The “Black Models” show at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris reveals the Western neglect of the archetypal feminine, which accounts for racial and gender subjugation and ultimately a disregard for the planet itself. In this view of the show, we poignantly discover a cultural progression, but also a dire need for further understanding today.
Read MoreFrom Paris: Musée d’Orsay (Van Gogh, Gauguin and European Schizoid Art) /
The Symbolist painters, circa 1888 - 1920, were a definitive break from the state-sanctioned academy painting of French establishment. It can be useful to understand the artistic desire which promoted such developments as a progression of aesthetics, as well as a push towards new moral and social ideas. Not only today’s artists, but the progressiveness of our present culture, at least in part, reaches back to their pursuits.
Read MoreFrom Paris: l'Orangerie & The Louvre /
Artists’ are driven by an immortality fantasy. Also, they are poetic types who feel the contents of life-psyche deeply. They need a subject, many of the Europeans chose “woman,” for she is at the center of their psyche; her unending pull both profound fodder for inspiration, sparking their instincts, stimulating the artist towards production.
Also, this obsession with the woman is a form of masochistic self-torture to tease themselves unending, turning an interest into a fascination, and finally into an addiction. (As one painting will not do, and one lover neither; all the complications of this muse relationship come with it!) On the contrary, it has been a form of liberation (hence, the “libertine”) to feel their erotic nature.
Read MoreJuicy Color Hits In Marc Horowitz’s High-Flying Act /
Marc Horowitz’s newest paintings are all variations on the same composition: stark backgrounds resonate like a crisp sky, as chunky stick figures pulse like balloons. As in Rothko’s chapel, or Rembrandt's self-portraits, Horowitz repeats and alters the same idea in a series. And, as Rothko reduced his palette to shades of black, focusing on rectangular forms, and Rembrandt to shades of brown, focusing on the self-portrait, Horowitz’s latest interest can be compared to these exalted masters: his works, as packed with juicy color as ever before, have discarded earlier structures and devices (inkjet prints which allowed for complex puns on rendered horses, landscapes, etc.) in favor of an undeniably primal composition.
Read MoreNYC Art Roundup: Contemporary Figuration at Its Finest /
Dana Schutz’s acclaimed show “Imagine me and You” exalts figurative painting ever-again, with a power and humor especially her own. The epic canvases are slogged and dashed with heavy amounts of paint, the safflower oil of which she uses as medium giving off a tangible odor. The onslaught of these powerful sights and smells, are a sort of pleasure especially modern in their strangeness.
Read MoreFrancesco Clemente at Brant Foundation /
The Italian artist Francesco Clemente has been a fixture of the art world since the 1980’s. An extensive exhibition of his works this fall season at the Brant Foundation in Greenwich, CT, begins with emphasizing his prominence in the New York City scene.
Read MoreHilma af Klint at the Guggenheim After Dark: Mystical Endeavors in Art /
From October 2018 through April 2019 the Guggenheim Museum in New York City is exhibiting the monumental works of artist and mystic Hilma af Klint. The solo exhibition, “Paintings from the Future,” has on display astoundingly mystical, large format paintings, as well as exquisite works on paper. One notable gallery room — which has become a must-Instagram for those in the art world — includes a dozen epic works that scale ten feet high.
Read MoreThe Lover Archetype in Modern Men: Soundcloud Rappers, XXXTentacion as Dionysus /
Both Orpheus and Dionysus are archetypes commonly active in the personalities of contemporary artists. An artist with an undeveloped “Orphic” disposition will tend more towards a longing, romanticization and dramatization — a poetic, almost mystical love. The artist tinged more with an immature “Dionysian” typology will be affected by extreme emotionality and even reckless, violent behavior. These typical scenarios are caused by living out a collective pattern — an archetype — which has an impersonal disregard the individual wellbeing.
Read MoreSpencer Sweeney's Liberated Masterworks at Gagosian /
This December the Gagosian gallery, located on Park Ave. and 75th Street in New York City, presented about a half dozen of Spencer Sweeney’s latest works. The figurative painter, who is also a DJ and club owner, has been a legend of the Downtown scene for two decades. Sweeney’s latest works exemplify his approach to life and art, now as ever before, as free, spontaneous and full of vibrant energy.
Read MoreThe Lover Archetype in Modern Men: Dan Bilzerian, The Ultimate Playboy as Addicted Lover /
Dan Bilzerian is a mega Instagram celebrity. He is known for a lavish life. Especially, audiences are drawn to his consistent presentation of voluptuous women, whom he flaunts, as a modern American playboy. His internet persona has made him famous, even infamous, for wild adventurousness, endless sexual exploits, large parties, as well as a macho-interests such as guns and weight-lifting. Many men admire him; they admit that, if they could, they would indulge themselves — have sex with many enticing women without commitment, travel and adventure without restriction. Other men condemn him, labeling him superficial, or fake. They research and expose the fantastic tale of his success as false. The extreme wealth, detractors say, wasn’t achieved by high-stakes poker gambling alone; it was acquired through his financial criminal father. Either way, in open admiration or envious attacks, many men are mesmerized by his lifestyle. In many of his viewers, there is a part, either conscious or unconscious, that wishes they had what Bilzerian has. This is evident in looking through the comments on his Instagram, which boasts a massive 25 million followers.
Read MoreThe Persephone Series of Paintings /
n the original Greek myth, Persephone begins as the maiden of eternal springtime, the youthful and naive “mother’s daughter.” Then she is abducted, taken to the underworld by Hades. There, Persephone wallows, and her mother, Demeter longs after her. Demeter demands her daughter back, and Hades agrees, but slyly offers Persephone a seed of the pomegranate first.
Read MoreOrigins Mixtape /
The creation of this music was intended as a compliment to the aesthetic and visual motifs of the “Origins” painting series, began in 2018. It is a sonic environment, to accompany the artworks.
Read MoreVividly Painting the Inner World: Review of Haley Josephs /
On a hot and humid, early September evening in Park Slope, Brooklyn, Haley Josephs displayed eight unusual paintings at the Gallery 315. The bubbly artist, dressed in a long, blue silk kimono and matching clogs, welcomed attendees.
As I took in the “Finger in the Hive” show, it became increasingly apparent that the artist had painted herself in various guises. The impressive oil paintings featured a diverse set of female characters, many of which were adolescent or children, often set amongst a cinematic sunset, the colors bursting with an internal fire.
Read MoreRuby Sky Stiler's "Fathers": A Mosaic of the Ancient and Modern /
Ruby Sky Stiler invigorates her work with a practice which acknowledges the vitalizing effect of metabolizing diverse material. It is this reconfiguration of the past and present in her work which is so appealing.
Read MoreThe Nude Body in Art: Sexuality, The Archetypal Feminine and Transformational Examination /
Through examination and consciousness wounds and lacks of the individual and collective psyche can be healed. If in the process we painfully shed undeveloped attitudes and opinions, we will be the better for it. Additionally, any inauthentic artistic expression will be left behind, and the deepest expressions valued for their transformative power and edifying effects.
Read MoreSEED Exhibition: Feminine Psyche and Mysticism in Art /
It has been very joyous for me to discover a community of artists and enthusiasts exploring the matters of the psyche through art. SEED, a group show curated by Yvonne Force Villareal, focuses on themes of the feminine as mystery and the importance of the mystical mind. It does so with expressive excellence, in the form of paintings, sculptures and mixed media works.
Read MoreDemoiselles d’Instagram: Exploration of the Feminine in Society and Art /
The “D’Madsoille de Instagram” series, presented by Tibor de Nagy, offers an opportunity to delve into these matters and contemplate what it means to consume and therefore support the production of objectifying, sexualized images today.
Whether it has been men’s reductive treatment of women, the courtesans of history, or Instagram models using their sexualized bodies as a basis for a career, an inner relationship to the archetypal feminine that is limited and ruled by libido is at the core.
Read MorePainting Practice: The Pursuit of a Personal and Yet Universal Art /
I strive to create work that is visually accessible and yet plunges the depths of the psyche, renewing perennial themes with a modern perspective. The hope is for viewers to discover a body of work that is personal, and yet universal.
Read MorePainting Process: Archetypal Ideas in a Personal Art /
Paintings are essentially about communication — that is, of an idea, an emotion, either ambiguous or direct, purposeful. After completing the work in October 2017, the painting was rolled-up and set aside. It wasn’t until Johannes Böckmann, a German theological student contacted me wishing to collect several works. Among those he was drawn to was the “Pastoral Scene.” When I asked him what the painting meant to him, the way in which he understood the symbolic content, touching down to the archetypal core, was astounding. His reaction reconnected me with the painting.
Read MoreThe Tale of Cecilia /
There once was a young woman, aged seventeen, named Cecilia, who lived in a fishing village. Her grandfather had been her caretaker for her whole life, but he was now growing old and weak.
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