We posted an image from Jane Barrow’s exhibit Air to Air in January.  Earlier this month, the artist left a comment here stating that while the exhibit was a real turning point for her, it has also been  a cause for frustration.  Barrow had been making decent-sized abstract oil on canvas paintings, but, disturbed by the continuing war in Iraq, decided to experiment with forms, scale and materials in  way that would allow direct address of the situation in Iraq.  Here’s a link to the earlier post.

I know that a lot of you reading this are deeply aware and engaged with these same things.  And, I know that those of you who make art, who write, curate, etc. make decisions regarding how directly or indirectly you approach your concerns about current events in your own work.  So, after the cut, more images of Jane Barrow’s work and a chance to, please, share your thoughts.

I’m sure you cable TV watchers have seen this already.  But anyway…

Melanie and I are moving to Kansas City on Monday.  So I haven’t had time to get ready the next major post I’ve been wanting to do.  Just for fun then, here’s some random stuff I’ve been liking online lately. 

I was pretty psyched up when I heard that Blindness was being made into a movie.  I really like the Jose Saramago book (which my students tell me they read in high school lit classes. wow).  I really liked City of God, also directed by Fernando Meirelles.  The Constant Gardner, too. I like Julianne Moore.  The trailer makes me think…I don’t know.  Mark Ruffalo?  Sandro Oh?  Plus something just seems off about the pacing and the framing.  Anyone more hopeful?

The bobopoly blog has been posting up images scanned from classic Viewmaster reels.  One of those things you see and think, someone should be riffing on this in paintings.  (This and the Chris Ware animation are things I found over at Drawn!)

Ever since I read Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road, with those beautiful Gary Gianni illustrations, I’ve been on an action/adventure illustration kick.  There’s something so…”boy” about the best of this stuff that I wish I could get into my own paintings.  My favorites are paperback illustrator/painter Robert McGinnis who took his website down due to some kind of alarming copyright violations and Ashley Wood, whose cover for, get this, The Complete Zombies vs. Robots is above.

I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to go to the Sunday figure drawing sessions over on campus lately.  The thing I miss most is the running monologue that MU Professor Emeritus Frank Stack keeps up during the 3 hour session.  Frank, aka underground comics legend Foolbert Sturgeon, is something of a local legend and it’s been kind of an honor to meet him.  The page above is from Stack/Sturgeon’s The New Adventures of Jesus.  Here is  a link to Frank’s portrait of R. Crumb and some other paintings.

The Takeaway Shows posts grainy, contrasty videos of indie bands playing live, many times on the streets of Paris or New York.  This one, “In Our Talons” by the Bowerbirds is a recent favorite, but a lot of these are really recommendable.

That’s it.  Sorry I didn’t link off to some article that would answer all of your questions about life, or how to go forward in your painting or anything.  Maybe next time.  Really I’ve been reading slightly too much slightly-too-partisan stuff about John McCain’s shady past.  I’ll try to do some thinking while I’m loading the U Haul and get a solid, discussable post about cool Midwest paintings ready very, very soon.  Take care. 

Oh yeah, here’s our new house.

Dialogue No. 4 of the Dialogue series, 2003.

From norbertmarszalek.com:

Norbert Marszalek’s paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States, including the Holter Art Museum in Helena, Montana; the South Bend Regional Museum of Art in South Bend, Indiana; the Nathan D. Rosen Museum Gallery in Boca Raton, Florida; the Texas Artist Museum in Port Arthur, Texas; the International Museum of Art in El Paso, Texas; the Beverly Arts Center in Chicago; and the Bowery Gallery in New York City.

Mr. Marszalek’s work will be shown at the Rockford Art Museum (Rockford Midwestern, July 11-October 5, 2008), at the George Billis Gallery in Los Angeles ((Neo) Realism, a group show, July 14 - August 30, 2008), and in the Fort Wayne Museum of Art’s Biennal (Contemporary American Realism, September 13 - November 2, 2008).

He is a familiar voice in the MWC blog comments. We’re opening up the floor for him to discuss his own work.

The Newlyweds, 2006

Let’s get located here. You’re based in Chicago. Are you Chicago-born?

Yes, I was born in Chicago and still live and work here. It’s a great city to make art in. My studio is currently in the Contemporary Art Workshop building. The Contemporary Art Workshop was founded in 1949 by John Kearney, Leon Golub, Cosmo Campoli and Ray Fink, and is one of the oldest artist-run alternative spaces in the country.

What are your daily inspirations and motivators, fine art and otherwise? 

Reading character-driven type novels is very inspirational for my work. I enjoy classic authors like Sherwood Anderson and Frank Norris and modern day writers such as Michael Chabon and Justin Cronin. I tend to view my paintings as short stories or chapters in a novel.

Also, a fellow painter, Bill Dolan, and I recently created a Web site called Neoteric Art to encourage open dialogue with painters concerning work, issues and the art world. Neoteric Art gives Bill and I the forum to write essays and reviews and also to interview other artists. It’s been great for me to contact artists whom I find interesting and ask them questions about their work and experiences.

Are there artists with whom you feel your painting is in dialogue?

I feel my work is similar to Edward Hopper in regards to the psychological makeup…dealing with the elements of confinement and isolation.

The Painter’s Mother and Father Posing, 2006

I see the ‘incidental’ as a connective thematic thread in your paintings: figures slouching, or glancing away in distraction; still lifes of household ephemera; forms fashioned from everyday grays and browns or camera-flash whites. Is that a fair claim? What draws you in to this type of subject, as opposed to things more bright-and-bouncy?

“Incidental” is a good way of defining it. I want my paintings to come across as random experiences. Experiences that most of us feel akin to but don’t give much consideration. I am curious about the quiet moments…someone caught in their thoughts or a household item left for discard. I explore the poignant in the seemingly mundane; this is where I connect with the subject matter and the act of painting. I also think that what we paint is part of us…our personality— I’m really not much of a “bright-and-bouncy” sort of individual.

How does place affect your work?

I enjoy people watching and being in a large city offers a lot to see. I’m intrigued by the way people interact with each other and inversely with the concept of “being alone in a crowd”. Chicago also has a large art community so I get to socialize with a lot of different artists. All of this filters down into my work.

Scenario: You’ve been asked to explain your interests and objectives as an artist, without saying anything. You’ve got four walls, set aside for four paintings (by anyone, living or dead, but yourself). What four paintings would you hang?

George Bellows - Cliff Dwellers

Lucian Frued - Reflections

Richard Diebenkorn - Girl with Plant

Willem de Kooning - Gotham News

What advice (from a mentor, teacher, or even someone you haven’t
met) has helped you most over time? What advice would you pass on to
fellow painters?

I’ve always thought this quote from Robert Henri is worth sharing:

“There is no art without contemplation.”

I would also recommend reading (or rereading) Henri’s The Art Spirit. I read a few pages every day.

View more of Norbert’s work at norbertmarszalek.com

Art Race, that’s right.  Read this.

More on Art Race.  More on Kenny Harris, the racing artist.

David Hockney’s Looking at Woldgate Woods, a series of 10 paintings, is up for viewing at the Arts Club of Chicago, a nearly century-old private club where many world famous 20th c. avant-garde artists made midwest debuts (which means it doesn’t have to have a web presence).

Relevant linkage:

New City Chicago

Time Out Chicago

Flavorpill

Peter Dobill

Don’t watch this if you have a weak stomach.

I met Peter last fall, and got to see some of his performances in person. All of his pieces are one-shots, never repeated except in documented form. His website has several of these. He’s Brooklyn-based now, but grew up in the midwest.

Julia Schwadron

Be sure to check out the Other Projects section of her website.  I’m into the “Signs For Myself” project, like There’s Always the Next One (after the cut).

I’m sure most of you have heard this NPR story “Perfecting the Art of Frugal Living”, about a study on aging artists living and working in NYC, but here is the link for those who may not.  Hear more from WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show.  Any thoughts?

Carrie Gundersdorf

design by Tom Huck

The Missouri Billboard Project plans to display pro-voting billboards designed by contemporary artists on highways and byways around the state, September 1-November 4, 2008.  Tom Huck, Peregrine Honig and May Tveit are the Missouri-based artists who have already designed billboards. 

Read more in Alice Thorson’s article form the KC Star (via Modern Art Notes).

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-Also at Modern Art Notes, Tyler Green writes about floods currently affecting much of the midwest. 

-Reports this morning say that the McClatchy Newspaper Corp., which owns the Kansas City Star, is doing some major downsizing.  This includes writers and journalists covering specialized areas.  I haven’t heard anything indicating that  our local arts writer’s position is one of those being cut but we all know that dedicated arts columnists are pretty rare nowadays.  Having someone like Thorson doing the writing she’s doing is unique, and I would really hate to lose her.  So anyone who wants to google-bomb that link above, or contact the Star (readerrep@kcstar.com) please feel free.

-Two Indiana University alum are currently showing at The Painting Center in NYC, Sangram Majumdar and Ryan Cobourn. 

-Matt Ballou has an exhibit of Dodecahedron paintings at the Gillock Gallery in Chicago.