New York City and the Arts

The visit to the Chelsea Galleries was a nice change from visiting museums. However, one thing I did not like about the galleries is that there were no titles or descriptions for the paintings. Sometimes, it is helpful to have the title of a painting because it can give the viewer a different perspective from which to view the painting. However, overall I liked the fact that each gallery focused on a specific type of painting and that we got to see a lot of different painting styles.

The first and second galleries had interesting art, but I could not get any meaning from the paintings. The paintings in the first gallery made me feel scared. A lot of them had scribbles with what looked like a black crayon or colored pencil. These scribbles created a hectic, even crazy, atmosphere. Also, I couldn’t understand what was happening in the paintings. They looked like they contained shapes which resembled human figures or other objects, but I could not tell exactly what the shapes were. This made me feel uncomfortable because I felt like as hard as I tried I would never figure out what I was looking at. It was like looking at someone’s nightmares. I felt like the artist took whatever he saw in his dreams and then painted these images. However, like most dreams, it seemed that these paintings would only make sense while you’re in the dream. The second gallery, contained paintings with squigly lines. I thought the color pallets of the paintings were interesting and I wondered how the artist chose which colors to use in each painting. The colors worked well together and complemented each other. I also thought it was interesting that the artist decided to leave panels on the sides of the paintings. In addition, even though there were lines going everywhere, the lines looked controlled. They werent concentrated too much in one part of the painting. I liked how these painting were balanced and how the artist was able to maintain control of lines even though they are going in a lot of different directions and looping around each other.

I could not believe how much I enjoyed the abstract expressionism exhibition. I attended this exhibit several times before, but it never had a lasting impression on me. I always left the exhibit thinking about what all of these paintings were supposed to mean. However, during this visit I got a little bit of background knowledge from Paula Stuttman, the tour guide, and from a previous tour I had of the exhibit. This information helped me see abstract expressionism in a new way. I spent a few hours walking around the exhibit by myself and realized that these paintings that I once thought of as meaningless, actually had a lot to say.

I enjoyed the paintings by Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, and Jackson Pollock the most. One of the texts for a Mark Rothko painting contained the quote “art is an adventure into an unknown world…” I thought that this was the perfect quote to describe the abstract expressionist style and Rothko’s paintings. The first painting that I saw by Rothko was “Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea.” As soon as I saw this painting, I did not like it. I could clearly distinguish two forms, but I could not find any personal meaning in the painting. However, once I got to the room full of Rothko’s “multiform” paintings, my first impression of Rothko’s work changed. In these paintings, Rothko experimented with the relationship between space, color, and scale. I could not figure out why I was drawn to these paintings. They looked so simple, just a few colors and boxes. Yet, they made me feel more than the complex and numerous shapes in the first Rothko painting. The painting that really caught my attention was “Slate Blue and Brown on Plum.” When I looked at this painting I felt a rush of emotions. The beauty of the colors and the balance between them was overwhelming. The deep plum color in contrast to the blue made me feel excitement, fear, and calmness all at the same time. As I continued looking at Rothko’s paintings, I read some text that said he began experimenting with darker colors in order to create depth. After this I went back to the plum painting and realized that the plum color did actually create a feeling of depth. The painting did not feel flat, but instead looked like it contained a lot of space within it. I realized that this depth was what made me feel overwhelmed. Rothko’s experiments with color, space, and scale were an artistic adventure into an unknown world. In my opinion, this adventure was successful because it resulted in art which could create emotions with simple colors and forms.

Mark Rothko’s paintings were not the only ones that made me feel overwhelmed. Barnette Newamn’s panintings had the same quality. For example, at first glance, “The Voice” looked like a simple white painting with a “zip” of a different shade on the right side. However, as I looked closer, I realized that there were actually different shades of the color throughout the painting. This light color and its varying shades created the image of infinite empty space. I alsmot felt as if I was being sucked into this painting. This painting made me feel uncomfortable because it made me imagine being trapped compeltely alone in a never ending space of nothingness. Also the title of the painting, “The Voice”, made me feel the impact of the painting’s silence. The color of the painting made the infinite space seem dead quiet.

The painting, “Vir Heroicus Sublimus”, overwhelmed me because of its large size and bright red color. However, even though the dominant color of the painting was bright, it was not the most noticeable part of the painting. The aspect of the painting that caught my attention was the white “zip”. Even when I closed my eyes (which I had to do a few times because the painting’s bright color almost made my eyes hurt) I could still see the white zip. Accordring to the text next to the painting, Newman wanted his paintings to be viewed from a close distance instead of far away. As a result, I decided to take a closer look at “Vir Heroicus Sublimus”. I realized that there were some imperfections in the red color. The painting was not perfectly one shade of red. This made me think about life and how sometimes when we look at things from far away or just at their surface, they may seem perfect. However, once we take a closer look and examine them we begin to see problems and imperfections.

Ad Reinhardt’s paintings consisted of grids in different colors. I liked these paintings because they had a sense of mystery and allowed the viewer to make discoveries. For example, while looking at these paintings, I found myself wondering how Reinhardt could see the differences in the shades of colors when he was painting. The painting that amazed me the the most was “Abstract Painting”. At first I thought it was just a large black square. However, when I read the description I realized that Reinhardt had actually created a grid of squares in different shades of black. I stared and stared at this painting. I convinced myself that it was still just a large black square. However, after staring some more, I began to see the grid! I tried to imagine the amount of skill and creativity necessary to come up with this painting. The painting was like an illusion. In order to see its full potential, you had to train your eyes. It made me realize that sometimes in life we can oftern discover things if we just look a little closer.

Jackson Pollock’s paintings varied a lot in style. In his earlier paintings, such as “She Wolf”, I could clearly see recognizable forms. Also, even paintings that did not have immediately recognizable forms, such as “Gothic”, they still had titles, which immediately created a lense through which to view the paintings. As a result, I did not enjoy these images because the possiblities of  there interpretations felt too constricted. The titles made me feel like I had to understand what Pollock tryed to say by painting these images. However, Pollock’s “drip” paintings left a completely different impression. They had no titles, just numbers. This let my mind be free to see whatever meaning I wanted. In painting “One: Number 31: 1950” , Jackson Pollock somehow caputred the essence of energy. When I thought about energy before viewing this painting, there was no image that I could associate it with. I could picture people moving, but not the energy that these movements contained. Now, “One: Number 31:1950” is the image I think of, when I try to picture energy. Also, this painting made me feel more connected to the process of its creation. I could picture the actions that Pollock needed to perform with his body in order to make this painting. I could imagine the way he would have to flick the paint on the canvas and move around to create this image, which would capture all of the energy that went into the painting’s formation.

Visiting Chelsea was a lot more different than going to museums like the MET or the MoMA, and I definitely prefer this experience. Walking into a gallery somehow felt a lot more informal. I could walk into any gallery, look around, and just walk out, because if there was something I did not like there were at least a dozen other exhibitions taking place on that same street. Before meeting up with the rest of the group, I went over to the Jonathan Levine gallery to see Tara McPherson’s exhibit Bunny in the Moon, which I would definitely recommend to the rest of the class had it not just closed this past Saturday. Her style is very clean, and from up close her figures look illuminated and 3-dimensional. Here are a few of my favorite paintings of hers:

Of the galleries that we all went to as a group, the Mike Weiss Gallery featuring Kim Dorland’s trippy works was my favorite. It spoke to my adolescence, appealing to the darker elements of my childhood- the Boogeyman, the dark forest, and the angst. His smaller paintings evoked fear and intimidation by greater factors, and as the works became larger the roles reversed. He channeled all of his anger the $10,000 rendering of a secluded forest, and brought his inner demons to life in the creepy crows circling around his filthied canvas.

This will definitely not be my last visit to the galleries. I’m already looking for new artists to check out!

At the Chelsea Gallery visit, I saw a variety of different styles of artwork. Some appealed to me and some I did not connect with at all. I wasn’t really a fan of the sexual, racy art since I found it slightly disturbing. I also did not connect to the political artwork’s messages, but I did find it stylistically interesting. I liked how he mixed the bodies and heads of the people he drew, but I felt like his paintings had too much going on at once for me to understand everything. It was like reading a book in one painting.

I also didn’t really connect to Brice Marden’s squiggle paintings. I did however appreciate how the four paintings in each room worked off each other, since they contained the same three or four colors, and each one expressed a certain color more than the next. The larger sized paintings were placed in the bigger room, and the smaller sized paintings were placed in the smaller room. This gave the effect of the painting not getting lost, like if the smaller ones were placed in the larger room.  The fact that similar paintings were surrounding us on all four walls made us feel like we were entering Marden’s world. The purpose of the border on each painting allowed for the painting to not engulf us, but for us to become absorbed into the painting instead. I have noticed other abstract artists do not include borders so that the painting eats us up and we get soaked up by it, but this tactic made us focus more. I learned from his painting that by coloring over other colors and using shadows and different shading you can make some colors pop out while others recede in the painting. It is interesting that colors alone can express different dimensions as Marden has apparently proven.

I think most of us liked Kim Dorland’s art the best. His view of art was so enticing to me because the pieces weren’t only on canvas. He would glop paint on to make it three dimensional, a technique Kent Dorn did as well. His use of dead animals as his canvases was awesome. I think art is an expression of yourself and it is important when people surpass normal boundaries. The bright colors, ghostly figures, and arrangement of his artwork in the first room took my breath away, and I realized there were just so many things to look at. I feel that his use of feminine colors and glitter was interesting as well. I thought he was a female at first because of this, but I realize that he probably just saw all of the content that he painted having feminine qualities. I enjoyed the fact that he used purple string on the coyote because it gave the coyote color without using paint or having anything on the animals body itself. I liked how abstract and asymmetrical it was being on only one side of the animal.

Highline Park was really nice and peaceful, and I liked seeing the city from such a serene level. I definitely intend to go there again to relax. Although, I think the class’ favorite part may have been hearing the guy on the street referring to Professor Jablonka as our mother, and reminding us to take good care of her.

Nicole

Our walk around the Chelsea art galleries was eye-opening, as always. In the past I have been ignorant to the contents of these building with large doors and clean windows. I had always thought that if I dare attend an art gallery I would feel out of place, but this was not the case, since everyone was friendly and happy to share some background information on the galleries.

The first gallery with works of Jorge Queiroz prepared my mind for analyzing the abstract and connecting it to myself. At the start of the galleries, the works seemed rather dull, but as I progressed through the gallery I became more captivated. I found one painting reminded me of the human body. The shapes and textures were similar to organs and blood vessels. Everything aligned in the far right, creating a faint line. Since the images reminded me of the body, this painting appeared as a system to me. It contrasted some of the other paintings that were more similar to chaos and havoc.

My favorite painting in the gallery stood out the most in my eyes. It is mostly blue, but not an evil blue. It is a blue that is calm but emotional. I spent several minutes on this painting and found the more time I stood there, the more people I found in the picture. At first I counted 3 but now realize there are at least five. There is also a house in the painting and all the people appear to be focusing their attention in the direction of the house. This painting seemed welcoming to me, some of the subjects seem to be extending a welcoming hand. Some of the darker figures have a more angry expression. This painting made me feel sympathy, as if there was a pain felt among all those in the painting that is then translated to the person viewing the painting.

Another painting of the works of Jorge Queiroz that caught my attention had two people. One had a dark face whose features were extremely faint. The second person had an open circle for a face. This felt like a very interactive painting. It seemed clear that the viewer was meant to insert his or her face into that circle. This painting provokes something universal. To me it is a feeling of love but the dark colors and lack of faces shows that it is not always a joyful feeling. Also, I found this painting to be one of the most realistic ones.

The second gallery we went to, with the work of Bruce Marden, did not appeal to my tastes. Although there was the presence of color, which would usually keep me engaged, I did not find the paintings very impressionable. I would have liked to see a larger variety of colors and most importantly brighter colors. The borders on the left and right side were also counterproductive in my opinion. The borders limited the paintings and prevented me from being able to connect to his work. I would have felt more a part of the painting is it seemed the lines were extending beyond the canvas. The smaller paintings were also dissatisfying to me. They were surrounded by a thick white border and placed against a wall of the same color. They seemed to diminish in significance as a result of the border and placement.I didn’t feel as if these paintings were asking me to connect to them.

The last gallery we went to was Nicky Nodjouni, where there was a strictly political agenda in the paintings. In each picture the reflections of the people and the animals are mixed. This makes the characters blend and makes no distinction between animal and human. Thus, the human figures are portrayed as savage. The painting that stood out most to me was one that reminded me of The Master and Margarita. It featured the head of an animal and appearedd supernatural. The subjects of many of the paintings are dark in nature but relatively bright in color.

*I am rather confused as to whether we were supposed to write a separate response the Chelsea Galleries or not, so I figured I’d just write something short.*

There’s a beauty and a sickness I associate with certain rural areas, and both Dorn and Dorland captured this perfectly.

Kent Dorn and Kim Dorland had, along with similar sounding names, very similar subject matter and painting technique. Their choice to chronicle adolescent memories led to very personal work, and I liked that. Despite Dorland’s being Canadian, both galleries showcased work that focused very much on a working class backwoods childhood, which led to both shows being heavily tinged with a sense of Americana. They were not, however, cliché pastoral scenes but instead grittier, more realistic depictions of the environment in which the men grew up, and I enjoyed this.

What was also notable about these two shows were the artist’s heavy reliance on impasto painting. This layering of paint to create a sort of stucco effect, but usage to the extent that it was utilized in “New Material” and “Remains” is, as far as I know (which, admittedly, is not much), relatively uncommon.

I liked almost all of Dorland’s pieces. The scream-like portraits included may have been a bit much on their own but worked in the context of the show, adding a perceived sense of violence to the already dark mixture of moods brooding within the show.

What I enjoyed about Dorn’s work was that he seemed to utilize the concept of layering paint to actualize physical dimensions in a more prominent and thoughtful way than Dorland. Again, his portraits were my least favorite part of his exhibition because I thought many of them were overly chunky to the point where they were so distorted they began to lose their meaning. My favorites by Dorn were the ones in which he used a restrained amount of impasto technique and watercolor to produce a sense of near and far as well as convey the idea of fuzzy and fading memories.

Also in relation the gallery visit, but not to these artists:

I was personally a bit put off by CPLY’s aptly named ‘X-Rated’; I thought it felt like what may occur if Matisse were to have painted pornographic images. However, when seeing the cover art (now banned in most sales) for Kanye West’s new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy it immediately reminded me of the exhibit.

It goes to show that artistic eroticism is pervading the mainstream as well.

-Ali Simon-Fox

Our tour around the art galleries in Chelsea this past Wednesday was my first opportunity to explore the location’s hidden treasures, and I’m glad I was able to embark on them. Visiting and examining each gallery was amazing to me because each one was so personally revealing. I felt like every gallery was a brain and we were being invited to peer inside and observe how it thinks. All of them were special and thought-provoking to me, but my favorite works were those created by Jorge Queiroz and Nicky Nodjoumi.

Jorge Queiroz’s works had a sense of somber loneliness, self-reflection, and morbid but whimsical figures and animals. His technique is experimental and eclectic, with contrasting shapes and sizes and curious color pairings. I especially loved the sculpture room; it felt like entering a bright carpeted playhouse full of huge and unexpected pieces. He incorporated so many small surprises both in his sculptural pieces and paintings that really peaked my interest and made me feel as if he has a difficult time parting ways with lingering childhood memories. My favorite pieces from the exhibit, however, were the large and colorful paintings in the back rooms. I felt so engulfed in the imaginative worlds he created; one minute I was swimming along in a decrepit blue mass of mutated creatures and broken industrial castles and the next minute I was floating in a black and cream linear butterfly cage. In this sense, I felt connected to Queiroz’s paintings in that he captured the part of human nature that knows no bounds to creativity.

The common slicing and switching of body parts within his paintings are particularly striking; they made me believe that perhaps what his focus might have been– war, corruption, suffering, deception– was interchangeable on both sides of the spectrum, be it the victims or the perpetrators. Parts of his paintings, like the veiled women and the usage of cows, showed Nodjoumi was speaking about Iranian issues, but much of it was left to the viewer’s interpretation of their society and its problems. My favorite work of the exhibit was the painting across from front desk, mainly because it was so disturbing and powerful. The bright colors mixed with dark shadows and the tangle of syringe wires on the body of an upside down human/cow made me feel so uneasy and worried. Nodjoumi’s art fits under a category I keep in my mind when I evaluate whether or not I enjoy certain art works; when a piece has the ability of physically changing my emotional state or making me dwell long after I’ve left the location, I consider its purpose accomplished. The only regret I have about viewing Nodjoumi’s work in Chelsea is that I don’t think I was fully focused on it since my head was swarming with all of the other artists’ work we had seen previously in the day. I’m certain I’ll be returning to Invitation to Change Your Metaphor sometime soon to further absorb the paintings and analyze them better.

– Mariam Kirvalidze

The first gallery we visited was the Sikkema gallery.  What struck me was that I could not tell the subject of any of the paintings–truly abstract art. I did not really like this, but this is just personal preference.  However, in the same museum were sculptures made by the same artist that I found intriguing.  There was one with many blue sticks, each pair taking on a pair of sneakers at the bottom.  In fact, many of the artist’s sculptures had shoes.  What I liked about this specific sculpture was that the shoes got increasingly bigger along the lengths, which made me think of the universal progression of life.  At first, the lovely blues of the “legs” made me think of the sea and the shoes of a moving ship but I do not think that the sculpture was meant to have a definite interpretation.  The next works we were able to view were the paintings of Brice Marden.  Apparently, his visits to China influenced his works.  I could definitely see this in his paintings, which looked like convoluted lines, each painting having a different contrast of colors between the different lines and between the lines and the background.  I could see how the painter thought these lines resembled Chinese calligraphy.  I love how the different colors inspired different moods in me.  The splashes of yellow and orange made me feel “lighter”.  Also, the gallery exhibited two different rooms.  In one, the background was lighter, which gave me more of a jovial feeling, while the room with the darker background gave me a more relaxed feeling and I couldn’t help thinking I would love to have something like this in my bedroom at home.

My favorite gallery was the one that exhibited the works of Kim Porland.   I saw the common theme of evil men, forests, and gloomy birds.  Although the art was gloomy, I thought it was beautiful how the artist created layers on the canvas with material such as feathers to show the birds.  What I really liked about his paintings was the fact that I could actually tell what the painter was drawing.  I got a real sense of the artist’s childhood in Canada, which comprised of time spent in the intimidating woods and I thought it was cool how the painter used this media to expose the teenagers of their wrong doings in the woods.  I saw this right when I came in and thought that all the humans shown seemed to be evil, while the animals looked like victims.  Being in this gallery, I really felt like I had visited a rural area in Canada.  The next gallery of Kent Dorm also comprised of paintings of woodlands.  But this gallery was a little less sardonic in its theme and left me with a cozy, “Hansel and Gretel” feeling.  I especially loved the painting of the cabin and the one where there were multiple people gathered around a lake.  The texture of their clothes really popped and seemed to invite the viewer in.  Both of the galleries showed men in the paintings who looked like “rockers” with long hair and guitars, which I thought was interesting and gave a better idea of the setting in the sense of time.

We also visited the X-rated gallery.  I thought this was good comic relief from the mellow galleries visited previously.  I really enjoyed the splash of colors and patterns in the background of couples engaging in sexual acts.  Lastly, we saw the exhibit of Nicky Nodjoumi.  I dislike politics and war so the gallery didn’t really settle well with me, even though the subject matter was a criticism of such conflicts.  The paintings were a lot more understandable than abstract paintings but I was still confused about what was going on in them.  All I could make from them was the crimes on both sides of the Middle Eastern People and the men from America who looked like businessmen.  I couldn’t see the chauvinism of the Americans because it seemed like both sides were to blame for any conflict.  In fact the artist seemed to mesh both groups together (different parts of the body belonged to different people) and maybe this is because he is trying to convey that all people are the same and that with varying viewpoints, anyone can be seen guilty and no one group is innocent.  Even though the paintings depressed me, I thought the artist’s skills were phenomenal.  What I learned from all the gallery visits was that artists don’t really draw for the view.  I think they draw more for themselves, because otherwise, what would be the point of making any paintings with unlikeable subject matters? The paintings that really caught my attention were the ones where I was reminded of home and pleasant settings I would like to visit.

Another enjoyable visit I experienced was the trip to the MoMA to look at abstract expressionist art.  The first work that struck me was “Spring” by Hans Hoffman.  It looked like the typical abstract painting, which usually has many streaks of color siding one another.  Paula Struttman explained that the painting utilized the “push pull” theory, which means the warmer colors are pushed forward while the cooler are pushed back.  I thought this theory was interesting because I often do notice that the lighter colors really pop out.  We also explored many of Barnett Newman’s paintings.  Most of the ones I looked at had a vast space of color and then a stripe.  I noticed that many of the people in my group looked amazed by the immensity of the space such as one that was red and had about five lighter stripes.  However, these paintings did not captivate me as other did because I saw them as bland.

In comparison, I really enjoyed the works of Jackson Pollock.  This came a surprise to me because previously, I thought I disliked abstract art and I knew that Pollock was a great symbol of that. As Struttman explained, Pollock had a different way of using the paint in which the audience could really see the gestures with which he painted.  I felt more connected to the artist in this way.  To me, it looked like Pollock was choreographing a dance with the brush.  I really like that Pollock believed there is no such thing as an accident in art and that an accident can be used as an advantage in art.   I caught myself scanning the paintings of Pollock over endlessly because as Struttman mentioned, each area of his paintings was as eye capturing as another.  One of my favorites of Pollock was “White Light”.  There was so many layers of paint in it and yet, it didn’t look like a mess.  When I saw this painting, I thought that it looked like a part of the universe cut off and put on canvas because it is chaotic but at the same time purposeful chaos.  My favorite of Pollock’s work was “Gothic”.   Looking at the swirly lines ,which were dominated by blue and sea green, I thought of the ocean but as I moved back, the lines actually congregated to look like figures.  I thought those figured resembled snakes.

Looking at more paintings on my own, I discovered “Desert”, by Richard- Pousette Dart.  The patterns and colors made me think the artist was influenced by Mexican or Mayan culture, which I find beautiful.  I also saw many eye shaped figures and thus had this eerie feeling like the painting was watching me.  Much of the painting was sectioned and coming out at the viewer.  I find it remarkable that although the artist uses a canvas, he can paint so that the art adopts a tangible texture, which further engages the audience into the painting. Another painting that struck me and used color as an important quality was one by Sam Francis.  I think he utilized the natural tendency for paint to drip because it is as if the paint if progressing downward. The dominant color of the painting is a blood red and there is some yellow and blue popping out as well.  These colors made me think the artist was trying to paint flowers, but everyone has their own interpretation I suppose.  Overall, I really liked some of the paintings and their use of color even though none of them could be interpreted in a specific way.

By Darren Panicali

Being a Macaulay-at-Hunter student is such a luxury; we live for free on our very own quaint, little residence hall, smack in the middle of the east side of the city. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to not explore the city when you become so comfortable in your own area in Manhattan. There was a whole microcosm of spectacular paintings just across town this whole time, and I really just had absolutely no clue it even existed! Just imagine: a whole world of culture and experience right on the same street I live on, completely untapped and screaming to be explored! But Professor Jablonka decided to step in and change all that; and so began our mystical adventure to the infamous Chelsea art galleries.

Picture art that messes with your notion of reality as juxtaposed with pretend worlds; the stuff you might conjure up in your head is what we discovered at Jorge Queiroz’s gallery. His art always seemed to tell some kind of tragic or mysterious story, the details of which you couldn’t put your finger on because just when you think you have a grasp of the painting, you notice another element that dispels your entire view of it and forces you to reconsider it from another perspective. Employing media like oil paint and charcoal and colors both staid and outstanding in strange patterns and figures, everything was so whimsical, but (most of the time) it all worked in accord and didn’t seem as intensely random as one might have otherwise perceived it. Not my favorite gallery, but its enigmatic quality is definitely worth mentioning.

Brice Marden’s gallery tried to incite you to imagination. The squiggly lines with their restricted color palette and bland backgrounds, set in a limiting boundary on the left and right, didn’t particularly inspire me, but I did find them fascinating to look at and imagined each winding line was a path on a map and how you could meander for days on end along them, never finding your destination. And that sums up the experience for me: lost. It didn’t matter whether Marden used thick lines or thin lines or different colors – although these differentials gave a disparate character to each work, the overall feeling evoked by all was one of sheer confusion. Needless to say, the works were still done brilliantly, and you could see the calligraphic influences in the flow of the lines along the canvases. They still possessed a pleasing character, albeit perplexing.

Oh my God, Kim Dorland is my hero. Walking into that gallery was such a breath of fresh air. This man employed the most innovative painting techniques I’ve seen in a long time. The nature of his work was always so supernatural, spooky, and as dreary and disturbing as the dead themselves. He used watercolor techniques to make faces distorted, created 3D paintings with the build-up of paint on the canvas, and tacked on nails, strings, feathers, and other outrageous items, weaving them into harmonious yet chilling images with a sort of “religious” experience that went with them all. Everything was just dripping, waning, and dying. It was truly horrific and spectacular at the very same time; there was just so much emotion. I loved it.

Unfortunately, Kent Dorn’s woodland works were utterly dwarfed by Dorland’s intense pieces. The nature theme was nice, but I really wasn’t interested. I will say that he did well with his own 3D effects, which he used primarily on people and vegetation. Nature scenes were well detailed, but for me, everything carried a sort of unpleasant and anti-ideal feel to it. And my back started to hurt under my bag’s weight at that point; that gallery experience was just a mess.

Oy, William Copley. Oy. If I wanted to see porn, I’d go buy a porno. Or I’d Google it. I understand that perhaps it’s important to idealize sex/nakedness as something beautiful and nothing to be ashamed of and yada, yada, yada, but come on. He could have just as easily made his subjects into more ideal figures instead of cartoonish hoochies, and that could have done the job of conveying something cogent to the masses just fine. Still, it was a powerful message, disseminated through the depiction of sensual acts and blatant sex positions with certain anatomy emphasized over other body parts, and I congratulate him on that, but personally, that was just nasty. No thank you, Copley; no thank you.

I can’t say I understood the political underpinnings of Nicky Nadjoumi’s fiery work, but the ardor was felt so deeply. Through the use of abstract techniques ranging from dotting, peculiar patterns and lines, watercolor, distortion, exposed anatomy, and sharply ironic images, he depicted the censorship and political corruption of his subjects fervently and drove home some message of social strife and discontent. He often left empty space around his subjects, giving them an aura that made them appear more life-like and prominent. It made me feel like participating in some kind of social rebellion, or at least coaxed me into relearning that you really can use art to articulate that you believe something is wrong with the world that needs to be fixed. It was excellent.

My favorite works came from Dorland’s gallery:

Courtesy of http://www.mikeweissgallery.com

He just captured such unsettling ideas and emotions in his paintings. What hit me most were the watercolor faces that appeared to be suffering excruciating pain and melting into oblivion. Sometimes that’s how I view life: it can be utterly depressing, but it’s almost as if we’re all just melting away, too, and eventually our images – our lives – will decay away completely, leaving nothing but unrecognizable, distorted lines of color – our remnants and legacies. But what colors will we leave behind? And what patterns will they lay in? And will we continue to inspire others after the colorful patterns have deteriorated beyond others’ comprehension and sympathy – after death and being forgotten? I guess we’ll never know, but hope is our lifelong companion, and I don’t intend to give up the search just yet.

As mentioned in MoMA’s family activity guide, David Smith once said “I do not recognize the limits where painting ends and drawing begins.” This quote encapsulates the essence of the Abstract Expressionist New York exhibition, which allowed exploration of not only the intersections between two-dimensional and three-dimensional art but of some of the artists’ creative processes.

Ms. Pachner, our tour guide, told us that the abstract expressionists were believers in Carl Jung’s theory of collective memory, and their paintings were meant to convey the archetypes which everyone of us is aware of. I did not see this so much in the art, but I did feel that their was a certain sort of visceral sentiment in the paintings of Pollock that I could relate to. While a much bigger fan of his later work than of his earlier, I still found it interesting to view his pieces along a chronological trajectory and see how he progressed artistically throughout his lifetime.

I used to not appreciate Pollock. In middle school, we had to make paintings simulating Pollock’s in which we haphazardly blew paint onto paper with straws; I felt that surely anyone who we could copy so easily was not worthy of great artist status. I now realize that what we did was not a true simulation of Pollock’s work at all. His splatter paintings carry a physical presence, and to be next to one is to be consumed in the immediacy of his lines, a beautiful chaos. The gestures and drips are not random; the entropy is deliberate, as exemplified by the way the painting below seems simultaneously expansive and self-containing, reminiscent almost of a galaxy.

In one of the rooms, there were letters and pictures of the artists talking about or working on their art. This was of great interest to me because I love to learn about things in the process of formation. My two favorite photographs in this section were the ones of David Smith and Jackson Pollack:

This fascination with process carried over to my venture downstairs into the prints and illustration gallery, which was also housing a special exhibition on abstract expressionism. I loved the sculptures and prints of Louise Nevelson, and the similarities between the two brought me back to Smith’s earlier claim about how there was no real divise line between painting and sculpture. This is shown by Seymour Lipton who’s otherwise milquetoast drawings gained a significance when I saw them next to his finished sculptural piece Imprisoned Figure (1948).