOMA to the Tate Modern and finding the Tate way ahead in the museum ratings game. And it's not just MOMA. The Whitney recycles Hopper, Soho has become a shopping mall and Chelsea galleries are hit or miss. Sure, there's beautiful art all over Manhattan, but I was fortunate enough to visit the Venice Biennale in 2006 and there I saw work that screamed for attention, mesmerized the viewer, and made me want to join the Guerilla girls art group. I The result is that as a NY area resident, if I want to see something exciting and cutting edge, something 21st Century, I’ve realized that it may not be hanging on a wall in Manhattan. It may be in the Visionary Arts Museum of Baltimore, or the mad variety of Art Basel. It may be in Miami, or at the Singapore bienniale, in Berlin, Washington D.C. or L.A. It just may not be in New York.

The Energy of Art

What is it about a work of art that draws a viewer in? Attracts her attention? Keeps him looking? It’s just a piece of canvas, a sheet of paper, a wall of metal, a pile of stones. Somehow the successful artist imbues an inanimate object with the energy of thought and process, of beauty and intent, or life and creativity. From a personal viewpoint, I know I have succeeded when the burst of energy I feel when painting or printing is transferred into the artwork itself. It is a visible exclamation point that draws the eye, grabs the viewer and satisfies an aesthetic need. In line with this manner of thinking, art may be thought of as a form of energy made visible – the energy of a moment in time, the energy of a model, a landscape, a thought or a concept. Every molecule of a painting, of a drawing, of a sculpture, of a performer, of a photograph can vibrate with meaning. Study a Picasso – his weeping women still project their angst. A Matisse Odalisque continues to luxuriate in pseudo-Oriental splendor. Jackson Pollack’s drippings will always resonate with his mad passion for paint. The best artworks live on and continues to capture attention.˜