Filed under: Video | Tags: Allison Schulnik, Beautiful/Decay, Grizzly Bear, Mark Moore Gallery, ZieherSmith
Thanks to Beautiful/Decay we get a peek into Allison Schulnik’s studio. Schulnik is one of our favorites…We were introduced to her when she was featured in New American Paintings #55 back in 2004 (Schulnik was also selected for #79 years later). Since then she has been in countless group and solo exhibitions, she is now represented by fantastic galleries like Ziehersmith in NYC and Mark Moore Gallery in LA, and she even did a video for the band Grizzly Bear. Check out the video below posted by Beautiful/Decay:
via Beautiful/Decay:
“The Queen of lush and juicy paint Allison Schulnik opened up her studio to Beautiful/Decay and Visual Creatures to give our readers insight into the world of sad hobo clowns and her painting and animation process. Allison discusses how her paintings inform her animations and vice versa, the long history of artists in her family, and how Los Angeles allows artists to have quiet time in the studio yet have a community.”
Filed under: New York, Q&A | Tags: Alex Ebstein, Allison Schulnik, chunky, mound, New York, ZieherSmith
Stepping out of the ambient bustling of West 20th street into ZieherSmith last week, the outside world and its stimuli immediately evaporated. Through the gatherings of weary figures and overripe fauna of Allison Schulnik’s solo exhibition drifts the melancholy melody of Scott Walker’s “It’s Raining Today,” the source imperceptible from the entrance. Dramatically lit with small spots, and thick with the smell of oil paint, Mound (Exhibiting through December 17th), envelopes its viewers in a multi-sensory experience of nostalgia and theatricality. Chunky impastoed canvases depicting flowers, clowns, animals and hobos are displayed along with Schulnik’s works in other media. A small gouache painting on paper entitled “Funeral Party” hangs to the side of a small ceramic mammal and a head-shaped vessel.
In the main gallery space, “Mound,” a stunning stop-motion video, and the source of the soundtrack, is projected to fill an entire wall. Figures and landscape melt into one another, becoming at points, one large undulating mound. On the adjacent walls, similarly-scaled paintings, “Flower Mound” (100” x 148”) and “Idyllwild” (110” x 78”) are awesome in their size and craftsmanship. Schulnik moves seamlessly between media, and from large-scale to smaller, more intimate pieces like “White Flower” (ceramic and wood, 37” x 29” x 29”) with the same amount of detail and care. This tangible transition from painting to film to object brings us fully into the Schulnik world of comic/tragic ruffians, kittens and puppets. I had the opportunity to ask Allison a few questions about her show and the influences in her work… - Alex Ebstein, Baltimore Contributor
Allison Schulnik | Still from Mound, 2011, video, drawing, sculpture, box, 4:33 in length, Courtesy ZieherSmith
Filed under: Art World, Features, New York | Tags: Eddie Martinez, Evan J. Garza, New York, ZieherSmith
Art Basel Miami Beach installation view of Eddie Martinez, The Feast, 2010, mixed media on canvas (tripych), 8 x 28 feet, Courtesy of The Saatchi Collection, London and ZieherSmith, New York.
New American Paintings has joined forces with The Huffington Post‘s new Arts section to cover the work of an artist previously included in the magazine. From our list of 11 to Watch in 2011: Editor’s Picks, New York’s Eddie Martinez is definitely an artist to keep an eye on. (You might remember Eddie’s skeleton from our recent studio visit.)
Featured as the Spotlight artist in the current issue of New American Paintings, #92, Martinez caused a stir in December when his mammoth triptych at Art Basel Miami Beach for ZieherSmith sold to British mega-collector Charles Saatchi. At a staggering 8-by-28 feet, the painting is the largest ever made by the Brooklyn-based artist, whose career in the last several years has seen its own significant amplification.
We’ve included several images of recent work by Eddie below. And you can read more about him in our feature today on The Huffington Post!
Filed under: Art World, In the Studio, New York | Tags: Brooklyn, Bushwick, Chuck Webster, Eddie Martinez, Evan J. Garza, New York, ZieherSmith
Tucked away in a two-story walk-up in a northeast corner of Brooklyn is Chuck Webster‘s Bushwick studio and apartment. And, lucky for him (and me), there’s a pretty mean Mexican taqueria across the street from the Jefferson stop on the L, just a few of blocks away. Since great Mexican food is hard to find in Boston, I jumped at the invitation while in New York last week to have a few chorizo tacos with Chuck and take a look at his work for My Small Adventures, his upcoming solo show of new paintings with ZieherSmith in Chelsea, opening this Thursday.
Chuck’s work occupies a necessary place in contemporary abstraction, where insistence of form is met by both a genuine investigation of mark-making and child-like curiosity. The vehicle for his works are wooden panels (equipped with shelf-like grids on the back) whose surfaces are deeply sanded, discolored, and scratched — offering a kind of weathered, wistful context by which to examine his forms. That nostalgia was furthered during my visit after Webster opened his flat files, which are filled with collaborations between he and Eddie Martinez, as well as several colorful drawings made by Webster at the age of 10. Astonishingly, the contours of the monsters depicted therein strongly resemble the forms that Chuck still creates to this day. If it’s true that some artists spend their entire lives trying to paint like a child, then Webster doesn’t have to work very hard. The truth, however, is that he does. More pics after the jump.
—Evan J. Garza, Editor-at-Large
Filed under: Art World, Q&A | Tags: 74, ACT UP, Artforum, Chelsea, Depeche Mode, Evan J. Garza, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Johnny Rotten, Kate Moss, Liz Markus, new wave, New York, punk rock, Wham!, ZieherSmith
Artforum, 2010 | Collage and glitter on unprimed canvas, 105 x 105 inches. Images courtesy the artist and ZieherSmith, New York.
Liz Markus is a huge Depeche Mode fan. (And it shows.) Are You Punk or New Wave?, an exhibition of eight large new paintings and the New York artist’s third solo show with ZieherSmith in Chelsea, is packed with references to both of the 1980s music genres as well as major art figures from the time, executed with both sharp wit and an attitude appropriate for the subject matter itself. We met at ZieherSmith last week to talk about her new work, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and ACT UP. —Evan J. Garza
EJG: Did you grow up listening to punk rock?
I did. I grew up listening to new wave music, and punk rock when I was in art school. So, late—like ten years later. That was a question people would ask you at school, “Are you punk or new wave?” I went to an all-girls prep school, so no one was really punk, but there was one new wave girl. And I remember asking her, “Are you punk or new wave?” and she was like, “New wave.”
(installation view) Liz Markus: Are You Punk or New Wave? at ZieherSmith, New York
