The Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation, one of the most competitive and prestigious free studio space programs in the country, had their open studios last weekend, and I wanted to share some of the highlights.
Entering Franklin Evans studio felt like you were actually stepping into one of his intensely detailed paintings. The ambitious space was covered in strips/pieces of vibrantly painted tape, wall drawings, works on paper; and the floor was tiled with art journal and press release printouts. Evans talked about using his time in the program to create and document a working space that would push his work in new and unexpected directions.
Eric Sall had some new large paintings on display in his studio that push abstraction’s ability to continually re-invent itself. The background surfaces of these new works were reminiscent of Helen Frankenthaler or Morris Louis, injected with his varied application of surface and texture. He also had an entire wall dedicated to drawings, photographs, skateboard decks and assemblages that serves as a revolving salon of visual prototypes.
Erik Benson had a nice mixture of his signature building and landscape paintings, layering pieces of acrylic of re-imagined parks, high-rises, and perhaps as a nod to Ed Ruscha, the Ikea in Red Hook, billowing black smoke. The new paintings, with their gentle washes of white and sophisticated color decisions, have a mature simplicity to them, achieving a deeper psychological space.
Kristine Moran uses representational imagery as a jumping off point for her fleshy, loose oil painting. Playing around with editing and masking her subjects with bold gestures, Moran develops her surfaces with a direct application and earthy palette, which gives the paintings a classic aura. The spaces in the paintings have a real physical force about them—projecting a movement and intensity comparable to Francis Bacon.
The focused paintings of Frank Webster appear to capture fleeting moments at the beginning or end of a day. His most recent work has developed the subtle color shifts with careful precision that give the images a quiet, powerful authority. Webster glazes layers of detailed brushstrokes to render the light of the sky against hulking urban structures or delicate pieces of debris caught in the branches of a tree.
Between blogs, Facebook and Twitter, the art world has populated the internet and is seemingly all the better for it.
KCLOG is now a bi-coastal blog with almost as many readers in LA as in NYC thanks to Cole Case, Twitter and the support of Try Harder, a LA based art blog. Try Harder posts photos of shows and openings of art events in LA. You really have a sense that you're at the opening. I always get a kick out if it when I spot a friend that I have not seen in a while.
Here are a few art sites both from NYC and LA that I have come to enjoy and think others may like too.
For the latest news and reviews on all thing LA and beyond check out Art Whirled. .This blog features "Give it a Whirl"...a good source of shows opening in LA.
If your in LA or anywhere outside of NYC you must know about the James Kalm report. James Kalm rides his bike all over NYC to video record openings, shows and the occasional studio visit. Here is a link to his channel on YouTube. Below is the video of "Younger Than Jesus".
Wanted to write a bit about Aaron Curry and Ivin Ballen, a couple of artists recently featured on the KCLOG whose work shows a strong commitment to process, materials and craftsmanship. Their work has a specific West/East Coast feel to them, but what makes it unique is their ability to balance creating art out of seemingly throw away objects/imagery with a carefully considered and executed approach.
Aaron Curry’s recent show of new sculpture and works on paper at Michael Werner Gallery uptown continues to work in the easy, loose style that the LA-based artist has developed a reputation for. Curry's materials consisted of wood and cardboard earlier in his career, but the recent works are mostly fabricated in steel. Despite the heaviness of the material the works have an unusual light-hearted cackle to them because of the artist’s willingness to allow the shapes to exist in a primitive, naturally absurd way.
In addition to presenting these contrasts in structure, his color choices also demand attention; yet feel sophisticated at the same time. Using fluorescent purples, bright oranges or the sparkling sheen of a California Lowrider…Curry is clearly influenced by his West-Coast surroundings.
For his works on paper, he gathers source material from pictures in books, comics, magazines, advertisements and treats them with a real cut-and-paste collage feel. As in his sculpture, he uses open negative space to develop his loose, seemingly haphazard compositions. But upon closer inspection…the works appear to be well thought out before being silk screened on the paper, leaving himself carved out white space to scatter loose brushwork with meticulously painted water droplets.
Had the opportunity to check out recent some sculpture/paintings from Ivin Ballen at Pulse during Armory week. Ed Winkleman, his gallerist and writer of the excellent edwardwinkleman.blogspot.com was very gracious and insightful in discussing his work.
Ballen takes the temporary nature of found objects, casts them in resin and gives them their own identity by altering the surface with familiar and unexpected color applications. He keeps a pretty good running blog of his studio practice and offers some insight into his process for a finished piece.
Working with a mash-up of found objects of packing supplies of tape and cardboard, he dresses up the structures with surfaces reminiscent of soft pillows or garbage bags inflated with air. This interplay of familiar and re-imagined objects is what allows the viewer to question if the illusion of the found materials actually becomes more desirable than the ready-made originals.
Looking at his most recent work it appears that he’s blurring the lines even more by offering variations of complex works, as well as paintings developed with simple, modern shapes and creating a homage to objects such as stop signs and a large, pink tongue.
"Off the Books" @ Frederieke Taylor Gallery.Featuring works by Alex Degen, Eric Fertman, Justin Valdes, Anton Vojacek, Yuri Masnyj. Curated by Benjamin Degen.
Entering Franklin Evans studio felt like you were actually stepping into one of his intensely detailed paintings. The ambitious space was covered in strips/pieces of vibrantly painted tape, wall drawings, works on paper; and the floor was tiled with art journal and press release printouts. Evans talked about using his time in the program to create and document a working space that would push his work in new and unexpected directions. 
