photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
ive never been able to get a read on JULIAN SCHNABEL. even before watching the recent JULIAN SCHNABEL: A PRIVATE PORTRAIT (BUENA ONDA, 2017) RETROSPECTIVE DOCUMENTARY that serves as a PERSONAL narrative regarding his CREATIVE OUTPUT, as well as the MEANINGFUL relationships he amassed along the way, i knew him through his UNCONVENTIONAL and highly PERSONAL FILMS. namely BASQUIAT (MIRAMAX, 1996), BEFORE NIGHT FALLS (FINE LINE, 2000) and THE DIVINE BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (MIRAMAX, 2007). each being its own UNIQUE CINEMATIC UNIVERSE unto themselves with the through line being his ability to defy audience expectations and invariably impress upon them a highly AFFECTING FOCUS on MOOD and the EMOTIONAL INTERIORITY of his character's PSYCHE. i have walked out all three of his movies with an ELEVATED sense of my own PERCEPTUAL EXPERIENCE as a human and how such affects my relationships and sense of SELF.
but that could all just be me projecting unto his WORK. which i believe might be the point of any TRUE ARTIST. although still INDECIPHERABLE, this documentary showcases a REFLECTIVE PROCESS with his WORK that finds him EVER-AWARE and even HYPER-VIGILANT for new opportunities and avenues of EXPRESSION, whether such be 'mistake' on CANVAS or in the EMOTIONAL pull of a CINEMATIC SCENE. everything is mined for its emotive potential in service of ITSELF. this ability to both improvise as a COMPOSITIONAL COMPONENT to his FILMS is partly what draws such TALENT and ADMIRATION from actors such as WILLEM DAFOE and AL PACINO, both participants in this FILM. arguably the moment in the FILM where these threads of EXPRESSION (MUSIC, ART and CINEMA) come together is in MULTI-MEDIA PRODUCTION surrounding LOU REED's late-career PERFORMANCE of his MUCH-HERALDED but famously DEBAUCHED BERLIN (RCA, 1973) album. what REED does with WORDS and MELODY, EVER-SHIFTING around his catalogue to his latest ARTISTIC PREDILECTIONS irrespective of audience expectation is essentially the model of SCHNABEL on CANVAS and CELLULOID. for me that moment was more INSIGHTFUL and MEANINGFUL than past FAMILY memories of NEW YORK and TEXAS, where he grew up. the SPONTANEOUS act of CREATION and being completely FEARLESS about such is what makes this FILM COMPELLING, if not entirely MYSTIFYING and OPAQUE. im still not sure entirely what i make of SCHNABEL or what i learned given this FILM, but at least it makes me aware of how perplexing the PROCESS of ARTISTIC GENERATION actually is since it comes from a place of INCREDIBLE INTENT, FOCUS and EMOTIONAL VULNERABILITY. such a state i'll likely never fully appreciate. JULIAN SCHNABEL: A PRIVATE PORTRAIT is an EVER-INTRIGUING FILM that i will no doubt revisit in the future.
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photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
it was a bit hard to get a decent read on the intent behind the brief DAMIEN HIRST: MORBID FASCINATION (ENTERTAIN UK, 2022) documentary, which focused on the NOTORIOUS BRITISH PAINTER and CONCEPTUAL ARTIST. the most FAMOUS of the YBAs (Young British Artists) that came out of GOLDSMITH'S COLLEGE in the late 80s and early 90s, which coincidently rose to CULTURAL PROMINENCE around the same time as the BRITPOP movement of young INDIE ROCK bands, DAMIEN HIRST is the embodiment of BRITAIN's return to CULTURAL RELEVANCY in the EUROPEAN ART scene and beyond.
and for that he is much BELOVED and HATED. some see him as an ABSOLUTE CHARLATAN whose WORK is POMPOUS, SUPERFICIAL and highly OVERRATED. others see him as a MODERN conceptual extension of the likes of CONCEPTUAL ARTISTS such as MARCEL DUCHAMP, ANDY WARHOL and JEFF KOONS in how he isolates innately PROVOCATIVE objects and ingeniously RE-CONTEXTUALIZES them to spur popular discussion and critical evaluation of COMPLEX and INTERRELATED EXISTENTIALIST themes such as NATURE, MORTALITY, RELIGION, IMPERMANENCE, BELIEF and CONSUMER CULTURE. like i said before it is difficult to get a sense from where MORBID FASCINATION stands on this issue as it doesnt seem to advocate for either side, more just presenting both sides as equally RELEVANT. this is FRUSTRATING since the fact that there is interest enough in HIRST in the first place to take the necessary TIME and ENERGY to film, edit and manufacture this product proves his INHERENT VALUE enough as an ARTIST to be considered WORTHY of being critically analyzed and dissected. somehow this line of inquiry feels so TRAGICALLY BRITISH, since only they will seemingly go through the effort to produce a documentary about the merits of making said documentary. i dont much care about your reasoning, just get on with the task at hand already. there is an UNFORTUNATE preoccupation in this film about HIRST's MARKETING PROWESS and preternatural ability to PROMOTE and SENSATIONALIZE his WORK in the press and thus draw a SUBSTANTIAL PRICE for such at auction. again, that is a BORING topic since such a discussion doesnt confirm or deny the MERIT of his WORK, just its current MARKET VALUE. my hope when watching this documentary was to get a better sense of his ARTWORK and how its THEMES interplay with the work of his PEERS, both preceding him like FRANCIS BACON or concurrently such as fellow NOTABLE YBA SARAH LUCAS. regrettably most of this short film was dedicated to his NOTORIETY and supposed CONTROVERSIAL STATUS within the ART COMMUNITY without naming names. it all just comes across as SUBPAR and lacking any real DEPTH. not gonna lie, DAMIEN HIRST: MORBID FASCINATION felt like WASTED OPPORTUNITY on a subject that is innately INTRIGUING and whose WORK is demonstrably WORTHY of a critical eye. the never-ending UNCRITICAL focus and SUPERFICIAL preoccupation with MONEY was the TRUE "MORBID FASCINATION" of this film, and not HIRST or his ARTWORK. probably best to search for better fair elsewhere since this film is definitely not worth checking out. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
i only recently came to be aware of the early 20th century SELF-TAUGHT ARTIST BILL TRAYLOR of ALABAMA. born into SLAVERY, his family stayed and worked for their former owners as sharecroppers for 30 years after EMANCIPATION. little is known about his life other than he raised several children and had a few marriages throughout a long life sharecropping in the YELLOWHAMMER STATE. it was only in his 80s that he moved to MONTGOMERY and took up DRAWING, resourcefully repurposing whatever LEFTOVER MATERIALS he could find. in time he was a cultural fixture of the main thoroughfare of MONROE STREET with his deceptively SIMPLISTIC yet deeply EVOCATIVE FIGURE DRAWINGS of life both REAL and IMAGINED, past and present, ETHEREAL and disturbingly PALPABLE.
for decades after his passing in 1939 in OBSCURITY, TRAYLOR's work was likewise FORGOTTEN about and UNCELEBRATED. his work now is seen as a uniquely UNFILTERED link to a world long passed in which AMERICAN HISTORY saw one of its most CONSEQUENTIAL fulcrum points, i.e. the RECONSTRUCTION era and the uneven cultural and economic transition from SLAVERY in the AMERICAN SOUTH. a transition still in motion, with WIDE-RANGING consequences to present day. despite the dearth of PERTINENT information outside of state census records, the recent documentary BILL TRAYLOR: CHASING GHOSTS (BREAKAWAY FILMS NY, 2021) attempts to give voice to TRAYLOR by CONTEXTUALIZING him and his experiences within the greater tradition of AFRICAN-AMERICAN playwrights and poets of the era. its an INTRIGUING JUXTAPOSITION to see these scenes from NOTEWORTHY DRAMAS played out by actors with TRAYLOR's drawings interspersed in the mix. it provides a possible CONTEXT to material that otherwise is ironically almost OBTUSE in its DIRECTNESS, like witnessing an ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIEF PAINTING in a tomb out of CONTEXT. it is quite something that these INDELIBLE IMAGES TRAYLOR created were done utilizing the most MODEST of materials, mostly pencils with BASIC colors on the backs of used cardboard print advertisements or discarded scrap paper. the vast majority of his work was done on MAKESHIFT canvases of IRREGULAR shapes, which he resourcefully and ingeniously incorporated into the COMPOSITION. part of the reason that his WORK hits the way it does is the fact that it is UNSCHOOLED and retains a certain PURITY of PERSPECTIVE for a REALITY and WAY OF LIFE that even at the time of its creation post-1939 was of a bygone era. it mixes COLLECTIVE and LIVING MEMORY with the HOPES and DREAMS of a time to come that as an old man TRAYLOR must have been acutely aware of MORTALITY and inability to experience said progress. there is also a bit of mystery regarding the SUBLIME and more than a little HOODOO ICONOGRAPHY thrown in the mix, which again informs his individual and the wider cultural PERSPECTIVE of his COMMUNITY. that something so PROFOUND is wrapped up in something seemingly so RUDIMENTARY is quite an achievement in its own right and he deserves his just praises, even if such are posthumous and decades after the fact. it is a testament to the QUALITY and INTENT of his WORK that TRAYLOR's ART resonates right now in our era with our amassed COLLECTIVE MEMORY and HISTORICAL and CULTURAL BAGGAGE. its one of the mysteries of ART that such teaches us anew as CONTEMPORARY conditions evolve and reveal themselves, presenting new CONTEXTS and opportunities for GROWTH. here is hoping that TRAYLOR is a permanent part of that continuing NARRATIVE and discussion regarding the AMERICAN EXPERIMENT, with all of its acknowledged PAINFUL SHORTCOMINGS and CELEBRATED virtues alike. BILL TRAYLOR: CHASING GHOSTS is a COMPELLING documentary about a REVELATORY ARTIST that deserves further attention. i found it ESSENTIAL and is most definitely worth checking out. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
with MODERN MEME CULTURE and INSTANTANEOUS global distribution via SOCIAL MEDIA, CONCEPTUAL ART that trades on PARODY and SATIRE is fairly commonplace. its part of the everyday LEXICON that being an engaged consumer of information in our DIGITAL AGE almost requires and it covers every POLITICAL STANCE, GENDER IDENTIFICATION and MORAL PROCLIVITY, for and against. its OVERWHELMING and one gets the sense that with the impending AI takeover of our VISUAL CULTURE things are going to move another rung in the POST-TRUTH world we have collectively stepped into.
with the RENOWNED AGITPROP artist RON ENGLISH there is a MORAL CENTER to his MASH-UP oil paintings and notoriously ILLEGAL guerrilla billboard campaigns that find him utilizing the VISUAL LANGUAGE of POP CULTURE against CORPORATE GREED and GOVERNMENT OVEREACH that does not have whats best for society in mind when game-planning decisions. the recent documentary POPAGANDA: THE ART AND CRIMES OF RON ENGLISH (CINEMA LIBRE, 2005) eloquently presents the risks and rewards of his RIGHTEOUS and REBELLIOUS VISUAL AESTHETIC that lampoons and eviscerates everything from the CORPORATE ICONOGRAPHY of RONALD MACDONALD, JOE CAMEL and MICKEY MOUSE to the VISUAL LANGUAGE of POWER innate in the UNITED STATES dollar as well as countless luxury items. its hard to not appreciate the man and his message of ENLIGHTENED SUBVERSION. especially with his CELEBRATED billboard campaigns that utilized the same FONTS, COLORS, MATERIALS and TEMPLATES used by advertisers. such billboard posters were so SEAMLESS and PROFESSIONAL that they would last a few days before being taken down. his effort was one of RECLAIMING PUBLIC SPACE and further continuing the conversation with marketing and advertising firms. he was attempting to democratize the VISUAL POLLUTION citizens are subject to on a daily basis. its all very INTERESTING because at its core these billboards are rather EPHEMERAL. yes, they have a (PASSIVE) audience that dwarfs that of a successful gallery exhibition, but ultimately his work will be discarded with a short shelf-life both in terms of the MESSAGE and the MEDIUM. such is why he made the decision to diversify into traditional oil painting. this is where i unknowingly became familiar with some of his work, namely the STRIKING album cover of THE DANDY WARHOLS' fourth album WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE (CAPITOL, 2003), KORN's THE SERENITY OF SUFFERING (ROADRUNNER, 2016) and ICONIC GUNS N' ROSES / VELVET REVOLVER guitarist SLASH's more recent SLASH (EMI, 2010), WORLD ON FIRE (ROADRUNNER, 2014) and LIVING THE DREAM (ROADRUNNER, 2018) solo releases. his style is BOLD and VIBRANT and makes use of models to provide ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES on ICONOGRAPHY sourced from all things FILM, TELEVISION and FAST FOOD. his work is focused around the common CULTURAL APPROPRIATION of everyday icons mashed together OUT-OF-CONTEXT to great effect, but it isnt KITSCH. there is a deliberate statement being conveyed about the INHERENT DISPOSABILITY of daily AMERICAN life and the CRASS CONSUMERISM that seemingly defines our how the collective HOPES and DREAMS of our CULTURE are defined. it is difficult not to side with ENGLISH and discover DEEP HUMOR and IMMENSE HUMANITY in the CLEVER MESSAGING of his work. POPAGANDA: THE ART AND CRIMES OF RON ENGLISH is essential viewing in my opinion.
photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
nearly two decades ago i was introduced to the work of MARK ROTHKO at 20th century retrospective of AMERICAN ART at THE WHITNEY at its old UPPER EAST SIDE location. i remember it with clarity because i attended this event with my parents and grandmother, who became visually and verbally upset when confronted with one of his RENOWNED COLOR FIELD PAINTINGS. she could not handle the fact that this painting was varying shades of black. for me there was no turning back. anyone that pissed off my grandmother was alright in my book and thus my interest in ROTHKO began in earnest.
THE SILENCE OF MARK ROTHKO (ICARUS, 2016) is a recent documentary that attempts to present the ABSTRACT PAINTER and his work as he intentioned it. assisting with this endeavor is his adult son CHRISTOPHER, who reads aloud his words and acts as a stand-in narrator of sorts. it is mentioned that he has a similar voice to that of his father. all this being said, ROTHKO and his COLOR FIELD PAINTINGS are deliberately OPAQUE and AMBIGUOUS to being with. it is as if the ARTIST is painting EMOTION on a purely SUB-COGNITIVE level. ever the CONTRARIAN, the film states that according to ROTHKO an ACADEMIC FORMAL ANALYSIS of his work via discussion of TRADITIONAL aspects like FORM, COLOR, TECHNIQUE, REPRESENTATION or ABSTRACTION are WELL-INTENTIONED but WRONG. he hoped for his work to be experienced, not watched. it feels like his work is an attempt at DECONSTRUCTING and REFRAMING the entire discussion surrounding WESTERN ART in an almost MARCEL DUCHAMP-ian manner. what is ART and who decides? my experience when confronted with ROTHKO's PAINTINGS is the INTENSE MEDITATIVE QUALITY to them, where in these meticulously labored over border regions are subtle borderlines that seem to intimate INFINITY. i think ROTHKO saw his PAINTINGS as a PURE DISTILLATION and EXPRESSION of HUMAN EMOTION, including our individual capacity for VIOLENCE and FEAR of DEATH. i look at them and i feel like i am in the presence of the SUBLIME. my hope is to one day visit the ROTHKO CHAPEL outside of HOUSTON, arguably the only existing presentation of his work sanctioned by the ARTIST. not sure what to make of THE SILENCE OF MARK ROTHKO. i came into this documentary CONFUSED about MARK ROTHKO and i left CONFUSED, but that probably says more about my SHALLOW inability to intellectually COMPREHEND the VAST META-NARRATIVES that the ARTIST is involved in. or maybe all that conceptual and philosophical talk is SUPERFLUOUS to the UNIQUE EXPERIENCE of just walking up and taking in one of his DISTINCT COLOR FIELD PAINTINGS with an open mind and open heart. you know, unlike my grandmother. thats my opinion at least. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
filmed shortly before his passing in 2014, DARK STAR: H. R. GIGER'S WORLD (T&C FILM AG, 2014) documents the life and laters years of the brazenly IMAGINATIVE and ENIGMATIC SWISS artist of subconsciously-inspired phantasmagorical BIO-MECHANICAL renderings that call into very question the ethical limits of man's detours into GENETIC ENGINEERING and BIOTECNOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES. his often MONOCHROME paintings are seemingly ELEMENTAL, referencing the ETERNALLY CYCLICAL interplay of BIRTH, SEX and DEATH and the SUBLIME nature of reproduction. with references to MODERN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN and ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGIOUS ART, his paintings often depict a merging of humans with TECHNOLOGY, where one becomes the other to the point that it is impossible to see the symbioses for its composite parts. its all one thing.
like most people, my introduction to H.R. GIGER was his work on RIDLEY SCOTT'S ALIEN film franchise that began in the late 1970s, but was reintroduced time and again by his visual work's association with NEW WAVE singer DEBBIE HARRY, BAY AREA HARDCORE legends DEAD KENNEDYS , PROGRESSIVE ROCK pioneers EMERSON, LAKE AND PALMER, and the early SWISS extreme METAL band CELTIC FROST. one surprise from this film was the revelation that CELTIC FROST / HELLHAMMER / TYPTYKON frontman THOMAS GABRIEL FISCHER has worked as GIGER's longtime assistant since the mid-1980s, their relationship being established from an early letter he wrote thanking him for the inspiration to create ART. its fair to say quite a few musicians have found such in the work of GIGER over the years. much is made in the film about the meaning of his work and its supposed NIHILISTIC overtones, but the HUMANOIDS i experience in his work seem empowered by their connection to TECHNOLOGY, not subsumed by it. in fact id argue that he presents a sort of IDEAL that i am nowhere remotely near with my own relationship to TECHNOLOGY, which seemingly bends me to its will and not the other way around. its interesting to consider when that SINGULARITY will occur between HUMANITY and TECHNOLOGY and what form we will seamlessly evolve into during our next stage. the idea that we deliberately planned and initiated our own evolutionary step that permanently divorces us from the ANCIENT rhythms of nature. it feels like with the advent of CRISPR TECHNOLOGY and GENETIC EDITING becoming a science fact rather than FICTION, we may be on the doorstep of some version of GIGER's FANTASTICAL vision. whether that is a net benefit or not is another question entirely, but its fair to say that GIGER is a visionary and a prophet who held such ethical dilemmas explicitly as the crux of his intensely SYMBOLIC CREATIVE LIFE. and we are all better for it. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
for some reason around 2001 i became deeply interested in the VIENNA SECESSION MOVEMENT of the late 19th and early 20th century and related AUSTRIAN artists such as GUSTAV KLIMT, OSKAR KOKOSCHKA and EGON SCHIELE. with the later two there was an EXPRESSIONISTIC and VISCERAL nature to their paintings that i found compelling, especially when held in comparison to GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST painters like EMIL NOLDE and ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER from roughly the same period and later NEUE SACHLICHKEIT ("NEW OBJECTIVITY") painters like OTTO DIX, GEORGE GROSZ and MAX BECKMANN. SCHIELE in particular was just so EXRREME in his depiction of HUMAN FRAILTY with his nudes. there is an ingrained sense of PHYSICAL DETERIORATION and DISFIGUREMENT with the SALLOW skin, BLANK UNADORNED countenances, oblique sight-lines and CONTORTED corpse-like postures against a WHITEWASHED floating background that put the emphasis front-and-center on the nude figure in a PROVOCATIVE manner. i was taken with SCHIELE's work immediately as a teenager.
my mother on the other hand, initially was revulsed and put off by those nude paintings and that reaction is pretty common. his work can be interpreted as RAW, BLEAK, UNROMANTIC and CONFRONTATIONAL in the extreme. i was lucky enough to visit the scenic CZECH village of CESKY KRUMLOV where SCHIELE lived and his gallery is stationed, in between stops in VIENNA and PRAGUE on a trip with my father in 2002. where that capacity for depicting the human form in such a blemished, convulsive and wholly compromised state is rooted i will never know. but i saw that unflinching artistic gaze and capacity to depict REPRESENTATIONAL REALITY "as is" as a sincere form of EMPATHY and COMPASSION, not DEBASEMENT, PITY or SCORN. and such is also the opinion and central thesis of the recent GERMAN documentary EGON SCHIELE: BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE (METAFILM, 2018), which recounts not only the life and impact of the painter on future GERMAN-speaking artists, but also the story of how his work grew over time to be celebrated on the same level as his peer, predecessor and one-time mentor KLIMT, whose own art in dialogue almost feels like an INVERSION of sorts in terms of TONE, TECHNIQUE and INTENT with that of SCHIELE. KLIMT's work was a celebration of the body and its status as a vessel for PLEASURE, VITALITY and REJUVENATION. with SCHIELE, his work seemingly depicts the body as a messy, fleshy, unsavory PRISON that is the locust of PAIN and DEBILITATION that the individual tolerates until ultimately freed from their mortal coil. this documentary makes an interesting choice in having the narrator interview two of SCHIELE's favorite models, that being his girlfriend WALBURGA "WALLY" NEUZIL, sister-in-law ADELE HARMS and younger sister GERTRUDE. given his lack of resources and the PRIVATE nature of his visual experiments, its particularly interesting that he utilized his sister as a nude model. the narrative device of breaking the fourth wall and interviewing both of the DECEASED subjects firsthand is done partly to dispel a misinterpreted sexual interpretation of these rather EXPLICIT paintings. its still jarring though to consider that many of these paintings are of an underage family member and is most definitely still TABOO. for SCHIELE, the film argues, utilizing such a model was done out of necessity and was done in collaboration with his sibling. overall, this brief documentary is successful in explaining how his paintings were informed by his technical training, preternatural artistic abilities and even access to emerging technologies such as x-rays. definitely worth checking if you are interested in TRANSGRESSIVE ART and the EXPRESSIONIST movement writ large. photo & text by nacrowe
with an absolute minimum amount of exposition, NORWEGIAN cartoonist LARS FISKE in his mostly wordless graphic novel GROSZ: BERLIN - NEW YORK (FANTAGRAPHICS, 2017) vividly depicts the life and career of noted GERMAN DADAIST painter GEORGE GROSZ in a style that expertly imitates his EXAGGERATED, CARICATURISTIC style. there is a certain NIHILISM to the work of GROSZ, especially that from the 1920s in which he showcased the PSYCHIC, MORAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL and PHYSICAL DAMAGE of the first world war on the collective GERMAN psyche. this was shown through a series of BRUTAL paintings depicting the DEBAUCHED nightlife of the WEIMAR REPUBLIC and all the opportunists, prostitutes and elites that frequented the bars and cabarets.
often compared to MODERNIST GERMAN peers like OTTO DIX and MAX BECKMANN, GROSZ had a harsh SARDONIC tone all his own which seemed to depict humanity as CORRUPTED and easily MANIPULATABLE, almost like DISCARDED marionettes once their value to the war machine has expired. this unbridled ability to hold a mirror to GERMAN society got him fined numerous times during this period, leading him to jump ship to the UNITED STATES in the early 1930s right as the NAZIS came to power. not surprisingly, HITLER had GROSZ's bitterly CAUSTIC paintings confiscated and deemed "degenerate art" alongside EMIL NOLDE, ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER, PAUL KLEE, MAX BECKMANN, MARC CHAGALL, OTTO DIX, WASILLY KANDINSKY, JOAN MIRO, OSKAR KOKOSCHKA, FERNAND LEGER and MAX ERNST as well as that of more famous artists like HENRI MATISSE, PABLO PICASSO, EDVARD MUNCH and VINCENT VAN GOGH. what i love about FISKE's style is that it cleverly utilizes GROSZ's style in order to pass JUDGEMENT on his character and life decisions. id argue that this decision places GROSZ as a key part of a much larger tableau of GERMAN society, not separate from it as an outside observer. it seems to suggest that his experiences, perspectives and sense of FRACTURED IDENTITY are an outgrowth of this society that is largely in a state of FLUX. meaning here is fluid and so are the rules that govern society and the relationships that makeup politics and personal relationships. in this book it feels like everything pre-NAZIS is CULTURALLY, SEXUALLY, and ARTISTICALLY up for grabs. almost a year zero mentality that sees the forces that led to the CATASTROPHE of the first great war of being worthy of SCORN and DISMISSAL. but therein lies the problem of what to fill the void with and that is the world depicted in GROSZ: BERLIN - NEW YORK. at least in the early first half of the graphic novel before he moves to NEW YORK. it is quite an achievement that such a dense depiction of such a notable artist was rendered efficiently utilizing such a minimum of words and almost completely through the power of GESTICULATION and TABLEAU. by presenting the multiple perspectives that made such a WARPED, FRAGMENTED reality possible very efficiently showcases the potential of the post war period and how that sense of fluid opportunity also gave way to the unleashing of the DARKEST RECESSES of the human id and our collective susceptibility to such. in the era of boundless GRIEVANCE and digital platforms that monetize such that is the DONALD TRUMP era, GROSZ and his artwork feels all the more RELEVANT and even PRESCIENT, probably more so than in the many decades past the second world war. GROSZ: BERLIN - NEW YORK is definitely worth checking out, especially for fans of MODERNISM and DADAISM or even that of EFFICIENT and thoughtfully executed storytelling constructs. photo manipulation & text by nacrowe
in the feature documentary HOCKNEY (BLAKEWAY, 2014) about the revered 20th century BRITISH painter DAVID HOCKNEY there is a quote attribute to him that paraphrased essentially argues that a transformation in viewing leads to a transformation in feeling. this conceit is the central thread that connects a life of creative work that really runs the stylistic gamut from ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM through POP ART. at heart HOCKNEY's work is concerned with perceived reality and is figure-based, but the aesthetic expressions of such showcase a talent concerned with SELF-ANALYSIS and SELF-EXPLORATION throughout his life: especially regarding his own relationship to his SEXUALITY. as his self-discovery through ART blossoms, so does his feelings towards such and the community that supports him.
being the child of RADIO from the SLEEPY northern industrial YORKSHIRE town of BRADFORD, HOCKNEY was well aware of the exploits of ESCAPISM that his IMAGINATION could provide, especially after discovering the local CINEMA as a child. movies provided both an escape and a spark that transported him far away from his DREARY routine in a crowded apartment that he shared with his parents and four siblings. its hard not to read that TRANSFORMATIONAL dream-like element into his paintings, almost SURREAL and GIORGIO DE CHIRICO-sque, that was no doubt so aided by both CINEMA and TELEVISION. the later of which he first witnessed as a teenager. even the notion of AMERICA and specifically HOLLYWOOD as a locust for personal expression and self-made REINVENTION seems rooted in this childhood attachment to MOTION PICTURES. my feeling is that its truly difficult to properly understand the REVOLUTION that was CINEMA if you were not a child of the RADIO beforehand. it was an EXPANSIVE and MIND-ALTERING INVENTION probably on par with the INTERNET a few generations later. whereas his POP ART contemporaries in ANDY WARHOL and ROY LICHENSTEIN were more concerned with the MARCEL DUCHAMP-ian conceit of locating the AUTHENTICITY found in REPETITION and COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING and INDUSTRIAL PAINTING TECHNIQUES, HOCKNEY seemingly was more INTROSPECTIVE in both his focus and his subject matter. he usually painted associates, family and friends utilizing a CAMERA as the basis for his ART. interestingly HOCKNEY saw the emotional limitations of PHOTOGRAPHY as the starting point for his CREATIVE WORK, as he was able to warp elements such as color, proportion, light, composition and especially PERSPECTIVE to his will. though based in TRADITIONAL representational depictions of reality, over time his work confronted the VANISHING-POINT techniques from antiquity and sought out a wider PERSPECTIVE that took in multiple angles. his later work sought to seek the EMOTIONAL TRUTH found in a myriad of PERSPECTIVES on a single subject. almost twisting the idea of REPETITION on its head towards something altogether INSULAR and undoubtedly INNOVATIVE. in many ways, being a HOMOSEXUAL in BOHEMIAN circles during his career was likewise a bold act of self-determination as such was completely TABOO in polite society. maybe i am reading in too much, but both his ARTISTIC and SEXUAL pursuits were related activities. i can only imagine the tragedy of the 1980s where the rise of AIDS effectively rendered two-thirds of his COMMUNITY gone seemingly overnight, especially in NEW YORK. that deep loss of vitality. that loss of potential. the seeming indifference of a CONSERVATIVE AMERICAN body politic that had yet to come to terms with its own constituent parts. it is still SHOCKING, even in retrospect. many of HOCKNEY's friends, contemporaries, assistants and business partners participated in this film such as ED RUSCHA, JACK LARSON, DON BACHARDY, JOHN KASMIN, RAYMOND FOYE, TCHAIK CHASSEY, MELISSA NORTH, GEORGE LAWSON, WAYNE SLEEP, PHILIP STEADMAN, JOSEPH CLARK, KENNETH TYLER, CHARLIE SCHEIPS and DAVID OXTOBY. they likewise provide a multi-perspective on the subject himself, who is interviewed throughout. HOCKNEY was an absolutely REVELATORY and extremely WELL-CONSTRUCTED film that i highly recommend to anyone interested in MODERN ART or QUEER STUDIES. required viewing in my opinion. photo & text by nacrowe
recently came across the documentary FOR NO GOOD REASON (SONY PICTURES CLASSICS, 2012) which loosely follows the career of the legendary BRITISH painter/visual artist RALPH STEADMAN through a series of interview with JOHNNY DEPP. with little surprise, much of the oxygen in the room is taken up with talk of his famous collaboration with AMERICAN writer and GONZO journalist HUNTER S. THOMPSON who passed away less than a decade before its filming. but not all of it.
what this film made me appreciate was the full context of STEADMAN's work and how bitingly political much of it was. its as if he took the turbulent, introspective psychological machinations of FRANCIS BACON's work and projected it outward onto a corrupt AMERICAN political apparatus that was not expecting that level vitriol and outright bile. what is also just as interesting is STEADMAN's questioning of the purpose of his work, since these warmongering capitalist structures have perpetuated themselves unabated through a new generation, his efforts to change the world inevitably failing. that lingering question is something that all artists, protestors and community organizers deal with at some point, if not constantly. in the post-TRUMP (or perhaps pre-TRUMP empire) era it is a concern that feels particularly prescient and of-the-moment. what can art do in the face of raw power? his paintings are visceral and unwaveringly detailed to the pain and suffering of the war-torn, malnourished and forgotten victims of war as only someone like GOYA could attest beforehand in centuries past. for what purpose if no one is listening? if no one cares outside of their own self-interest? there must be a good reason to create, provoke and progress. i just dont know it yet. photo manipulation by nacrowe
film director DAVID LYNCH is renowned for his ability to control tone and atmosphere to such an esteem that his surname is now an adjective for such. he is a modern director of the first order but what some in the public fail to grasp is how is career, much like JULIAN SCHNABEL a generation later, is rooted in painting.
THE ART LIFE (DUCK DIVER FILMS, 2016) is a documentary that follows a dual narrative of both LYNCH's telling of his upbringing and connection to art while showcasing him creating a new work on canvas at his studio in the HOLLYWOOD HILLS. it is almost as though the experience of creation in painting is conflatable with that of exploring a unique psychological perspective of uncertain space and time as seen through a camera's eye. what i gained most about his upbringing was that in spite of its idyllic nature with two loving parents that treated each other well, there was always that unspecified fear of losing that love and affection. in fact, despite his father's fair judgement and loving temperament, any harsh words that resulted from disobedience came down arguably harsher in that environment. KEITH RICHARDS once wrote that his vision of hell was being invisible to those he loved. the threat of distance from his family is a common thread that influenced his character as well as his art. also reminds of the buddha's tenet that suffering is rooted in desire. they are intertwined, as even idyllic situations are rooted in suffering as we attempt to prolong and maintain them. the fear of loss of happiness is suffering in and of itself. that dualism resonates with me when considering his films as well as his paintings and visual film art. this theme of family is also carried out as we see LYNCH's young child painting side-by-side with him. unencumbered by expectations, the toddler is just enjoying his company and playing with colors on the canvas. you get the sense that this type of boundless joy and seeming amorality towards expectation is something LYNCH strives for. the goal is not a concept or a point, but rather the transmission of an experience, which also describes the experience of consuming one of his films, especially ERASERHEAD (AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE, 1977). i have watched that film dozens of times yet i don't know what it is about, nor am i watching it to decode it. i watch it in order to enter that world. an alternate time and space. intriguing film. probably worth viewing if you can suspend expectations of what is usually presented in a traditional documentary. this film is an expressionist take on the individual and his paintings, not a treatise on his films. again, beyond intriguing and worth multiple viewings. photo manipulation by nacrowe
around the turn of the millennium i went with my parents and maternal grandmother to the centennial art exhibit dedicated to 20th century AMERICAN ART at the old upper east side location of the WHITNEY MUSEUM in NYC. in their were the expected POP ARTISTS and ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISTS but i discovered a new favorite through an unlikely source, my clueless ENGLISH grandmother. "this is shit" is what i remembered her saying and what looked me dead in the eye was a late black-on-black painting by notable ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST (although he detested that label) immigrant painter MARK ROTHKO. "i could paint that!"
yeah, but you didnt. if something pissed off my grandmother that immediately and that viscerally then i already loved it by default. its her side of the family that made me sit through FOX NEWS at the kitchen table and LITTLE RIVER BAND concerts, so yeah, karma is a bitch. that aside, what i love about his work is how it draws you in. reminds me quite a bit of the zazen meditation sessions i experienced at the SOJI-JI temple in YOKOHAMA. when sitting doing nothing your mind first races but then gradually settles and you find yourself paradoxically more attuned to your surroundings as you become unaware of them. even in a vacuum there is still that space and the experience of it. its hard to explain. when i see the work of ROTHKO i am not there looking at nothing, but experiencing the space, taking note of the edges of color and the infinite possibilities available in that border. eventually i don't notice anything and i am just there. i do not know if ROTHKO was interested in BUDDHIST concepts of SUNYATA ("emptiness") but his art relays such to me. one of my desired vacation destinations within the UNITED STATES is the ROTHKO CHAPEL outside of HOUSTON where 14 of his late black-hued paintings are displayed. i very much would like to sit quietly and observe that space one day. just experience all that nothingness. photo manipulation by nacrowe
there was a period in high school after i arrived in SACRAMENTO my senior year where somehow i became familiar with the works of late 19th century AUSTRIAN ART NOVEAU artist GUSTAV KLIMT and the SECESSIONIST movement associated with him.
i think part of my fascination was wanting to be somewhere other than conservative, white bread NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, as KLIMT's art is lusciously decorated with gold and exotic motifs the relay some otherworldly realm of beauty and perfection. then there was EGON SCHIELE. through KLIMT i learned of this upstart from the following generation that drew these brutally revolting self portraits that could not be more the polar opposite. his drawings convey bodies suspended without in a white plain colored in earth tones that seemed to reference decomposition and self-annihilation. his drawings are nihilistic and reduced humanity down to gangly misshapen limbs and soulless countenance that has more to do with a cadaver than an individual. around this period and i took BIOLOGY where we were taken to the UC DAVIS cadaver lab when i was able to view such lifeless forms out in the open. it immediately reminded me of SCHIELE and his work has been ingrained in my consciousness ever since, outshining that of KLIMT in my opinion. to me art should challenge the viewer and SCHIELE makes me consider my mortality and my physical being, echoing the visceral nature of CARAVAGGIO, and later 20th century work of FRANCIS BACON and MARK ROTHKO. for me his work is deeply affecting and not always in an uplifting, reassuring manner. his has a definite memento mori vibe that sticks in the craw of your consciousness. photo manipulation by nacrowe
WES BORLAND is one of the most criminally underrated musicians of his era.
its unfortunate that the otherwise talented rhythm section of LIMP BIZKIT were dragged down by quite possibly the worst frontman of all-time in FRED DURST. but i don't want to talk about that guy anymore because he sucks and he is famous for being a talentless hack. BORLAND on the other hand seemed seemed to be a unique creative force within that band as well as his other projects BIG DUMB FACE and BLACK LIGHT BURNS where he painted sonically rich landscapes that seemed more indebted to INDIE/ALTERNATIVE ROCK acts like WEEN, PRIMUS and BUTTHOLE SURFERS and 60s experimental rockers FRANK ZAPPA and CAPTAIN BEEFHEART than NU-METAL contemporaries KORN. his riffs are often angular with odd time signatures which puts him squarely in the POST-PUNK tradition of bands like BAUHAUS or GANG OF FOUR rather than PANTERA. basically i am saying he is all over the map in terms of the techniques and textures he likes to play around with, which for me makes his work intriguing. often times using double-handed plucking, behind the nut bends and artificial harmonics to further complicate his heavily processed sounds that also often incorporates e-bows and whammy bar heroics. yes LIMP BIZKIT sucks, but BORLAND most definitely does not. for my taste, he is probably one of my favorite 90s guitar players and i'd put him right up there with TOM MORELLO, DAVE NAVARRO, KIM THAYIL and JERRY CANTRELL. unfortunately for BORLAND, those other guitarists were fortunate enough to pair up with an equally legendary and talented frontman. we all can't be so fortunate. check out his work in BLACK LIGHT BURNS, a self-fronted project he did with essentially half of the touring members of NINE INCH NAILS. big fan of these 2000s records. collage by nacrowe
when i think of the weimar-era german painter OTTO DIX, who famously depicted the WWI veterans as contorted, disfigured amalgamations of flesh and mechanical attachments, i think of someone interested in the idea of how identity is attached to one's physicality. his work almost brings about notions of the paradox surrounding the Ship of Theseus, being that if you replace every piece of wood on a ship at some point it is no longer the original ship, except when exactly does that transformation happen? does it happen? the german soldiers in his paintings are often seen to be missing limbs and parts of their face that have crudely been replaced by then-modern technology. even paintings showcasing soldiers in action on in the trenches find them wearing gas masks and charging towards the viewer like deranged madmen in a barren dream-like hellscape. FRANCIS BACON used contorted figures to provide insight into his fragile mind-state and strikingly express the depths of his psychosis. with DIX i think that his use of body disfigurement was more to showcase the fragile collective german mindstate in the years after their defeat in WWI. along with the work of GEORGE GROSZ, i find his work endlessly compelling as it attempts to honestly channel psychological realism about the psyche of a nation. its power is what made it so dangerous to like of the third reich who later deemed it degenerate and attempted to suppress it in order to spin a much darker narrative with "realistic" historical paintings that were very much a quixotic fantasy. ironically hitler's need to mock the work of DIX among others is what preserved their work. go figure. i originally came across the graffiti patterns of 80s NYC street artist KEITH HARING from the charity christmas album A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS in what had to have been the late 80s when i was still in single digits. in fact, hearing the EURYTHMICS rendition of "winter wonderland" immediately puts me in the yuletide spirit as only a child could imagine, even as a now-30+ year old agnostic in the middle of june.
HARING, much like british director DEREK JARMAN, is an icon of a place and time when creative homosexual men were navigating the line between commerce and identity and really struggling. also like JARMAN, he left this world too soon a victim to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the indifference of society at large during that period. and its that indifference to the plight of others that makes me feel that his work resonates with me now in our current cultural moment. when i see his crude patterns of interconnected humanoid figures, full of movement and spontaneity, i am reminded of our collective kinship and our mutual obligations to each other. to me that was his message. our humanity connects us. that message was powerful in a NYC 80s art context where peers and loved ones were passing on from the new Black Death within a political/cultural/societal context that didn't recognize or have any compassion. reagan didnt give a shit. neither did any catholic priest. feels the same way now with many families being separated, mothers and fathers having their children kidnapped in OUR NAME. that indifference kills me yet it perpetuates what i see in our media and in our culture. i had the pleasure of living in Myanmar and i witnessed this same indifference to their other, the ROHINGYA. living one lived reality while knowing full well that atrocities and war crimes where only a few hundred miles away. no difference here stateside. we are deluding ourselves with our indifference. RIP keith haring. thank you for your message of inclusivity and tenderness and continually reminding us of our obligation to each other. FRANCIS BACON was a 20th century british painter best known for his post-WWII work that often included crude depictions of animal carcasses, popes, and portraits of himself and his peers. it is often said that his work related an existential unease of many during the post-war period where many were forced to reevaluate their place in the world, both as individuals and nationally. being a highly intelligent homosexual man during this dark, less-enlightened period only further compounded such national and individual issues of identity.
i find his work fascinatingly inventive and gloriously opaque, its fractured nature almost the art analogue to LEWIS CARROLL, except way more self-examining in nature and more sinister in its implications for what constitutes human nature. essentially his beauty is visible in the grotesque and unsavory dark corners of the human psyche. his work has influenced countless artists, a recent example being the MARK ROMANECK-directed 1994 video for the NINE INCH NAILS song "CLOSER" (embedded below). if interested, i found this 1966 BBC documentary "FRAGEMENTS OF A PORTRAIT" to be particularly insightful into the psyche of this most impenetrable of artists.
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da
"Judith Beheading Holofernes" (1598), oil on canvas, Galleria Nazionale dell'Arte Antica Rome CARAVAGGIO was a 16/17th century italian painter during the counter-reformation. that's all well and good, but the reason i adore his work is the visceral realism they portray. his figures don't seem to be a part of some faint idyllic plane, as most religious paintings of the period i've experienced seeming do. in his paintings, CARAVAGGIO's figures deal with issues of aging, decay, indulgence, exhaustion and pain. especially pain.
his work is well worth seeking out if you get the opportunity. a few are scattered throughout the united states. luckily four of his works are part of the permanent collection at THE MET, two on current display being "THE MUSICIANS" (1597) and "THE DENIAL OF ST. PETER" (1610), but most of his notable works are at museums and catholic churches and cathedrals across italy. embedded below is an excellent BBC documentary by COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY art history professor SIMON SCHAMA as part of his 2006 "POWER OF ART" series. it is worth watching. |
NICHOLAS ARCHIVES
March 2024
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