"Seeing Music"

The title of the exhibition at the Garden District Gallery is fit for a blog. Music inspires visual impressions, figurative or abstract depending on the artist. Kandinsky wrote about this phenomenon when studying synesthesia.

The works presented at the gallery are another testimony to this theory. Music inspires movement and colors, and most of the works are brightly colored, like the collages of Pamela Marshall.

Too many painters are represented in the gallery, which makes it difficult to appreciate them, each being allowed a small space. Auseklis Ozols is given the front row, with a whole wall in the entrance room.

The sculptures are stealing the show, with birds made from real violins, dissected instruments, spreading their wings, ready to fly with the works from Dennis Parker. Julie Boden chooses to paint the same string instruments with bright colors and lively design like all these were in the violin and the painter just transferred them for us to see. Arman broke the instruments with his Rages and Tantrums, these two artists redesign the instruments making them sing for our eyes.

Just curious, what musicians or piece inspired the artists? What about some music in the gallery during the show?

photographs by the author

"Music to Your Eyes", Pamela Marshall

"Word Bird", Dennis Parker

" Sax in the City Violin", Julie Boden

No Man's Land

Black and white and all the nuances of grey describe a world of shadows, this is the latest exhibition at the Newcomb Art Gallery on the Tulane campus titled " The History of the Future". Two photographers, Michael Berman and Julian Cordona depict the desert and the migrants crossing the Mexico/U.S. border with fifty or more works.

At a time when most people are looking for a few seconds of celebrity, in the world of illegal migrants, it is difficult to find the subject. The photographer has done a great job offering a glimpse of a few decisive seconds in people's life, like catching the anxious look of a passenger in a car when the border guard is looking at her documents.
Tears, joy, death, fear, the subjects are between a past they are leaving and an uncertain future, and all is said in one shot. Sometimes the photographer arrives too late, and finds only the remnants of life: piles of abandoned clothes, plastic bottles, rags in the brushes. Humans are hounded like animals, driven by their thirst, hunger and betrayed by shoe tracks in the sand, a disturbed stone or flatten bushes.


The other side of the exhibition is about the landscape with breathtaking photographs of an endless, mournful desert sculptured by weather, unforgiving but beautiful in its sparsity and minimalism. There are no shelters in this unforgiving environment but remnants from thousands of unseen, where did they come from , where did they go? One can hear the silence.

The immensity of the desert becomes the refuge of these souls abandoned between two worlds.



I found this exhibition well-balanced with the two photographers describing the story of these countless lives and their interaction with an unforgiving environment. The size of the photographs, framing and colors (black, white, grey) make the overall show look monotonous.


Two photojournalists lost between reporting and art or art in reporting.


photographs by the author

artist's studio

The visit of the artist's studio is always a privilege and a few weeks ago, I was able to drive to Lafayette, LA, and spend some time looking at Eugene J. Martin's work at his home.

The presence of the artist (July 24, 1938- January 1, 2005) is still felt in the house situated in a quiet neighborhood. The artist's works are pouring out of the studio and invading the house with their colors.

Overwhelmed at first, I looked at the paintings, drawings, collages and was amazed by their quality. One would expect some trials, "doodles", "left overs". The works appear to be created effortlessly, already composed by the artist before being laid on the canvas, smaller during hard times, on paper, bigger during fat times, on canvas, without hesitation, like brain and hand were one. The studio is left intact, quiet with paintings, neatly organized, drawings, stacks of CDs with the artist's preferred music and his ashes on a desk.

It is eerie, but a conversation with Suzanne, his wife, who can recall many anecdotes about the artist, brings me back to reality. The painter lived for his art. Rarely distracted, he would paint almost daily and creation was his mission. He was totally immersed in his work, translating his internal happiness.

He was initially living in Washington, DC, then Lafayette, LA, and was never seeking the limelight ... he did not have time. Some artists live to promote themselves, Eugene Martin was just too busy working.

I recently viewed two exhibitions: "Beyond Black" at the LSU Museum of Art in Baton Rouge and "Dancing String Bean: Paintings and Drawings from Eugene Martin" at the New Orleans African American Museum.

During this visit, I discovered Eugene Martin's collages, made with pieces of his own works rearranged for another message. This is where the "discarded" works find a second life. Collages are most of the time one level, feel second-hand, kind of lazy compositions. Eugene Martin's collages are different. They are visually and intellectually challenging: new perspectives, depth and three-dimensional works.

Suzanne has published several books about the artist whose works are the result of his drive, his self discipline, his creativity. His art is so much him that the artist is still present.

Like remembering a song, Eugene Martin's works are now alive in my head with their colors and shapes. There is no better way to know an artist than to visit his (her) sanctuary.

http://www.youtube.com/nemastoma

letters, quotes, discussions and more

" Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book by Artists and Critics" by Hershel B. Chipp with contributions by Peter Selz and Joshua C. Taylor, University of California Press.

Should I start with the last chapter on Contemporary Art or read again Chapter VII on "Art and Politics" or chapter V on "Futurism"? This book can be read from the first to the last page or as needed.

The crumpled book cover is a testimony of my repeated visits. I read it at swimming pools, in airplanes (or airports waiting for airplanes), doctors waiting rooms... The material is so dense that I can spend just fifteen minutes and find material for reflection , like quotes from artists, letters, articles, speeches, critics...
It could appear fragmented but the material is presented in a structured manner with nine chapters, each independent with a well-defined subject: Postimpressionism, Symbolism and other Subjectivist Tendencies, Fauvism and Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Neo-Plasticism and Constructivism, Dada Surrealism and Scuola Metafisica, Art and Politics, Contemporary Art.
The list of contents at the beginning facilitates a search with a short detailed preview and a referral to the page's number.

The illustrations are only in black and white and give a scholarly touch to the book.

A detailed bibliography related to each chapter, a list of illustrations and the index bring more useful informations.

Beyond entertainment, it is an essential.

photographs by the author:

"The Look of Amber", Yves Tanguy, 1929

" Muse I", Constantin Brancusi, 1909-10

Eco art?

Nature is the only subject of the exhibition taking place at the Ogden Museum of Southern Arts titled "One World, Two Artists: John Alexander and Walter Anderson". Two figurative artists with their own twist, painting the Gulf Coast as we like to think about it. The two artists do not have much in common. John Alexander uses oil on canvass, heavily applied with reds, blacks, dark and bright colors, bringing drama and a flavor of expressionism in his best compositions like the two represented here.

In contrast, Walter Inglis Anderson's pastel watercolors tell the story of a lost paradise. The painter lived in Ocean Springs, MS, and the local museum, called after his name displays Anderson's work around the year. The painter, sculptor, ceramist, potter, writer lived with nature and represents the soul of the Gulf Coast with his unique style. His travels are reflected in some of his water colors, referring to Egyptian friezes. The exhibition brings a personal touch with pages from his diary and ink drawings.
Of course, I am biased...I love the work from Walter Anderson. Are we predisposed to prefer what we recognize? On these week-ends, when I am passing-by the museum of art in Ocean Springs, I walk through to take a peak at the display of Anderson's paintings and marvel.

photographs by the author
entrance of the exhibition

"There is a Bluebird on My Shoulder", 1985 John Alexander

"Herons in Heat", 1987, John Alexander

"Redwings, Crabs, Frogs", 1945, Walter Anderson

"Father Mississippi", 1953, Walter Anderson

"Horizontal Pelican", 1945, Walter Anderson

...and more at the NOAAM

I read about Margaret Taylor-Burroughs (1917-2011) and knew of her activities geared toward developing art and art venues for African-American artists. Through her writings, she kept promoting her cause and her dedication came to fruition with the opening of the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago.

She, herself, was an artist and it is very appropriate to have her works displayed at the New Orleans African American Museum. Recently, I visited the exhibition composed of linoleum cuts, woodcuts and a few paintings.

The (mainly) portraits are describing subjects with empty, frozen expressions lacking spontaneity. The artist studied the muscles generating these expressions, outlining them with simple, stylistic lines rendering them emotionless. No joy exudes from these works. Even the young subjects playing hop scotch are "behaving". It becomes an imaginary world in which children are wearing bows on their heads, are never dirty and can stay motionless. It reminds me of the illustrations from my childhood books written as teaching tools.

Her intend was to liberate, to express her cultural identity. She stayed mute and conformist, afraid of "letting it go" in her works. It did not materialize in her art, but as a woman of African-American descent, she was a pioneer.

The museum is bringing interesting artists and Eugene Martin's works are displayed in the hall of the main building as reported in a previous blog. Paintings from local schoolchildren occupy an annex. They are worth a thousand words.

no photographs were allowed

photograph of the courtyard, NOAAM, by the author

Scholarly artist

The Knoxville Museum of Art presents "Ziaoze Xie: Amplified Moments", the first exhibition of the artist in the United States. Xiaoze Xie ( Shau-zuh She-ay) is born in Guandong, China , in 1966 and belongs to the "Tiananmen Square generation." He is presently a professor of Art and Art History at Standford.

The background of Xiaoze Xie may explain his fascination for the written media. " Books because of my horror at the destruction of books by the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution" states the artist in an article published in 2009. The exhibition plunges the visitor in the artist's world with several dark paintings of medium size. They all have a common subject: books, newspapers, abandonned. Some of the works are paintings from his Library Series ( MET Library, 2009, The MOMA Library, 2005, Shangai #1...). With a dreamlike realism, they bring a flavor of silent decay.

More books follow in the next work Untitled (Being and Nothingness #1), 10 square paintings arranged in a bigger grid-like installation, representing red shadows of books from well-known authors like Marx, Sartre, Nietzsche... glowing on the black background (burning?).

Contrasting with these is an "Apocalypse Now" style of fiery rendition of downtown Baghdad, during the invasion in 2003 with Fragmentation Series. A closer look shows a mixture of newspaper clips on the left side and the story of the event, painted in layers, burning of official buildings, lines of tanks, weapons, and a layer of local citizens crushed in between. The painting is like a postcard but purposely blurry, like a memory.

The next series of paintings with a heavy political undertone is also related to the Iraq war. It is a gallery of portraits in black and white: Dick Chesney, Donald Rumsfeld, the Bush Cabinet... These are the low point of the exhibition, with their weak message and doubtful impact.

For once, the work I found the most interesting and profound was a video. I often feel that videos are just an excuse to rest for a while, a pretext for a brake. In front of this black and white video, there was no seat. Approximately ten minutes in length, it is about the everyday crowd, you and me in public transportation, anonymous faces, and hands, a lot of hands young and old holding newspapers. The headlines are about wars, disasters, our daily consumption of news. They come and go, horrific but the anonymous person goes on with life, undisturbed. Tomorrow will bring fresh news. The succession of pictures, the collision of events provoke drama and reflexion.The end is poetic and sad with a page of the newspaper floating in the wind and falling on the dirty steps of a subway.

I keep my preferred work for the last " Order (The Red Guards), 1999" : It is a giant scroll -like canvass, depicting a library but old and dusty, with books on shelves, of course in black and white, the books fall from the shelves and at the bottom, closer to the viewer they become dust. Blood-red metal squares like spikes are planted in the wall following a regular pattern.

Among these 30 paintings, drawings and installation, Ziaoze Xie's message is the strongest when related to his cultural heritage. The artist's nostalgia for printed media appears anachronistic when the headlines are about another Chinese artist from an older generation (Ai Weiwei) using social medias to be heard.

photographs were not allowed

photographs from Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/j-no/2933544350/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/j-no/2932677231/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/j-no/2933544186/