More artists and more unwarranted criticism of their work.

Hello there. It has been a while since I posted anything on this blog. A few new paintings, a few new updates on my website but as usual this website remains relatively dormant and ignored.
My last post consisted of artists who where mostly new to me. I received some feedback from various people claiming that that post helped them in one way or another or at least found it interesting and as I said before in my previous post, I'd like to do that again. So I say:

Adrian Ghenie is an artist that came to my attention by way of a friend a while ago. I looked at a few of his paintings and forgot about them. Not because he lacks what I look for in painting or anything of that sort but I simply just did not remember his name. He came to my attention through another friend upon discovered him in a past issue of Modern Painters. I've seen a lot of his work in other magazines as well and think he is going to be one of the more prominant painters in the future. His is represented by Nicodim Gallery in L.A. though he lives in works in Berlin and Romania, or one of those. That gallery is mostly interesting. There seems to be a recurring aesthetic for some of the artists represented there. His new paintings seem very different to me. A link to paintings from his solo show can be found through the gallery's website. Though most are quite good, some are hit and miss. But enough of that and a few of Ghenie's paintings:

Pie Fight Study 2
2008
oil on canvas
55 X 59 cm

The Nightmare
2007
oil on canvas
145 X 200 cm




Matthias Weischer is a German artist that mostly paints interiors. A few older paintings, around 2001 or so, seem to be the better out of most that I have seen. I stumbled upon a video on Youtube with what I assume to be is recent work and the majority of it was just not good. They consisted of a new kind of idea with semi-emerging figures, sometimes abstracted and displayed in a collage-like manner existing in interiors that aren't quite as good as older work. I think more and more about it and I feel that judging and expecting someone's current work to be something that it was a decade or more ago is unfair. Maybe not unfair but something that I think is weird. It is important to evolve and do something new so I'm sure Matthias does not care what I think and is only doing what he feels is right, so that is that. I do like how specific the interiors are. Here are the good ones, or as I see them:

Untitled
2002
oil on canvas
102 cm x 120cm



Interior
2003
oil on canvas
75 cm x 96 cm

Cliffton Peacock is a strange name. And it does not surprise me that these are strange paintings painted by a painter with a strange name. The work that I have seen of his has been of portraits mainly, a couple of figurative ones, and one with a boy and a goat and a sun. They are weird, funny, idiosyncratic and above all, pretty good paintings. Peacock seems to be able to convey a sense of light on planes of the face without being silly about it, while simultaneously creating subtitles with color that I would feel funny about painting. Sometimes dull, dull colors that work. Sponsored by the Alpha Gallery in Boston. Given the recent handful of galleries that have closed due to the time, I'm excited to learn that this gallery still exists but disappointed to discover that I just missed his show. Here is the Peacock:

Untitled
2009
oil on linen
39 1/2 x 38 inches

Untitled
2009
oil on linen
37 5/8 x 40 inches

John Nieto is the name. He uses mediums that are not just limited to paint. Those being the giclee and serigraph. His use of color is interesting and I feel that it can be of use to me. Some of the work reminds me of Raimonds Staprans, the frontality and color, and some Rick Bartow those work I mentioned in the previous post 7 months ago. Maybe not Bartow as much, maybe just the ideas they share; Native American culture, wildlife, etc. But I did think of him initially. There is a lot of work on his website so it is difficult to just pick two but here they are:

Buffalo Medicine
Giclee printed on canvas
24 inches x 30 inches

Grizzly Greeting
Serigraph
26 inches 43 inches

Up next is a guy with a great name: Folkert Dejong. He makes sculptures using a variety of materials including styrofoam and polyurethane plastic. Most of his work alludes to some type of historical moment, or figure, occasionally commenting on political power or always commenting on political power. One of those. There are a select few pieces I have seen but the ones that I have are definitely good. A good deal of his work uses strange colors: whitish blues, florescent green, bright orange. It seems to me there is a degree of painting involved with his sculptures, or at least an awareness of it, and from what I can gauge, I am reminded of German Expressionism, particularly Kirchner.They have an enormity to them. Some of them are large, with one in particular touching the roof of a gallery. They are creative, quite terrifying, and insane and I'd love to see one in person. Again, hard to choose just two. Here they are:

The Death March: My Blood, My Oil, My Ass
2007
Styrofoam, adhesive



The Shooting At Watou
2006

There are things I like about Nina Chanel Abney's work. There is a flatness and use of bright colors that I like, patterns, etc. Her paintings without multiple figures seem empty but there are enough interesting parts in there anyway. There are a few contemporary artists whose work I can compare her to aesethically and in regards to employing a large quanity of humans in a vague but kind of specific setting. The comparrison really doesn't matter so much and is more of a superficial one, as Abney paints in an entirely different way. I find myself wondering about flat color and just how much of an impact it can have in a painting. Abney is young. Her paintings are few. They seem inventive and they work in their own way so whatever my opinion might be towards a specific painting of hers, I can at least applaud that. Nina's paintings:

Your Gig Is Up
2009
Acrylic on canvas



Paradise Found
2009
Acrylic on canvas

That's it for now. An update in 6 more months.