Gallery Visits PART TWO

So just an update on a few things. I just finished my 3rd large scale wall painting and I am super excited. They are going better than I had hoped and a lot faster as well, of course I've spent a great deal of time in the studio as of late. I hope to post some pics of the new work soon. As far as my internship goes things are going very well. I'm still photo documenting their flat files, which is exciting bc of all the different artists I get exposed to. It's also extremely helpful to see different resumes and how each artist presents their work as well as themselves. I met a few more artists that are represented by Pierogi, Ati Meir and Kim Jones. They are very interesting people. I remember the first time I met Kim Jones he was assisting one of the gallery workers in bringing up a huge box that was filled with 500 rubber rats for a project he was working on.

I've tried to go to some shows that were reviewed in Artforum or Art in America but haven't found any of them thus far. I will try again either tomorrow or next week; but many of the shows that have adds in Artforum I have attended. A few that I found this week were VucVidor's Even Superheroes Can't Save Us Now (The American Quartet: Part 2) at Cueto Project contact@cuetoproject.com and Emilio Perez's Emilio Perez: New Paintings at Galerie Lelong art@galerielelong.com. These were the two shows that really stood out among the shows that I visited on Tuesday.

Vuk Vidor's show focuses on the political turmoil of the United States through fallen superheroes such as Captain America, whom recently was killed off in the Marvel universe, and Spiderman. The show was full of paintings depicting the presumably indestructible superhero being crucified, shot, and beaten proving that even superheroes can fall. Now it's not hard to make the connection between the impervious superhero and the image we hold of our nation. Along with the numerous paintings were several metal cutouts of silhouettes of each superhero and the American flag bleeding or falling apart. The cutouts were flawless and painted a stark black as if the artist himself were creating the image out of an act of mourning.




Emilio Perez's show was most impressive. I was stunned when I first walked in because his large scale paintings reminded me of intimate abstract graffiti. On closer inspection they seemed alive with movement and an organic flow that I have never seen. According to Emilio's press release he applies layers of paint to a wood panel and then using a knife cuts out intricate shapes from the top layer to reveal the single color base coat. I was completely taken aback and spent a great deal of time investigating his surface textures and the line quality he achieved with his knife. These paintings were truly astounding.

Well that's it for now I'm going to make a few more posts but they are just going to be images and video. The video is going to be awesome because it's Daniel Rozin. I talked about him last week with all the mechanical works he's done. I will also post a video of Daniel Freid, I also mentioned him in a blog he has the marble ball piece that is activated by sound. Hope all is well where ever you may be. Until next time.............

Charles