albert oehlen/alice neel (day)

This is the last weekend...don't miss the superforce that is
Albert Oehlen
at Luhring Augustine April 25-May 30

Albert Oehlen
39,90, 2008
Oil and paper on canvas
106 1/4 x 122 inches

Albert Oehlen
Del ahorro, 2008
Oil and paper on canvas
106 1/4 x 122 inches

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and MAJOR amazement at David Zwirner
Alice Neel Selected Works
May 14 through June 20, 2009

Alice Neel
Rita and Hubert
1958
Oil on canvas
Image Size: Framed: 36 3/4 x 42 3/4 x 1 7/8

Alice Neel
Dana Gordon
1972
Oil on canvas
Image Size: Framed: 51 3/8 x 35 1/2 x 1 7/8

Alice Neel

Young Woman
c. 1946
Oil on canvas
Image Size: Framed: 34 3/4 x 27 3/4 x 1 3/4

neilyoungbender

don't let it bring you down (bbc, 1971)

when sculptors paint

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-1875)
Costume Ball at the Tuileries, 1867
Oil on canvas H. 56; W. 46 cm

Achille Emperaire Peintre - Cezanne

Paul Cézanne (1839-1902)
Achille Emperaire (between 1867 and 1868) Oil on canvas
H. 200; W. 120 cm
Paris, Musée d'Orsay

Born in Aix, like Cézanne who was his elder by ten years, Achille Emperaire was also an artist. The two men met in Charles Suisse's studio in Paris in the early 1860s and were close friends for at least a decade.

Cézanne often spoke fondly of the companion of his youth saying: "He's a very talented boy and nothing in the art of the Venetians has been lost on him. I have often seen him do as well!" Unfortunately, out of money and luck, Achille Emperaire failed to establish a reputation and all that survives of him are a small number of rather spirited works.

A contemporary reported that in the two charcoal sketches made before the painted portrait of Achille, we see "a magnificent knight's head, in the style of Van Dyck", and sense "a burning soul, nerves of steel, and iron pride in a misshapen body [...], a cross between Don Quixote and Prometheus."

In the painting, on the contrary, Cézanne emphasises Emperaire's sickliness and deformed body. However, far from being a caricature, the work plays on its monumental format – the frontal view, the majestic chair and the ostentatious inscription echo Ingres' Napoleon I on the Imperial Throne, right down to the pun on Emperor/Emperaire.

Going beyond the lessons in realism learnt from artists such as Courbet and Manet, Cézanne's vision is here infused with a raw kind of romanticism, which marks the apogee of this period that the master of Aix himself described as "ballsy".

(my next few posts are going to be pictures of paintings, taken from books...some of the inspiring painters rattling around my thoughts this spring.)

Leon Kossoff, From the Early Years 1957-1967

This will be on my list of best shows from 2009.
Don't miss your opportunity to see this many early Kossoff's all in one place.
Kossoff sweeps mountains of heavy fleshy paint into being...this is what it's all about.

Leon Kossoff c.1957-1967
(from Mitchell Innes & Nash show)

painting detail #1

painting detail #2

painting detail #3

painting detail #4

Leon Kossoff, From the Early Years 1957-1967
Mitchell-Innes & Nash
534 West 26th Street
February 17 - March 28, 2009

As a key figure in the School of London, Leon Kossoff (b. 1926) has been described as one of the greatest British artists of the past four decades. He grew up in the East End of London and has lived in the city all his life. His work focuses on London's changing urban landscape and the human figure. Loyal to a limited number of models, Kossoff’s portraits are mostly of
members of his own family or very close friends.

click here for an article (and a video interview with Kossoff) published in March 2007 during Kossoff's exhibition at the National Gallery in London.

seen.

Martin Kippenberger at MOMA.
This is THE show of shows.
Closes on May 11, 2009.

Lisa Yuskavage at Zwirner.
Wasn't expecting to dig this show, but totally did.
Closes March 28, 2009.

Was expecting to dig, and didn't.
This was the best (and smallest) Thomas Scheibitz painting at Tanya Bonakdar.
Closes April 18, 2009.

Simon Evans at James Cohan.
Smart obsessive work and well made.
Easy to like.
Closes April 4, 2009.

be back in March.

I am moving my studio....C-H-A-N-G-E-S.
Not much time to blog or anything else.
I'll be back in March.

Marc Handelman & David Schutter

Marc Handelman & David Schutter
This was one of my favorite shows last Friday.

David Schutter, after AIC W x3, 2008
Oil on canvas (19.125 x 25.625 inches)

Marc Handelman, Monumental Solutions, 2008

Oil on canvas (72.75 x 62.25 inches)

Marc Handelman & David Schutter (Installation View)

January 17 - February 21, 2009
at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. (click here)

madness.

Twin Solid State Musical Tesla coils playing the Ghostbusters theme song at the 2007 Lightning on the Lawn Teslathon sponsored by DC Cox (Resonance Research Corp) in Baraboo WI. The music that you hear is coming from the sparks that these two identical high power solid state Tesla coils are generating. There are no speakers involved. The Tesla coils stand 7 feet tall and are each capable of putting out over 12 foot of spark. They are spaced about 18 feet apart. The coils are controlled over a fiber optic link by a single laptop computer. Each coil is assigned to a midi channel which it responds to by playing notes that are programed into the computer software. These coils were constructed by Steve Ward and Jeff Larson. Video was captured by Terry Blake. What is not obvious is how loud the coils are. They are well over 110dB If you look at another You Tube video which is from a different angle, you can hear the echo off the building and get a better idea of how loud it is.