son of the forest

PRECISION

ABOUT FACE

MARCH 13 - MAY 2, 2009

John Ahearnnn Donald Baechler
Marc BellnnBette Blanknn John Borowicz
Joe Brainardnn Charles Burnsnn George Condo
Chuck Closenn Felipe Jesus Consalvos nnJules Feiffer
Dan Fischer nnnnnArnold FreidmannnnnnRenee French
Jessica Gandolfnnnnnnn Madge Gillnnnnnnn Jacob El.Hanini
Peter Heinemann nnnnAmy Hillnnnn Alex Katznnnn Khalif Kelly
Marie Laurencin nHiroshi KimurannTala MadaninnRuth Marten
Sarah McEneaney nnnnnnnJim Nuttnnnnnnnn Erik Parker
Pablo PicassonnHuston Ripleynn Cindy Sherman
Saul Steinbergnn Robin TewesnnJim Torok
Anton van Dalennn Karl Wirsum
Alexi Worth nn Ray Yoshida

"ABOUT FACE"
March 13 - May 2, 2009

artistsAdam Baumgold Gallery presents the exhibition "About Face" from March 13 through May 2, 2009. The exhibition will explore different approaches in portraits in a diverse range of styles, through paintings and drawings by 37 Contemporary and 20th Century artists. The artists included in the exhibition are: John Ahearn, Donald Baechler, Marc Bell, Bette Blank, John Borowicz, Joe Brainard, Charles Burns, George Condo, Chuck Close, Felipe Jesus Consalvos, Jules Feiffer, Dan Fischer, Arnold Friedman, Renee French, Jessica Gandolf, Madge Gill, Jacob El Hanani, Peter Heinemann, Amy Hill, Alex Katz, Khalif Kelly, Hiroshi Kimura, Tala Madani, Ruth Marten, Sarah McEneaney, Jim Nutt, Erik Parker, Pablo Picasso, Huston Ripley, Cindy Sherman, Saul Steinberg, Robin Tewes, Jim Torok, Anton van Dalen, Karl Wirsum, Alexi Worth, and Ray Yoshida.

artistsSome featured works included in the exhibition are Pablo Picasso's emblematic graphite drawing "Tete de Femme," 1965, depicting a multi viewed fragmented face; Chuck Close's "Chris," 1974 - an ink and graphite drawing that has been gridded out to show Close's precision and unique aesthetic structure and strategy in rendering images; Charles Burns' deadpan "Before and After," 2000, ink drawings from "Black Hole" that reveal the dual feelings of normalcy and creepiness; Tala Madani's painting "Bubble Touch," 2006 features two faces in profile in a strange bubble blowing/popping ritual executed with the artist's distinctive buttery paint surface; Amy Hill's "Young Woman in Denim," 2009 is a contemporary portrait painting juxtaposed within a Renaissance landscape background; Carl Wirsum's frontal, acrylic on acetate portraits from the 1977 "Alien Passport Photo" series have a quirky, sharply delineated graphic punch; Alex Katz's "Self Portrait," a painting from 1982, features the neatly dressed artist head-on, without any artifice, props or irony. Marie Laurencin's "Self Portrait," 1929- is a painting that shows the artist in the palest of skin tones and reveals a distance and lack of emotion, like the young ballet nymphettes that she painted throughout her career.

Painting: Now this is a messy business. All these concepts, metaphors, symbols - they just don’t seem to stick. Oily annoyances, they always end up contaminating an otherwise clean surface before sliding off and befouling the studio floor. They form doubts, disregard rules they insisted on moments on before, and then they’re gone. Busy little bees buzzing from flower to flower, cross-pollinating and hybridizing, they’re never satisfied. The dead end becomes all too apparent and attractive. Anyway, it’s out of my hands, so hey - if you cant beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Pardon me sir, may I interest you in a scenic landscape?

So here I am with a smile on my face and a tear in my eye. All I ever really wanted was a style, just one, that’s all... I’ve already told you that if you were a good boy you could have dessert. But you haven’t been good at all. You don’t know how to pay attention or focus. Now stop playing with your food or you’ll eat it for breakfast tomorrow! Can’t you finish anything? Must be attention deficit disorder... When you fail to recognize your own limitations failure becomes a method and dissonance your spirit guide. Maybe the dead end isn’t what it seemed. It’s the point where the road ends and ubiquity begins. Recall the ambassadors! Forward in all directions! Now take this down: I’ve confused desire with attraction - I want more. I demand more. I’m coming to take what’s mine! In a constant state of arousal a sense of accomplishment is elusive, but at least now you can admit one thing - a parochial attitude is no longer possible. Ah yes, the non-hierarchical aesthetic has become paradigm.

Don’t provoke me, I’ll paint your portrait!

Or maybe I won’t. And that’s the ironic ending. Now the childhood fantasy has come true. Bombardment with gamma rays or the experiment gone terribly awry has forced you to assume multiple identities. Armed with ambiguity, disparity, and a hint of resolve, the assimilation of diverse pictorial modes begins.

Look how this still life adds to any arrangement!

The challenge to painting’s flexibility is deliberate and deadly serious. Strict informality meets ornament toe to toe on the uneven playground of gothic hyperspace. An intentional mistake whispers noncompliance but can stop indecision dead in its tracks from becoming paralysis. So what’s the big idea with this anything goes anti-strategy? The fact that there is no big idea is the big idea.

It’s all just a means to an end. The surface describes only that which is superficial and immaterial - merely camouflage given shape by a totally different underlying structure. What does the text mean? Not what it says. You’ve taken me too literally. I’m not in the business of making pictures. It is possible that painting can symbolize itself and simultaneously reveal some mythic truth, but who knows for sure? The mistake is in thinking there’s a code to break in the first place. That pitiless formalism and singularity are ancient history - a heavy-handed attempt to categorize.

Painting is understood when it is unlocked from rules and language that reinforce the walls of its Euclidean prison. It speaks for itself on its own terms and just is. And you are just you. So shut up and look at me when I’m talking to you!

Excerpt from a conversation with Painting