Steven Berkowitz - Gallery Tour 03, Surface & Light

Paintings by John Zurier at Peter Blum gallery, 20 West 57^th Street, 2^nd floor

When I first entered the gallery I thought this was another boring painting show. This gallery was where I first saw Ellsworth Kelly’s shaped canvases, also very minimal. But then I walked up to one of the larger pieces and saw the surface and my opinion changed. It was scratched, as if the piece was painted a solid color and then scratched into.

"Before and After Summer"

full view

detail

     [Forgive the inconsistency of color. There’s no white balance control on an iPhone!]

The image almost looked like it might be a view of a sidewalk, that already has a textured surface, and the scratches intensify that. In this case the Form (surface) supports the Content (surface).

Then I thought, what if I take a photographic print, cover it with a layer of gel medium and then scratch into that. It might not have the same effect because the color is not actually in the gel, but maybe it will add a scratched surface.

Once again, I am after hand-made work that extends the photographic medium. I am trying to get past the ‘push a button, make a picture’ aesthetic.

note: segments taken from the statement distributed by the gallery say the following:

“Zurier’s work is mainly about color and form at its starting point. The results are paintings that aim to recreate experiences or feelings on a two-dimensional surface. The works are hauntings of an experience; that residue of a particular atmospheres. [Personally, I don’t get any of that from these pieces, but I am just an idiot photographer who is used to a more concrete sense of reference. I suppose you could see the pieces in this way if you were directed to do so before you saw them, but then, ‘If you have to read something to understand a photograph, then the photograph is not doing its job!’]

The other piece that is worth pointing out is this light piece by Stephen Knapp at Bernarducci Meisel Gallery at 32 West 57^th Street. 

It is not so much that I like the piece in and of itself, it is that I can extract some technique that I can apply to my work (or teach to you for your work) in such a way that it will become something completely deferent. I like that the piece has physical elements that reflect light beyond the edge of it’s boundaries. [I am currently working on a piece that does just this.]  In this case there are pieces of mirror attached to the piece. What I don't like the way they are attached to the surface, as if they were tacked on almost as an afterthought. I wish they were integrated into the surface of the print. Maybe if the surface was ceramic and the mirrors were embedded into the surface. I also wish there was a better way to integrate the light fixture. Again, this looked like it was just tacked on rather than either integrated into the piece or the light came from a hidden pin spot way far away from the piece. 

Try an Image Search for his name and tell me if they get too tacky when you see them en mass.

There were quite a few other interesting pieces at this gallery. Not all were great but there were a lot of good ideas to borrow (all of which could be carried further) [uh-on, teacher brain in critique mode again]  This is gallery worth coming back to in the future.

The two worst bodies of work included the photos of train cars with graffiti by Adam Normandin also at Bernarducci Meisel Gallery, followed by the ketchup bottles by Tomoko Sawada. Why?

The train car photos by Adam Normandin are passive objective views of artwork made by someone else. I learn nothing of what the artist feels about the world, expect maybe 

that they think these trains look cool, which is only the physical discipline- the visual aspect only. That is not enough. There is no emotion nor concept per se. And graffiti is not art because it neither contains not imparts any information. It only tells me that someone was at a certain place at some time or other. Why is that important? Now that they have my attention, what are they telling me? Nothing other than their ego. [I must admit that the photos do look cool, however.]

As for the ketchup bottles by Tomoko Sawada, so now I know that this artist went out and collected 100 ketchup bottles from all over the world. That is a pretty narrow endeavor. Once again I learn nothing about the artist other than they are ‘otaku’. That is a Japanese term for ‘geek’ that is an onomatopoeic word derived from the sound of tapping on computer keys, ‘tac tac tac…’.  But in this case rather than being only visual, that this piece is not, it is conceptual- only that one discipline, and once again, that's not enough. Yes, they are hanging in a big name gallery and selling for $130,000, (partially because there is one edition only). And I am sure there is some collector who will think it is cool and will buy it. The rest of her work was of a similar conceptual nature but because they are all self-portraits they go much farther and talk about self-image, and culture, etc. and enter into the physical and emotional realms. Those start to take me somewhere.