...bohemian locality makes for art community vitality @
Jane Kurnatowski's Art Gallery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. More on this group show in a minute.
I have personally spent my years in New York City running away from any art venue that felt like a "wet paint" party, thinking that such venues were passe and well, out of date. That's because I had lost my feeling for painting,
especially abstract expressionism/non-objective painting, and how it could be contextualized in today's world of art.
That's the focus of this blog entry:
"The relevency of abstract/non-objective painting in today's world."I'm thinking, "times have changed, ab-ex had it's day in the sun, and well, the party is over. Let's move on people." Then something happened. Call it a realization, call it clarity, call it whatever you like...I came to the conclusion that non-objective/abex painting still has relevancy in today's world because the tenants/causes/motivations/reasons/rationale of the first abex movement in the 1940's have resurfaced and are in the limelight once again.
Let me explain.
The original champions of abstract expressionism reacted against the rough and tough conditions that existed in the middle part of the 20th century: poor economy, world at war, and a country that appeared torn between government control and individual enterprise.
The United States was in the middle of it's "golden age" in the 1940's and artists reacted to the fluctuating transformations and MASSIVE changes that had been occurring. Call it late modernism, call it whatever you like, artists such as Pollack, Kline, and Newman, were "breaking IT down" in order to have IT built back up again.
The "IT" being all the technological, commercial, informational, socio-political, geographical, intellectual, economical situations (I am sure I left out a few)that were taking place at the time.
As the saying sort of goes: "What has been broken down, must get built back up again."
Welcome in post-modernism and pop art in the late 1950's, and new ideas and players that came with it, and a new day in our collective histories began.
"ACT - REACT" appears to be the way the world of art turns.
Fast forward to today, 2009 and the "collective we," find ourselves (believe it or not) in a similar situation as the ab-exer's did in the middling part of the twentieth century. We are at war, our economy sucks, and we are now trending towards a highly evolved "global aesthetic" as a result of the internet and a hyper-fast communication/transport infrastructure.
If one takes a look at abstract expression (post-Greenbergian era 1940's - early 1970's) out of context from it's place in many intellectual circles, an era typically stereotyped now as antiquated and narrow, we now see a large group of painters that are ACTING-REACTING to this first NEW WAVE of geo-political, war era, "culturification" of the 21st century!
A few painters that come to mind were exhibited Phong Bui's curated show, "Party at Chris's House" @ Janet Kurnatowki's Gallery recently in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I will not name names YET only because I have to put my painting goggles back on before I start getting into the content of this latest art churning. (won't call it a movement yet!)
**It should be noted that NOT all of the paintings in this show were abstract. There were figurative, landscapes, and still-lifes, photographs and videos too. I'd say about 100 works all together. I focused on the abstract painting.
All in all, there were some big players in this group show mixed in with some newbie artists; there was the good, the bad, and the ugly!
My hat goes off to Janet Kurnatowski, Phong Bui, and the artists who participated in this group show.
These individuals collectively came together and created alot of positive ENERGY.
All said, if you get the chance, check out Janet's Kurntowski's gallery @ Norman and Moultrie Streets in Greenpoint. There must have been a few hundred people in attendance last Friday, and something must be bringing all of these people together.
Something VERY BIG perhaps. Stay tuned.
