Eye Candy for the Holidays

I was New York this week and spent some happy hours wandering through the Met Museum, discovering things and getting ideas. But it's Holiday Time in New York and Eye Candy of the most sparkly, over the top kind is on my mind. I nominate the people behind the Bergdorf Goodman windows as Artists of the Month. I look forward to these windows every year and am never disappointed. The theme is Alice in Wonderland - sort of. In any case it's High Surrealism complete with illusions, misleading reflections, visual tricks, strange proportions and juxtapositions of scale and context. The closer you look the more you see from the story - keys, white rabbits, pocket watches, little doors - they've done a great job of capturing of Lewis Carrol's bizarre vision. Adding to the glorious confusion are the reflections of buildings on Fifth Avenue and other gawking spectators, carrying the theme out past the windows into the street. After leaving 5th Ave I went past a display on 6th Avenue - Claes Oldenburg couldn't have done it better - which comes first? Pop Art or Pop Culture?

Beauty, Order, Pattern

Nature is always one step ahead of art; the wise artist pays close attention. Patterns I've noticed recently in nature have led to thoughts about pattern in art. In Islamic culture pattern is both beauty and prayer - the two are inseparable. In the ordered, mathematical designs of rugs, tiles, and other characteristic forms is endless meditation on the infinite space of God. Celtic patterns are among the most familiar in this category, with or without the weaving in of Christian motifs after the conversion era. Pattern based on nature are the lifeblood of 19th century Arts & Crafts movment, especially in wallpaper and fabric designs of William Morris. Some beautiful patterns can be found in patchwork quilts, with names and motifs that clearly reference nature as a design source. An art movement in the 60's and 70's known as Pattern and Decoration reacted against the dry aesthetics of Minimalism with explosive color and design, often making intentional use of traditional materials and processes as a feminist statement about the association of decorative arts with functional "women's work." The example here is a mosaic by Robert Kusher, installed in the 77th Street stop in the NYC subway. It's a beautiful world, outside and in.

Drawing: The Dance of It

Not so long ago the art of Drawing was consigned to the dustbin; in the wake of Modernism it seemed (to some) that it was of little use and the craft of it was, for a while, abandoned in many art schools. But, like the Terminator, IT'S BACK! Drawing is of increasing importance in contemporary art, I'm happy to say, and by the evidence of INDA 4, an annual publication devoted to Drawing, the art and the craft are in excellent shape. INDA 4 (2009) is just out and I'm also happy to say that I'm a part of it. Not a drawing, but an essay on Drawing, one based on the quote from W.B. Yeats, "How do you tell the dancer from the dance?" For drawing is a dance, and like the act of dance it scribes the intimate details of the 'dancer' putting the marks down on a surface. My heroes of drawing have always been those who are closest to the process - the dance - and who partner easily with the motion and the materials. I cite Richard Diebenkorn in the essay and include one of his drawings here. Diebenkorn, who had the courage to continue drawing figuratively when it was out of fashion, celebrates the process by showing it to us - the smudging, the strikeovers and whiteouts - a rich part of the beauty of his work. Matisse is another hero - as much a skater as a dancer - whose line can be a miracle of ease and simplicity. In my own drawings I prize spontaneity and the play of space - usually white, but lately I've been using black to provide an intense background for line - I include three examples. I've also included two sample drawings from INDA 4, the one at the upper left by Jason John, the colored drawing by Aimee Manion. INDA 4 is a great resource for teachers, artists, and collectors: the link allows a look at each of the works in the publication and give information for ordering. http://www.manifestgallery.org/nda/inda4/