A Box of Rocks

In the image of Duane Hanson with a dirty, dark, damaged secret; this work by Joseph Seigenthaler speaks to a clothing optional family dynamic...beauty is not the fare of the day...at least not in a conventional way...there is something appealing and attractive about the context of these works: sculptural realism...suffering in the faces and bodies...with the male figure carefully balancing a box of rocks on his third-eye...perfectly placed...kinetically, this element is always, already in the process of potentially falling...

Seigenthaler is an expert at textured skin, pitted and aged...it reminds me conceptually of the early works of Chuck Close, realism to the point of nausea...sometimes it is important to not show the warts and all! The dynamic is unclear...there are some clues...height wise, the female form is in the position of power, reluctant authority, staring down and away...the male figure is disengaged...lost in his own head and out through a precarious wooden square...and finally the child form is crying and aching for attention...in need and lost...he is the only character not seemingly disconnected...he is begging to engage...

Have a Nummy Drink

You have to love a furry cup! The idea of everyday objects transformed into something subtly new undermines how we see the everyday...it pulls the functional items out of the "real" world and moves it into a conceptual place and forces the viewer to face the idea of this "object." I love the idea of drinking something out the cup...the feeling of the liquid flowing out through the fur and the smell as you bring it up to the lips...was this found fur? Or fur from an old coat, the smell of death and mothballs...what a great image! It is dark and at the same time profound in its application...

An extension of the ready made and diving deep into pop art this piece is so simple, yet so far reaching in its conceptual possibilities...the more you can read into the works and add to the piece, the more opportunities for the infusion of humor, passion and concepts...I believe that is why it stood the test of time...the way this piece by Oppenheim remains open and ready for interpretation...

Push and pull

Flowing, organic forms excellently balanced...the push and pull of the darkest element in the front blanketing the picture plane and pushed out beyond the borders...the cross form is held in place by it's position but, visually moving back into space because of its value...the horizon and sunset are pulling forward due to the warm color scheme...the overall composition is organic with flowing hills in perspective...

The sophisticated way Georgia O'Keefe adds hints of color, at the top of the mountain, across the top of the picture plane, circles within the cross form...is beyond seeing, showing off her expertise in using visual language...it sets a unique mood and embodies the view of the west...her work feels like it is a part of New Mexico, the culture, the light and the style...

An infusion of poetry, music and reality

A smart combination of ideas and materials creating a mixed media wonderland...Terry Allen's use of diverse elements push the viewer to figure out the puzzle...what is the relationship between the loosly related objects, painting, text and light?

Representational imagery in his paintings are often combined with small lead text panels punched into the surface. These words are poetic and flow through the works...strong verticals and horizontals are cut through by objects, breaking each plane, but remaining balanced...the dark painting in the upper left, along with the two light gray small text panels counter-balance the light and objects on the platform. Visually, you are pushed to the right then swung back to the left by these forms...we group items by similarity in size, color and image shape...this piece does an excellent job of playing with these formal concerns...

Neon parts is parts

Ed Paschke's style and neon heat are so unique...a man who love to paint and was incessant about his exploration of those things quintessentially urban...this piece is especially interesting because of its layering of patterns but yet it is divided and framed with the use of value variation...Value becomes the vehicle that separates and defines, but references adjacent areas through similar shapes and color...the central figure is missing parts or has parts replaced by new, similar anatomy...like a Mr. Potato Head straight out of central Tokyo...it is alive and bright...up all night and looking for action...

He is notorious for using very strong complimentary color schemes, we always tell students never to do this...but Ed Paschke uses color to enhance his concept of vibration and intensity...for every rule, there is an artist who has successfully broken it! This is because the work goes beyond any rules...art work is living an breathing, a contained unit of beauty...This particular piece is iconographic in nature...centered and filling up the picture plane...the symmetrical composition is necessary to balance the intensity and overwhelming color...a brilliant example of defying the artistic conventions...

A dark narrative

Wow...the first time I saw the work of Joel Peter-Witkin, I thought, this is not a good dream, but I have always been fascinated by the underbelly of society, those dark bits...this is the world he often inflicts on his viewers...What struck me most about the photographs were the details in the narrative, like those Renaissance portraits and scenes, heavily symbolic. These take that context and place it into the side-show, horror context. This piece, "Leda," was very evocative and compelling and at the same time, hard to watch...it captures a point in time, an incident that has occurred and the spaces between the symbols and the pieces of the narrative are vast enough to create space for interpretation and connections...the image is the total package: the photograph is dirty, dingy and damaged by age, as if in a time long ago - re-enforcing the "freak show" context, the images are also hard to swallow, dark and twisted - the figure is juxtaposed, so elegantly next to the magnificent swan and the baby fallen angels could allude to something large and evil occurring...The distribution of values is balanced and perfect, you cannot help but look, but as you delve deeper you feel guilty and morose...the story is within our grasp, but we are so afraid to creep and gather up its conclusions...

Seeker of obsessions

Lucas Samaras' boxes are notoriously decorative and devious...they have a darkness to them that I can't explain, the pins, needles, nails and razors create this sense of tension in a world of beauty and decoration. The materials that he uses to achieve this decorative quality are not "high" materials, like gold or jewels...they are plastic and superficial, common and ordinary - pebbles, pencils and yarn...However, in the context of multiples, next to one another, they make a luxurious and powerful statement...

The context is very attractive and complex, it is personally interesting to me...the way you have to deal with the interior verses the exterior...how these areas are vi sable and then hidden...how they reference each other and help define each other, separate yet together...Lucas Samaras is effective in describing, visually, these surfaces and competing areas...handled obsessively, the boxes say more that we know and care to admit...