Salman Khoshroo: from Human to Post-Human in Painting and Sculpture
Salman Khoshroo’s diverse oeuvre encompasses many styles of painting, and, more recently, sculpture. ‘Head Jig’ (2017) and Entwire Series (2017-) use brightly coloured electrical wires wrapped around a wire frame to form the shape of a ‘human’ or ‘post-human’ head. In fact, Khoshroo’s evolution from painting the human to sculpting the post-human reflects the philosophical thought of the visionary futurist, FM-2030, as well as that of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. ‘Head Jig’ and Entwire Series’ ‘HEADMA01’ and ‘HEADFB01’ thus offer a clever commentary on aesthetic and philosophical concerns of the last forty years.
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The Figurative Communication of Denis Sarazhin
Denis Sarazhin’s Pantomime Series (2016-) forecloses ‘language’ in returning to the painterly and figural. He focusses our attention on the body by cleverly frustrating the viewer’s instinctive glance toward the subject’s face. In this way, the artist challenges us to reconsider the communicative potential of the body. Compellingly painted; they reward contemplation. Sarazhin’s ‘return to the body’ without reference to the ‘face’ is an important contribution to the post-language debates that reverberate inside and outside the gallery
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Interesting Artworks: Lake O'Hara by Clyde Aspevig
The painting “Lake O’ Hara” 30” x 40” (oil on linen) is a monumental work by American landscape painter Clyde Aspevig. Located in the alpine area of Yoho National Park, in the province of British Columbia, this high mountain lake has inspired artists for hundreds of years, including John Singer Sargent who painted the lake in 1916. At first glance, this piece may appear to be have painted by a 19th century artist, yet there are elements to Aspevig’s painting that gives it a modern flavour, firmly rooted in current scientific thought and contemporary culture.
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Interesting Artworks: Sol 23 by Conrad Jon Godly
The oil paintings of Swiss native Conrad Jon Godly offer an immersive hybrid of paint and sculpture. For Godly, the perimeter of the canvas does not define the physical limitation, and the term mountainous applies not only to the subject matter, but also describes the heavy application of paint. Sol 23 is one such mountain.
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Top 5 at The Other Art Fair NYC
From Sara Zaher’s Baudrillardian ‘new media’ prints to the ‘present past-ness’ of Carl Grauer’s still lifes; Art Aesthetics chooses their five favourite artists at The Other Art Fair NYC. Cesar Finamori’s fictional portraits are explored in relation to Henry Darger and Wilhelm Worringer. Ekaterina Popova’s canvases are battlefields in the wars between the artist’s brush and her paints. D.S. Graham also recounts interviewing Anne Vandycke on the topic of ‘duality’ and climate change.
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Interesting Artworks: ‘Security Summit’ by Johnson Tsang
Johnson Tsang is an established sculptor based in Hong Kong. His ‘Security Summit’ is composed of eight porcelain sculptures. One ‘putto’ or naked cherub sits in the centre, crying; seven others surround him carrying baby-sized machine guns. The putto is armed with only a bow and arrow. He’s no match for their modern weaponry. He’s surrounded and unable to react to the bullying of those around him...
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Q&A: Carl Grauer
Carl Grauer’s still lifes suggest an imaginary museum commemorating our everyday objects: old jars; perfume bottles; salt and pepper shakers; pliers; clips; even laptop chargers. In fact, the laptop charger is my favourite. Computers. It’s difficult to think of a more perfect example of the present becoming the past so quickly. There’s something especially collectible about these paintings. Perhaps, because the objects already seem to have been collected, curated, and arranged by the artist himself.
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Interesting Artworks: Resolution by Joel Rea
The faceless businessman stands before the rising wave. There’s something uncanny about the shadows and lighting; as if the wave were merely a ‘green-screen’ and the businessman an actor. It’s no doubt purposeful. Perhaps it’s a commentary on our uncertainties regarding representation and the real?
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Memory, Moment, Camera, Action!
Trudy Good professes that her ‘works are never narratives, merely moments.’ I’m going to suggest that there’s a paradox at work in this statement. But it’s an intentional and productive one; precisely the sort of contradiction that good art often reveals and explores. Her style and subject matter accordingly make for an interesting artistic proposition vis culture, technology, and aesthetics.
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Time in the Works of Agnieszka Pilat
In Quiet Between Us, the scene is downcast. The staircase fragments into nothing, there is no definite figurative form. There is only white, blue, and grey…each scrapped across the canvas so as to obliterate the steps. But before these are lost to the canvas’s abstract spaces: a young girl rests with her back against the wall. She is a ballet dancer...
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Lot 5 at the Mall Galleries
It’s easy to forget—amid the ‘blockbuster’ shows of 2016: ‘Abstract Expressionism’ at the RA; ‘Anselm Kiefer’ at the White Cube; ‘Conceptual Art in Britain' at the Tate Britain; and ‘Jeff Koons Now’ at the trendy Newport Street Gallery—that some of the city’s other institutions and spaces are witnessing a veritable revival in the worlds of figurative and representational art.
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