new century new painting
Recent acquisitions from the Martin Z. Margulies Collection are on display at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Edison College
BY NANCY STETSON nstetson@florida-weekly.com
I recently read about two artists who met at an art show in downtown New York.

PHOTOS COURTESY BOB RAUSCHENBERG GALLERY Left, Karin Davie Between My Eye and Heart #12; Right, Jonathan Meese Fulle Bux

As usually happens with those in the arts, the conversation quickly turned to careers and matters of craft.

It wasn't long before one (a painter) asked the other, "What medium do you use?"

The reply: pig intestine filled with concrete.

Oh.

Depending upon the shows you attend in major cities, the art magazines you read, or the artists you talk with, it'd be easy to believe that painting is dead. Frustrated by what they perceive as the limitations of a long-established, centuries-old medium, some artists turn to unusual media.

Painting? That's so yesterday. So twentieth century.

Many artists, seeking to make a splash today, seek increasingly unusual or outrageous forms, sometimes pushing boundaries not for art's sake, but to make a name for themselves.

But all you have to do is step into the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Edison College to realize that painting is far from dead.

"New Century New Paintings: Recent Acquisitions from the Martin Z. Margulies Collection" displays a total of 19 works by 14 internationally renowned artists. With one exception, all the work has been created within the past few years.

According to gallery director Ron Bishop's written introduction, "For many, this will be a first encounter with the artists in this exhibition. That should not be too surprising, as many of the artists have barely reached their 40th birthday, and, in some instances, they have not been shown before in the USA. The work in this exhibit is powerful, fresh and cutting edge."

They're also exciting and of a caliber not often seen in Southwest Florida. (Three of the artists, for example, were in the Venice Biennial.) As Bishop notes, "It is not often that a small, non-collecting museum…has the opportunity to do high impact international exhibitions."

Chris Ofili, whose "Holy Virgin Mary" caused such an uproar in the "Sensation" exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum a few years back, because he used cow dung in his portrait, is represented here. (The British-born Ofili was exploring his Nigerian heritage and customs in doing so.) "Christmas Eve (flight), a 110" x 79" oil on canvas, shows what might be Mary and Joseph riding on a donkey. Both are African, or African-American, and both are wearing cowboy hats and boots. There's a distinct Southwestern feel to the work.

SPECIAL TO FLORIDA WEEKLY Tal R Liquid Sky

The two figures are fluid, flowing into each other; it's difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. The woman is silver, voluptuous with full breasts, possibly a full belly. It's one of a series of six.

"This is very different from his other works, such as the piece in the 'Sensation' show," says Bishop. "They were intricate, very patterned, very colorful, very bright. Obviously he's evolved and changed in his style."

The exhibit cleverly juxtaposes the work of Sook Jin Jo and Clare Woods by placing them side-by-side. Jo's work, "Variation for One," is an assemblage of plywood found discarded on the street. ("Anonymous, abandoned materials such as old doors, scrap plywood panels, and other detritus of daily life are the collected material I use to create constructions with a certain meditative quality," she writes in her artist's statement.)

The piece by this Korean artist is more assemblage than painting; various panels of plywood arranged with stunning impact. Her work is textured, rough, battered, punctured. On the far right, a lighting bolt of blue paint runs down the wood, while a section on the left has two shades of pale green. The center piece is grooved, almost as if tightly corrugated, with nails and holes marring its surface.

In contrast, the surface of Woods' piece, "Memorial Hall," enamel on aluminum, is as smooth and slick as polished ice. You have to look very close to find the occasional brush stroke or paint spatter. Woods' statement says that "the visual language of my paintings shifts between representation and abstraction."

Her painting, a night landscape with branches and foliage and ferns, is a cross between the two. But instead of being digitalized, the colors and images have been abstracted and flattened into a crazy jigsaw of odd amoeba-like shapes and blobs, with some lacelike pieces. Her colors are mint green, pale olive, mustard yellow and white on a black background, with some small touches of yellow, red, and salmon. It's glossy and shiny, part camouflage, part abstract paint-by-number.

"Sook Jin Jo talks about meditation, bringing that simplicity to her work and having them be more meditative," Bishop says. "The more time we spend with her work, the more we become attached to it. It's her unique niche.

"It's been a little surprising how many people have been drawn to that piece in this exhibit. It's not sexy, it doesn't have that high drama, the gesture that Karin Davie has. But there's a certain amount of romance in that it's all found parts. I like the idea of finding and using what's out there. There's hope for us, that somebody will find us and put us to good use."

In the rear of the gallery, Karin Davie's colorful, gestural painting, "Between My Eye and Heart # 12" is yet another unique approach. The 66" x 84" painting is rich with sensuous loops and curls, the wide brush strokes textured with grooves like a vinyl record. The wonderful, lush swirls of paint are intertwined and curve over each other like a canvas full of snakes. Davie, who compares her physical process of painting with dance, has named choreographer Trisha Brown among her influences.

"She does a piece in one day," Bishop says. "If they're not done in one day, she starts over. She's got pictorial space going on, like it's a three-dimensional form you can look through. It has a front and back, it has some real volume to it. It has a nice life to it."

Bishop points to the Oliver Dorfer painting, "Panda 01" as one of his favorites. The acrylic on plastic painting shows the faces of two panda bears, simplified in black, white and orange on a flat, shiny rust background. But the noses and mouths are represented in a very painterly fashion, in bold black scribble, almost as if drawn on by magic marker.

"I like smart art, and to me, he's invented a niche for himself," Bishop says. "We're having to deal with multiple imagery, sequential imagery, whether it's in comic books, movies, media. In this instance, he's given us the same thing twice, with different sets of information in it. It has a distinct connection to animation. It's a more clear presentation [of paint] and plastic, with no brush strokes to speak of."

The Israeli artist Tal R is represented by two paintings. "Villa Virkelig" shows a Viking from the back, bags of loot gripped in his oversized, meaty hands. A couple dozen swords hover in the sky above him. Are they hanging over his head, or pointing the way to the future, to victory?

The other painting is one the gallery chose to reproduce for their exhibit announcement card. But the reproduction of "Liquid Sky," doesn't do the actual work justice. The painting shows houses made of rectangles and squares, with triangle roofs above them. Names of colors are printed on the canvas, sometimes painted in colors other then what they name. The actual piece is much more textured and seems to be in layers, in strips of canvas. In some places you can actually see the rough, frayed fringe of canvas edge.

"He has the best quote I've ever seen from a painter," Bishop says, pointing to the artist's statement, which he originally said in an interview with Mika Hannula.

Tal R wrote: "Painting is a zombie medium. As a painter you are a little bit like a guy showing up in a tiger suit at a techno party. So your dress code is outdated, but you might still have the best moves on the dance floor.

"Personally speaking, painting is a language through which I can get a lot of experience both in and out. But to tell you the truth, it is a complicated medium, it is and remains a puzzle to me. It is not a necessary medium anymore, but somehow so many people still keep on painting. Then again, it suits me, and I like the flatness of a surface. I desperately need that flatness to tell my stories, because otherwise they are too weird and unfocused."

"I love that quote!" Bishop exclaims. "Number one, it's an indictment of painting, but it also clears painting, so to speak. It's about how we perceive painting to be outdated and out of fame, if you will, but he says, we still come back. We keep coming back to the party, and there's a reason.

"We still have the best dance moves."

if you go

>> What: "New Century New Painting: Recent Acquisitions from the Martin Z. Margulies Collection"

>> When: through April 5; gallery hours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday - Friday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday; gallery closed during the week of March 3

>> Where: The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery, 8099 College Parkway, Fort Myers

>> Cost: Free

>> Information: Call 489-9313 or go to www.BobRauschenberggallery.com

>> Special: Martin Z. Margulies will talk about the current exhibit, "New Century New Painting: Recent Acquisitions from the Martin Z. Margulies Collection," and his collection, at the gallery at 1 p.m. March 11. The lecture is free.