Cromwell Art— Out and About

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Five Things You Need to Know from the “TimesTalks” with Jeff Koons and Julian Schnabel

  Randy Kennedy, Julian Schnabel and Jeff Koons

Randy Kennedy, of the New York Times, sat down for a TimesTalk with two art world heavy hitters, Julian Schnabel and Jeff Koons on March 6, 2017. Below are some choice insights from their chat. 

1. Jeff and Julian have been friends since the late 1970s when they met in New York. One night, they were hanging out at the “it” bar, Max’s Kansas City, when Julian introduced Jeff to a friend. The friend asked Jeff, “What do you do?”Jeff replied, “I present the New.” In 1980, Jeff was given his first museum show at the New Museum at its 14th street location where he installed The New, a show of vacuum cleaners sealed in plexiglass display cases.

2. Early on Jeff worked as a door to door mutual fund salesman, driving a vintage green Mercedes. Julian decided to buy the car from Jeff after getting a ride home one night. Eventually, he traded the car with Brice Marden for two Suicide Notes drawings. Schnabel still owns the works, but the car is long gone. Not a bad trade!

3. Both artists have been deeply influenced by Andy Warhol, but they appreciate the work for different reasons. As a painter himself, Julian sees Andy in that tradition. Jeff focuses more on Andy’s use of the ready-made, in the tradition of Duchamp.

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain Photo by Alfred Stieglitz

Jeff:  “I really enjoy Andy’s work– I love Duchamp’s work. I got pulled into the idea of a kind of objective art and the idea of the ready made and working with things that are external. And you know of course, Andy’s in that tradition. But I wasn’t thinking so much about Andy. In a way, I was kind of being a little distant.  Even though the work had connections to Andy’s work, I never went and knocked on the door of his studio…I wanted to stay back.”

Jeff Koons, Balloon Flower (Red) 7 World Trade Center

Julian: “Andy made an extraordinary contribution. Sometimes, people look at the work and think these are photographs that are printed, and they don’t understand that basically he was taking a silkscreen and printing it and all of the irregular registration and the paint that’s getting clogged in it, it was a new way of mark making that was very, very radical.”

Julian Schnabel, Rose Painting (Near Van Gogh’s Grave) X, 2016 © Julian Schnabel Studio Photograph by Gary Mamay Courtesy of Pace Gallery

4. Jeff Koons on what he learned from Ed Paschke as his painting assistant in Chicago: “I loved Ed’s work. Ed really taught me a kind of politics of the art world.  We would sit in his studio on Saturdays and Sundays and we would paint…he just taught what it was like to be an artist, having a family, and trying to also have a career and really to be exhibiting. And he really taught not to shoot myself in the foot.”

5. New York was a good place for artists in the 1970s. Soho lofts were affordable and the community was small and self-referential.  Even though Conceptual Art was dominant, Jeff and Julian felt free to each pursue another focus. Both were able to support themselves and make art. Schnabel was a short order cook in a restaurant frequented by dealers and artists, while Jeff was a commodities trader. Amidst their tight-knit community of dealers, artists, and curators, their work became recognized at the same time. Julian had his first show in 1979 and Jeff had his first show in 1980. Julian announced a new way forward for painting by smashing dishes from his restaurant, adhering them to canvas, and painting figuratively on the surface. Jeff re-invented the idea of the ready-made by selecting, purchasing and presenting consumer objects like art.

When asked if New York is still a good place for young artists Julian said, “Would I recommend for one of my kids, if they wanted to be an artist, to come to New York? Yeah.”

Click here to view the TimesTalk in its entirety.

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Lee Bul: Willing to be Vulnerable

In her new show at Lehmann Maupin Gallery in Chelsea, Lee Bul’s multimedia compositions come alive. 

Souterrain, 2012/2016 Courtesy Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Building on cross-cultural reference points as diverse as Japanese Manga cartoons, Korean embroidered silk scrolls and sci-fi utopian communities, in this exciting exhibition Lee Bul creates fantastical environments using mirrored surfaces, LED lights, and welded metal, combining diverse and unexpected mediums into forms of otherworldly beauty that challenge and even menace the viewer. The sparkling environment of Souterrain beckons, but as one penetrates the space, it chokes the viewer in a dystopian environment, reflecting our physical discomfort.

Untitled (Willing To Be Vulnerable – Red Velvet #2), 2016 Courtesy Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Bul combines the strategies of 20th Century Western painting with traditional Korean artistic practice. Here the canvas is replaced with silk velvet, a traditional Korean painting support. Further, Bul co-mingles acrylic paint with mother of pearl commonly used in Korean inlay. The resulting composition coalesces into two opposing forms that resemble flying cranes, a noble bird that implies longevity in Korean mythology. But in contemporary terms, these forms suggest warring avatars straight from a video game. Bul makes a compelling case for humanity and its flip side, mortality, in one stunning composition.

Sternbau, 2009 Private collection, Courtesy Cromwell Art, LL

As an art advisor, it is always thrilling to watch an artist grow and gain recognition. I have followed Bul’s career since her first US solo show in 2004 at Deitch Projects.  I acquired Sternbau for a private collection in 2009. In this highly characteristic work, Bul employs “low” art, ready-made materials such as metal chains and plastic beads, spinning them into a gleaming, precious object whose spiral form simultaneously references Louise Bourgeois’s cocoon-like suspended sculptures, and the Battlestar Galactica TV series.  It immediately caught my eye as an otherworldly combination of Korean and Western artistic impulses. This work has a keen relationship to the two-dimensional forms found in Bul’s current show, Willing to be Vulnerable.

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To Regulate or Not to Regulate

Panelists Andrea Crane, private dealer, Noah Horowitz, director of Art Basel North America, and Howard Spiegler, co-chair Art Law, Herrick Feinstein LLP.

Recently, I was invited to speak on a panel about regulation in the art word, entitled “Regulation, Would it Spoil all the Fun?” While the title was catchy, it implied that collecting art is exciting because a little bit of bad behavior is not only tolerated, but also inherently fun (as long as you don’t get caught). In preparing for the panel, I took the position that the art world is so many interconnected micro-markets, it’s not only challenging to regulate, but regulation would effectively shut it down.

Does the art world need a regulatory body along the lines of the SEC? The art world is called a “market” but first and foremost, it’s a community of artists who make objects. These objects, whether painting, sculpture or drawings, are not comparable to shares. Each art object has unique qualities that make it desirable. While photographs exist in editions and are therefore inherently tradeable, the photo market has not reached the monetary heights of the painting and sculpture market, which trucks in unique objects.

Mark Grotjahn, UNTITLED (THREE-TIERED PERSPECTIVE), 1998, colored pencil on paper, 24 x 19 in. Lot 409 of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Auction, November 18, 2016.

Collectors are passionate and fall in love with certain ineffable, unquantifiable qualities that they alone perceive. What appeals to one person might not appeal to another. Stocks are identical shares in a company, so the analogy that art is like a stock is simply not valid. How then should the art market be regulated?

The call for regulation stems from the crossover of auctions into the world of finance. The Mei Moses Index, created by two Stern Business School professors in 2001, tracks public data on auction sales over a period of time, analyzing performance. The index is inherently flawed because it uses data alone. If a work fails to sell, the index doesn’t take it’s condition into account. The opacity of the art world does not lend itself to raw data. Nevertheless, the language of financial investing and the language of collecting have converged, and yet the two markets are not compatible.

If you take an investment approach to buying art, I recommend that you do your due-diligence. Understand deeply the market in which you participate. As an art advisor with 25 years of transactional experience, I know the people I do business with, I know the conditions in which I operate, and I am transparent about them. My goal is to act as a fiduciary for my clients, prioritizing their interests above all else. Self-regulation is the key for the true art professional.

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Tom Friedman's <i>Looking Up</i>

  Tom Friedman, Looking Up, 2015, Stainless steel, Edition of 3 and 1 artist’s proof, 390 x 130 x 90 inches (990.6 x 330.2 x 228.6 cm). © Tom Friedman; Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Photographs by Farzad Owrang

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Tom Friedman about his 33-foot tall metal sculpture, Looking Up, on view on Park Avenue between 53rd and 54th Streets now through September 5. Freidman’s figure is a gentle giant with cartoonish features that end in an upturned head. Wrinkled and lumpy, the sculpture stands in contrast to the sleek glass and steel of the Seagram Building and Lever House. They frame Friedman’s figure, directing our gaze.

Much of Tom’s work is a study of opposites. For example, Looking Up was inspired by an earlier work, Untitled (Peeing Figure) (2012), a contemplative, albeit humorous sculpture of an inwardly focused figure. “If I’m working small, I’ll start thinking about working large,” he told me. “If I’m working geometrically, I’ll think about working organically. Untitled faces down, while the figure in Looking Up looks skyward. Creating relationships between opposites creates dynamism.”

Untitled (Peeing Figure), 2012, Stainless steel, Edition of 3 plus 2 artist’s proofs. Man: 96 x 30 x 27 inches; Urine stream: 56 x 10 x 1/2 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

Tom also spoke about the influence of 9/11 and how he wanted to create a contrasting experience, one that would reestablish a sense of wonder. “I was thinking about 9/11 and reclaiming the sky. People in New York don’t often look up. I wanted the sculpture to be a segue between people and the sky.” When standing at the base of Looking Up, we can’t help but experience the magic.

Looking Up is made of polished stainless steel, cast from crushed oven roaster pans and aluminum foil. “In 2007 I created a show for the Lever House called Aluminum Foil. I liked all that reflectivity in the glass-walled exhibition space, so when I knew that Looking Up would be installed outside, one block from the Lever House, I wanted to return to this material, with the addition of oven roaster tins. I liked their crushability and angularity.” The highly wrinkled surface reflects light from the surrounding buildings and traffic lights, so the color constantly changes. While the work appears simply made, the actual process is labor intensive – another juxtaposition. Friedman’s skill lies in making the complex seem straightforward, resulting in works that are both sophisticated and accessible.

Tom Friedman, Looking Up, 2015, Stainless steel, Edition of 3 and 1 artist’s proof, 390 x 130 x 90 inches. Photo by Killian Moore.

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Collecting vs. Shopping

In a recent online article, Tech Crunch described Wydr, the newest in a long line of art buying apps, as “Tinder for buying art”. It’s a telling comparison. Tinder, the wildly popular social app, has gained a reputation for catering to those looking for their next fling. And sure, tech has made shopping for anything, even a hook up, quick and easy, so why should shopping for art be any different?

The key word here is shopping – not collecting. Shopping is a verb, full stop. Collecting is a lifestyle and a mind-set. It implies thoughtfulness, intellect, passion, and devotion, not a one night stand.

There is nothing wrong with democratizing the art world, in fact it’s inevitable. The majority of artists working today don’t have traditional gallery representation. Without it, it’s hard to get their work into the public sphere. An app is a great way to make finding and buying their work more likely to happen.

But collecting art is not just about spending money. Collecting implies an approach, a thought process that aims to understand the existing art sphere, the broader market, and one’s place in it as an art collector. My clients look to me to help define an approach based on their interests, as well as practical matters such as space requirements and budget. An art advisor has the broader knowledge of the market and the price-to-quality ratio overview that’s necessary to not only create a collection focus but also to execute it.

Collecting also implies life long stewardship of art. Many collectors expect that their holdings will one day go up in value. Maybe they will leave a financial legacy to their children through art, or donate their holdings through philanthropy. But value is not inherent in art; rather it’s created by a sophisticated network of dealers, curators, critics, and collectors. Together, these individuals are “first responders” who identify talent and promote the artist through a variety of respected channels. An app simply can’t duplicate this highly finessed and largely impenetrable system because it’s not quantifiable data.

It’s old news that the art market is eager to exploit technology platforms. Major auctions houses have migrated to online sales, and art has become a luxury good as accessible online as a high-end handbag. But no app can replace the art of collecting, which requires connoisseurship and a broad-based knowledge of the market. That’s where expert guidance from an advisor can make all the difference.

Cromwell in a client’s home in front of Aaron Young’s Lindsay as Marilyn, 2012.

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Art Basel

  Art Basel is the “mother” of all Contemporary art fairs. The mix of post war painting and sculpture, blue chip Contemporary art, plus hard to find examples by mid career and emerging artists, make visiting this fair a thrill. It’s not just the scope, it’s also the quality.

Because the fair is spread across two huge floors that can be hard to navigate – especially with the added pressure to make quick decisions about acquisitions –  I preview as much as I can in advance. Armed with the Basel app and a good idea of what I want to see and in what order, I make a quick sweep of the fair in the first few hours. Then, I settle in for a long, deep look over the course of the next several days. The harder you look, the more you find and learn. Here are some of the works that caught my eye at this year’s fair – something for every level of collector.

  Post-War Painting and Sculpture

Donald Judd Untitled, 1966/1967 Lacquer on cold rolled steel 5 x 69 x 8 1/2 inches Anthony Maier Fine Art

  Frank Stella Port Tampa City, 1963 Red lead on canvas 102 x 102 inches Mnuchin Gallery

  Ellsworth Kelly Yellow Relief over Black, 2013 Oil on canvas, two joined panels 40 1/8 x 130 inches Matthew Marks Gallery

  John Chamberlain Iron stone, 1969 Painted and chromium-plated steel 40 x 48 1/2 x 44 inches Dominique Levy

  Blue Chip Contemporary Paintings

Rudolf Stingel Untitled, 2015 Oil on canvas 96 x 96 x 2 in Sadie Coles

  Richard Prince Untitled, 2015 Ink jet and silk screen on canvas 71 3/4 x 75 1/2 inches Almine Rech Gallery

  Albert Oehlen Doppelbild, 2002 Acrylic and oil on canvas 143.5 x 240 cm Hetzler Gallery

  George Condo Red and Blue Diagonal Portrait, 2016 Oil on canvas 84 x 82 inches Skarstedt Gallery 

  Mid Career Painters

Josh Smith In the Smoke, 2015 Oil on Canvas 72 x 48 inches Luhring Augustine

  Jenny Holzer compromised knowledge, 2014-15 Oil on linen 58 x 44 inches Cheim & Reid

  Charline von Heyl Birdie, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 50 inch Gallery Gisela Capitain

  Jacqueline Humphries [###], 2016 Oil on linen 90 x 96 inch Gallery Gisela Capitain

Kelley Walker Yellow Domus with Blue tape, 2016 Acrylic ink, record sleeve, tape on silkscreen on aluminum frame 62 x 42 in.  Paula Cooper Gallery

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Art Collecting & Interior Design

Lately I’ve found myself thinking about the intersection between art collecting and interior design. In the 90s when I began my career, most serious Contemporary art collectors lived with generic furniture. This changed when post WWII Modern European and American furniture became collectable through innovators in the auction industry, like Wright in Chicago. When Design Miami Basel was born in 2005, art collectors who were unfamiliar with modern and limited edition furniture had a forum in which to learn and acquire, resulting in the cross-pollination of art and design.

One of the great thrills of working with clients who also collect design is that I get to marry great art with great interiors. To keep up with design, in addition to the auctions, I visit Design Miami Basel twice yearly, the PAD fair in London, and in New York, the Collective Design Fair.

Brad Ford’s exquisite FAIR booth at the 2016 Collective Design Fair

This year’s edition was held from May 4-8 at the Skylight Clarkson Studios. Standouts included Nicholas Kilner’s craggy, spectral sculpture by Paul Evans, whose bronze consoles and table bases are highly prized. At an entirely different price point, Brad Ford showed Contemporary Northeast “makers” with a Shaker-like sensibility.

Paul Evans (1931-1987), Important Sculpture, 1965, Welded and enameled steel, 79 x 32 x 28 in. (201 x 81 x 71 cm). As seen at Nicholas Kilner, 2016 Collective Design Fair

A contrasting vibe pulsed at the high tech Bryce Wolkwotiz Gallery, where Jim Campbell’s LED curtain was a highlight (below, left). Donzella Ltd showed a pair of Marco Zanuso’s 1950s’ regent lounge chairs, which stood out for both curves and comfort (below, right).

    And 99¢ Plus, a Brooklyn-based art gallery, presented a brightly colored installation of lamps designed by artists, many of whom were new to design (below, left). After hours of standing, looking, chatting and admiring, it was a welcome relief to relax in cloud-covered pillows created by Various Projects in collaboration with Print All Over Me (below, right).

              Wexler Gallery showcased the highly creative ceramics of Roberto Lugo (seen below), an artist from inner city Philadelphia who combines graffiti influences and hip hop with elegant porcelain forms. This work extends the influence of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring into a third dimension.

On another note, Eve Robinson Associates and I recently collaborated on her Art Library for the Kips Bay Designer Show House, on view at 19 E. 61st Street through June 9. Some of the works on view are by Zipora Fried, Andisheh Avini, Ellsworth Kelly, Mika Tajima and Caetano Almeida. Eve and her team perfectly integrated standout furniture, both vintage pieces and limited-edition design, with art of disparate sizes and styles, creating a seamless, elegant, Contemporary interior.

Me with Eve Robinson

A passerby stops to look closely at the compilation wall by Eve Robinson Associates

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Looking Ahead to Frieze New York

Frieze New York comes to Randall’s Island once again this May. I always look forward to this fair, now in it’s fifth year, because it is a vanguard of sorts: immersive, international, and experiential, it brings together a diverse group of galleries and artists from all stages of their careers who are not afraid to explore new media and advance the conversation of Contemporary art.

Of the many works I have previewed in advance of the fair, I am particularly excited about two young American artists working in the space of Minimalism, Sam Moyer and N. Dash. Each artist will have a solo presentations that provides an opportunity to fully explore the scope of their work, N. Dash at Casey Kaplan and Sam Moyer with Rodolphe Janssen. N. Dash combines organic media including adobe, indigo, and jute with more traditional painting materials, such as gesso and acrylic (as seen above in Untitled, 2016). Her serene, sculptural paintings are imbued with the contradictory sensibilities of fragility and permanence. Sam Moyer builds paintings out of marble, MDF, Plexiglas, and ink (below, left). She brings a fresh, refined aesthetic to sculptural issues of weight and measure, seen through the lens of painting.

    Markus Amm, a German painter who mines the Sublime, will also have a solo presentation at Frieze New York. Amm’s realm is pure color, achieved through multiple layers of sanded paint. The surface is mesmerizing, as is the emotive power that only color can provoke (above, right).

I’m also looking at more figuration by young artists like New-York-based Benjamin Senior and Julie Beaufils from Los Angeles. Senior (above) marries the American Modernism of Reginald Marsh with a hint of Surrealism in small paintings that are at once bright, bustling, and formally complex. Beaufils – who will have her first solo museum exhibition at the Kunsthalle Mulhouse this spring – gives figuration a Conceptual spin with references to music and French new wave film as an escape from reality (below). Her cool palette of black, white, gray, and dusky blue is appropriate for such contemplative works.

This is just a tiny taste of the plethora of styles on view this coming week. From special projects such as a keynote address from Eileen Myles to a “surprise” performance by Maurizio Cattelan, it’s almost impossible to navigate it all. That is one major advantage to working with an art specialist such as myself. If you have any questions, or would like to set up an appointment to visit the fair, please do not hesitate to be in touch!

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A Studio Visit with Artist Anthony Pearson in LA

During a recent trip to LA, I was invited to visit artist Anthony Pearson at his studio. The space was bright and serene: a sunny laboratory for exploring elusive colors, etched lines, and organic forms. And although Pearson began as a photographer, his current media of plaster, hydrocal, and oak still demonstrate the artist’s predominant concern with light and how it refracts off surfaces.

In fact, Pearson has been exploring this avenue through his art for years, and his recent shows at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York and David Kordansky Gallery in LA served to underscore the artist’s “extreme sensitivity” to his chosen materials. According to one press release, “these works simultaneously embody qualities of sculpture and painting and use subtle relief to employ both seemingly infinite detail and a broad spaciousness.” Yet it is the way that the art interacts with the light in a given space that makes them truly arresting.

California light is legion in art — the 1960s Light and Space Movement centered in LA being a prime example — and looking at Anthony’s work, any art advisor can see why. His images come alive in this light.  As it illuminates subtle color shifts and rakes across etched and poured surfaces, the light creates shadows that define and heighten subtle compositions and variations in color.

  Pearson’s exquisitely carved oak frames contain sculptural panels, adding a refined, craft-based element to the work. This refinement carries over into the way he explores the endless possibilities of non-colors, imbuing each one with its own particular depth, weight, and mutability.

  Once Pearson completes a composition, it sits with other finished works on a long ledge.  Anthony lives with the artworks, contemplating their relationship to one another.  Only when a piece holds its own does he deem it “finished.” The gray monochrome composition (below, left) is typical of his latest direction, in which a large orb seems to twist the plaster into pleats.  While it’s tempting to think that white lines are radiating from the circular form, it is merely an illusion created by the light.

  Thank you for a wonderful visit, Anthony!

  Anthony Pearson (b. 1969) lives and works in Los Angeles. He received his MFA from UCLA in 1999. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2012), and Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2008). Forthcoming exhibitions include Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago (2016), and David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2017). Pearson’s work is in the public collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

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A visit with Justin Adian, Bushwick, New York

Justin Adian, photographed by James McKee for W Magazine, 2014

I visited Justin to preview works that will be shown at Almine Rech Gallery in Paris next month. Justin’s work is, simply put, a hybrid of painting and sculpture.

I’m with Brady Doty, Partner at Skarstedt Gallery. As an art advisor, I am always looking for young artists who put their own stamp on important movements or genres from the past. Justin’s work is influenced by artists such as Richard Tuttle and other sculptors of the 1960s, but he creates something that is completely his own. Justin starts by carving thick pieces of foam into a specific shape, affixed to a wooden stretcher.  Next, he paints on canvas, tightly wrapping it around the foam. Justin goofs on Minimalism by padding geometric forms in the same way that Claes Oldenburg softened sculpture in the 1960s.

Color and surface play a big role, evidenced by the lacquered and sprayed finish of this two-tone, two segment sculpture. Justin dusts some iridescent paint in places, highlighting the edges where canvas wraps foam. The entire underside is cheekily painted hot pink, which reflects on the wall. While the pink halo calls to mind Dan Flavin’s fluorescent sculptures, Justin’s gestures are more intimate and completely handmade.

Another sculpture backlit with neon pink paint. This open network of curves is reminiscent of a horseshoe. Justin is from Ft. Worth, Texas, which was also the title of his recent one-man show at Skarstedt Gallery. 

A new series of two-dimensional works on paper, casually displayed in an open flat file. Justin applies a single swath of acrylic to glass, allowing it to half dry. Lifting the acrylic, he drapes it onto a sheet of thick paper, smooshing two colors into a two-dimensional sculpture. Below, another collision of black and gold paint is reminiscent of a flattened John Chamberlain sculpture.

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What’s in a frame?

What’s in a frame?  A trip to Bark Frameworks reveals just how much is involved. Below is an image of a Christopher Wool work on paper, recently acquired by a client. The medium is ink on translucent rice paper. 

Christopher Wool , One Monotype in Black on Suzuki, 1989; 37 x 24 inches

To choose the right frame, I consulted Jed Bark, owner of Bark Frameworks, my framer of choice for over 20 years. Jed is an artist, and also a craftsman. He creates frames that are equal in beauty to the art being framed, but Bark frames never claim center stage. Jed’s designs allow the art to be the main event.

Jed examines the work to be framed. Delicate rice paper hinges will be applied to the reverse of the art, shown above. The hinges will allow the art to float free within the frame, stabilized by an acid-free backmat. 

We start by considering three painted wood options, but decide that these options are too flat.  We agree that this simple stem profile, modern in feel, is appropriate for the work.

Next we consider three different shades of a waxed aluminum frame. The tone is right, but the frame is too heavy for the delicate rice paper.

Pale white gold over a black clay underground seems the perfect solution.  The frame enhances the art, as opposed to matching it.  This frame has restrained glamour, with just the right amount of subtle shine.  The sides of the frame will remain natural maple to complement the handmade quality of the rice paper.

Bark’s master gilder lays down the white gold leaf in several layers, so that no seams interrupt the finish.  After the frame is gilded, the face will be burnished to a soft glow.

A detail of the finished frame, with a perfect face of burnished white gold over black clay and waxed maple wood on the side.  The maple’s warm tones complement the color of the rice paper, as does the warm, white backmat.

The finished framed work of art.

Photos 6, 7, 8 by Jennifer Clark, courtesy of Bark Frameworks.

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Modern Faces

I visited the newly renovated Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University and was spellbound by the collection of Maurice Wertheim '06, founder of the investment bank, Wertheim & Co.  Modern faces stared at me from within ornate frames, reflecting the collector's urbane sophistication. Renoir's Self- Portrait was the first face to catch my eye. It has none of the trappings of the typical artist's self-portrait. Renoir is depicted as a fashionable, successful young man. His anonymity is his modernity.

Pierre-August Renoir, Self-Portrait, 1876

This candid snapshot of the artist at the height of his initial success stands in stark contrast to Van Gogh's anguished Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gauguin, executed a decade later. Van Gogh also takes a modern approach to the genre, but everything about the composition suggests anxiety. The ice blue ground is reflected in the whites of Van Gogh's eyes, which seem to evade and simultaneously confront the viewer.

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gauguin, 1888

Toulouse-Lautrec's The Hangover, a portrait of the artist Suzanne Valadon, also conveys nervous tension through the swirling lines of paint that seem to conjure the figure out of thin air. Originally a circus performer, Valadon modeled for artists and also had a successful painting career. Unlike carefree Renoir or angst-ridden Van Gogh, Valadon is portrayed hungover. She is neither an object of veneration, nor an object of lust. She is Modern because she is believably real. 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Gueule de Bois, 1887-1889

Gauguin's Poèmes Barbares, painted a decade later, posits a new idea of Modernity, one linked to a sense of timelessness. His Noble Savage is, to our eyes, a Colonialist’s vision of purity. But in Gaugin's time, this was a radical concept, one that linked Modernity to the idea of the "primitive."

Paul Gauguin, Poèmes Barbares, 1896

Picasso absorbs this lesson in Woman with a Chignon, painted at the dawn of the 20th Century. The ivory skin of the figure and her chiseled features appear set in stone, suggesting a primitive carving. But this figure is utterly of her time. Picasso painted her during his blue period, reflecting the lonely, downtrodden years he first experienced in Paris. The figure is rendered Modern by her confrontational gaze, which seems to both beckon and reject the viewer.

Pablo Picasso, Woman with a Chignon, 1901

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Venice Biennale 2015: Time Warp

For a few months every two years, Venice plays host to a riotous infusion of Contemporary art, spread across public parks and infiltrating ancient, private Palazzi; this is the Venice Biennale. This year I was moved by the juxtaposition of old and new, which allowed me to reconsider the works in a new light. Below are a few visual comparisons that particularly struck me:

Chris Marker, Passengers, 2011 / Pablo Picasso, Peggy Guggenheim 

Qiu Zhijie, nato, 1969 / Venetian iron gate 

Peter Doig, Spear Fisher, 2015 / View from the back of my boat

Lee Lozano, Punta Della Dogana / Peter Hujar, Punta Della Dogana

Sarah Lucas, British Pavilion / Auguste Rodin, Ca’ Pesaro

Botticelli, Palazzo Fortuny /Martial Raysse, Palazzo Grassi 

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The Art of Stretching

Here's a little tutorial on how a big painting with a fragile surface gets stretched. Shout out to Art Crating Inc., a specialty art handling and fabrication company, and Christine Fröhner of Contemporary Conservation!

Rita Ackermann, b. 1968, Hungary, lives and works in New York. 

Chalkboard Painting XVIII, 2014, Acrylic, spray paint and chalk on canvas, 112 x 75 inches.  Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

Putting the stretcher together

Unrolling the canvas (face down)

Lining up the canvas and the stretcher

Stapling the tacking edges to the stretcher

Voila!

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Ruth Asawa and Beyond

Ruth Asawa’s Untitled, S. 080 (Hanging Five-Lobed Continuous Form Within a Form), ca. 1950, Iron wire, 76 3/8 x 16 x 16 inches

I was asked to choose a few highlights from the Christie’s Contemporary Art auction for the Artsy website, prior to the sales in early May.  I like to focus on auction underdogs, namely, important artists who have made unique contributions to the history of art, but who are not household names.  Here are my comments on one such artist, Ruth Asawa, as compiled by reporter Meredith Mendelsohn for Artsy:

“This is a stunning woven sculpture by a California artist who no one paid attention to for so long,” says Wendy Cromwell, a New York-based advisor and president of the Association of Professional Art Advisors.  “Her market is a good value compared to Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, and others of her generation.”  

This work was estimated between $700,000 and $900,000 prior to the auction. Due to its rarity and desirability, the sculpture soared beyond the high estimate, selling for $1,300,000, including the buyer’s premium.  Asawa crocheted with metal wire, using a traditional “women’s handicraft” to create astounding sculptural form.

To see other highly regarded artists in a much lower price bracket, who similarly transform our expectations for what art can be through the use of nontraditional materials, consider the following works.  Anna Betbeze burns and dies flokati rugs that hang on the wall with all the power of abstract painting.  Sheila Hicks, most recently seen in the Whitney Biennial, makes a wide range of works using gorgeous skeins of hand-dyed fiber.  Francoise Grossen uses braided ropes to create suspended sculptures that reference organic forms.  There is great value to be had in unconventional, boundary-breaking art forms. 

Anna Betbeze, Playtime, 2015, Acid dye, ash, wool, 144 x 118 inches

courtesy of the artist and Kate Werble Gallery

Francoise Grossen, Study for Embarcadero, 1970, 

Natural manila, 72 x 44 x 7 inches, courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe

Sheila Hicks, Dervish, 2011, Steel, linen and wool, 16 x 16 inches

courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

[cromwellartblog]

Rob Pruitt at The Brant Foundation

Rob Pruitt with Wendy, holding a pillow depicting Pruitt’s gradient face painting STUPID, 2012.

At the opening of Rob Pruitt's 50th Birthday Bash exhibition at The Brant Foundation in Greenwich, CT, visitors were greeted by a flowering carpet highlighting the artist's name.  The carpet traveled inside to a huge flea market, the proceeds of which benefited the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard. All manner of personal Brant-family paraphernalia was for sale, along with custom-made pillows depicting Pruitt's gradient face paintings. A parade of self-portraits surrounded the shoppers, while upstairs viewers were treated to a chorus line of cement-filled jeans. Pruitt's silvered tire-towers and paintings of glittering pandas touch an elemental chord, you simply have to love them! 

Wendy pondering Pruitt’s Bright Eyes, 2015.

Wendy and Pruitt’s Espirit de Corps (Hokusai's Great Wave), 2015.

[cromwellartblog]

Yayoi Kusama: Obliteration Room

Wendy attended the private opening of Yayoi Kusama's new interactive sculpture, Obliteration Room, currently on view at David Zwirner gallery. Kusama has many obsessions, among them visions of a dot-covered universe. These hallucinations have both bedeviled and inspired her, serving as source imagery for her paintings, performances and sculpture since the 1960s. Now 86, Kusama has created a tour de force exhibition that includes Obliteration Room, along with paintings and a large-scale gourd sculpture. Participants are handed a sheet of neon dot stickers and encouraged to place them at will on white walls and white-painted objects within the space. Pristine white will eventually be subsumed by a tide of bright color and all evidence of personal gesture or mark-making will be unified within a mass of spots. Kusama's concept is both joyous and tinged with sorrow - it celebrates the act of communal art-making while obliterating the self.