Syd McFadden, critic

art critic @SydMcFadden

[sydmcfadden]

Katie Torn, The New Aesthetic under the gun of the New Vision Test

Ms. Kianga's video of Katie Torn's The Calm Before The Storm on view now at Postmasters was all I needed to see toward making the obvious deducing correlation about what test would be needed to verify the validity of this anti-video-art GIF work. New Aesthetic artists like Ms. Torn are best grasped by The New Vision Test, devised on the set of Facts of Life in 1983 when a protege of Andy Warhol substituted and was moonlighting as a key grip for a few days.  Her name? Destiny Torn. That's not a coincidence folks. First check the video, the New Vision Test and results are below.

The New Vision Test as related to art and quantifying natural tendencies of the visible spectrum, you must examine the iris and the diameter throughout the piece. (This was especially notable at Jim Turrell's recent Guggenheim show as is always the case with his work, although he is not considered New Aesthetic.) It can get a little Clockwork Orangey but the results are tantalyzingly remarkable regards New Aesthetic underpinnings across New York, SF, Berlin, London, and also, unsurprisingly, Sao Paulo. I ran the New Vision Test on Ms. Torn's piece well over 100 times and always the same result, see for yourself:

It doesn't take a New Aesthetic genius to read these results. Even Jerry Saltz would be able to recognize the value at play here. GIFs recently sold at auction thanks to up and coming ace curator Lindsay Howard and we all know where that's going to go. Invest now.

Little known facts regarding the associative foreground that bridges across the transmedia moment where the fragmented mirror phase becomes apparent. Again we see the Japanese avant gaard that fuels the contemporary marketplace, their handle on the 2020's is clear. One only need go shopping even in the untrendy suburbs of Tokyo and the subconscious soaks up 3 years of art education in an afternoon.

But it's a pair of Chuck Taylor's on an angry art critic that fly off for a singular hop in the jacuzzi when the Miami Art Festivals bounce into full swing. You can bet I'll be there wondering as you must be: is Katie related to Destiny?

In the end, the surprises shine through, in a good way. Postmasters will always be a few years ahead of the game. The integration of seafaring vessels as a maritime symbol that comes and goes with the tides allows the fairweather foes another bandwagon to get behind. Timely moment as the balloons only a few days ago floated the length of Manhattan while Katie Torn looked on in green.

A special thanks to the indomitable Ms. Kianga for her free-energy font of inspiring windows through which we view true value in an age that knows only hollowness.

[sydmcfadden]

Martin Creed explores Masonic Ritual at Gavin Brown

Indicative of Native American lost euphemism that wraps an odd connection between art nouveau and the avant gard films of Ashely Stampernick, Martin Creed shows his identification at the door and reveals a secret set of instructions dating back to pre-Alchemy. Oddly thematic, Creed often assuages a need for categorization even within a single moment of one piece, we see an exploration of secret society only attempted but never successfully. (Recent shows by Yves Klein, Rebecca Horn, and The Chulu Horivitz Collective all come to mind.)  But here we see Creed at his best, the award winning Brit stateside with wings flapping while Gavin Brown gazes on from stage right starboard, a wanderlust schoolboy waiting for the Further bus. And here we entertain the tricky mind of Creed, breaking down the walls that Subjectivity is King, and instead we stroll on into his, get this, intentionality. What a voice. He opens that door and invites us in. Why yes I will have a cup of tea thank you very much.

A single glance at Creed's work on the website screams for immediate application of Line Analysis followed by a Overlaying Circle Analysis.  Below are these complete studies, with overview summations to follow interstitially. 

The work as seen prior to analysis:

Now we see the full Line Analysis as devised by myself and my colleagues when we were on hiatus from graduate school and, essentially, mastering Line Analysis:

Very telling, the mean slope turns out to be an exhilarating zero. The untrained eye sees Bauhaus deconstructed but the Bauhaus Deconstructionists never fall below a 30 degree mark on the Line test. (With two Japanese exceptions.) The further neglectiveness of site specificity remarks Creed's unceasing ability to fool the rebels. And, with great cause.

The Line Analysis spins a tight yarn, but it's only when we apply the Overlaying Circles Test that we see the true emergence of the Masons and the overt linkages to the cinder block pyramid piece. 

The untrained eye will forego the imminent departures but it only takes about 3 installments of $39 for a weekend workshop on Overlaying Circle Analysis for Art Critics and it's like you just put on Truth Goggles.  For example, note the lack of intersection. Save one, which of course is two points. The primary installment of radial imitation. And, most importantly, the neatly fitted building blocks of the Pyramid and the outline of the embedded Phoenix. I'm guessing Creed went undercover for this show, there's no other way around it, unless of course he himself is a Mason but that's doubtful given his lack of nationalistic adherence. Nonetheless, below we see the Break Away test only need be applied once through regular cycles to locate the map. The question remains: Who will win the race to the treasure?

The anti-deplorable nature of blue printing a post-Turner Prize art career is winningly on display here. Bravo. I suggest you drop everything and visit the Gavin Brown website immediately. 

Creed's statement points at magic beyond the Universe. And art's inability to deal with it. But Martin, you've just done just that. Standing O Face for you guvna.

[sydmcfadden]

Comprehensive Critique of the Art of Molly Crabapple, Part 1

The art head space world of Molly Crabapple is the sort of hybridized egalitarianism that you might come to expect from these tween millenials whose sense of entitlement is only matched by their actual skills that give them the sort of actual entitlement that anyone over 33 doesn't really get because they have no talent.

Viewed through a Marxist lens, my first attempt at the angle was to throw an image into Photoshop for further investigations about the various RGB readings.  My grad school work led to a research study I devised as a way to quantify various aspects of art, specifically visual art or art that can be seen or represented by anything visual. Here is a summary of the analysis on a selection of Ms. Crabapple's work from her recent show entitled Shell Game. First we see the selection of the art piece chosen by me for this comprehensive analysis.

Now let's get into the color analysis, below we take the RGB readings from a selection of myriad points around the artwork and do some mathematical formulations of said RGB readings:

So, now you see where the 3 numbers come from for the Final RGB Color Analysis report for the art of Molly Crabapple, which is shown here:

When we insert the RGB selections into enumerating combinations to make colors we see a selection of 3. The final analysis only requires 3 colors to be shown as examples even though there are 6 combinations if memory serves. It's the mean valuation of the radicalized RGB averages that result in what we see as a very positive outcome for this artwork, and this of course is the sort of finding that plays well across the entire body of work that Ms. Crabapple presents both on and off her website.  Moreover, 111 is unique in the history of this test that has seen data crunched on well over five hundred thousand artists from every city on three continents and most of the cities on the others.  Never a 111.

But more importantly, 111 is a very telling result and that's where this story *truly* begins.  Palm Springs is a resort destination for poolside artists worldwide primarily the wealthy and the famous among us. As we see, the route is clear and from the Shell Game art show about #ows, some said the best art about #ows out there, it truly is a shell game. 

Clearly, Ms. Crabapple has an intimate connection with the movement and the RGB analysis would support that thesis. Concerning composition and social positioning of the cultural implications revolving around the Eccentric Quotient as cited in numerous anthologies hitherto and beyond there is deep evidence that further study will be required for the definitive conclusion, and so despite the clear course of nuance and various valuation remarks all with strong merit the verdict will need to lie in waiting for these necessary steps and henceforth a Part 2 of this review is currently underway as overseen by myself onlooking and in coordination and collaboration with my research team who I employ on a part time basis but it should be noted that I do provide benefits.

[sydmcfadden]

Hello world

Working on some new reviews of art shows around the world. Past, present, future, hypothetical, etc., with a careful focus on all the details that normal critics are blind to because they smoke too much fucking dope.