Gino Rubert, The Pianist, mixed media on canvas, 2012.

There is a visual hum that resonates through each of these intriguing depictions. The shifting frequencies arise from the mind trying to categorize the media in the compositions. The keen viewer, upon close inspection begins to break down the structural points. As the eye roams, a list is populated from discoveries of magnificent painting next to seamless photographic collage and yes, even that lenticular tiger bikini.

Gino Rubert, Ma Feline, mixed media on canvas, 2012.

The show has been titled, “True Love,” referring to the three points of balance that are achieved between the artist, his passion and our perception. There is truth here but it is not always decidedly pretty. In each tableau there is the comfort of a familiar face but the amenities remain delightfully out of reach.

Gino Rubert, The Inheritor, mixed media on canvas, 2012.

Gino Rubert
True Love
29 March – 28 April 2012
Claire Oliver Gallery
NYC

Images courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery.

David Lynch, Boy Lights Fire, 2012.

The large mixed media works still ring in the same tone as his previous show in California from 2009. They begin as simple stories that unfold through brilliant consideration of materials and quality craftsmanship. I was nowhere near the Pacific Coast for his last show but viewed the works as you are now, online. Examining the pieces directly in New York exponentially increased the respect that I already had for his fine art. David Lynch is not a film guy pretending to be an artist. There may be room in this world for that sort of thing but that is not what is going on here.

David Lynch, Distorted Nude 20, 2012.

There are few descriptors used to convey the attitude of his art in its many forms. Darkness, anger and pain are all simplifications that do not offer any real understanding. We meet David Lynch on the surface but the man and boy remain behind the curtain, wizarding their own Oz.

David Lynch, I See My Love, 2012.

The secret to his success as an artist lies in a fantastic misunderstanding that occurs between his intent and the perception of the viewer. The screen that connects us shimmers with context. Behind the black paint and bold distortions there is light. If you trust that it is there you see it with every blink.

David Lynch, New York City, 2012. (photo: Scott Lickstein)

David Lynch
6 March – 14 April 2012
Tilton Gallery
NYC

Images of artwork courtesy David Lynch.

Ian Gamache at Galerie D, Montréal, 2012. (Photo: Pierre Blackburn)

The frowning characterizations of the everyman depicted in the drawings of Ian Gamache consistently engage our sense of malaise and general discontent. The shared hopelessness that resides in the debility displayed draws on the complete range of empathy from humorous to heart wrenching. The artist’s memory archives maintain a strong sense of style derived from years of steady study and obsessive practice.

Ian Gamache, Drought, mixed media, 2011.

Gamache meditates on the poetry of the searching line. The repetition of gesture serves as a reminder that real life is not made up of entirely smooth surfaces. Our journey as humans is primed with overlapping experiences that we hope to bind together into something that floats.

2011 was the year of Gamache. Ian has begun to receive recognition beyond the normal expectations of a visual artist. Follow his heavily attended Facebook fan page to get a clear picture of the phenomena. It’s been exciting to watch his well deserved fan base build so rapidly. In many ways, 2012 serves as a new beginning for Ian Gamache. He’s holding a bright torch and this solo exhibit feels like the first step in a very long run.

Ian Gamache, Early Days (detail), mixed media, 2011.

Ian Gamache
26 January – 22 February 2012
Galerie D
Montréal

I’ve been involved in several off-season moves that will intensify my career as artist, dealer and art writer. New York City is on the very near horizon and I should be in position soon to conduct more studio visits, museum previews and exhibition reviews.

The Summer has also brought about the founding of my personal artist website. I’m offering up a new signed and numbered, archival, limited edition pigment print seven days a week. All of my artistic pursuits are updated daily on the site. Check in regularly to examine progress on my portfolio, ongoing projects and store. Please sign up here to receive a weekly digest via email highlighting all of the action.

Scroll down for a small selection of my work from this year. Two prints, a pair of photographs, a couple of projects, some paintings and now, yes, I have been branded with my own logo.

Scott Lickstein, Spectrum Sipper, archival pigment print on 300 gsm, 100% cotton, acid & lignin free paper, 20.25 x 17 inches, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, The Hawk, archival pigment print on 300 gsm, 100% cotton, acid & lignin free paper, 17 x 17 inches, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Life and Death in the Forest, c-print, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Mystics and Tides 014, c-print, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, When I’m Gone 036, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, When I’m Gone 044, 2011.

Scott Lickstein with Ian Gamache, Let’s Play Hostage, 2011.

Scott Lickstein with Ian Gamache, Boring Summer Movie, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Speechless, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Moonwolf, 2011.

Julião Sarmento, Silver Lake Yellow Boob, polyvinyl acetate, pigments, acrylic, acrylic gesso, ink, graphite and silkscreen print on unprimed cotton canvas, 2010-11.

The title of this show is a direct reference to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s fractured reaction to Goethe’s statements concerning the origin of color itself. The canvasses are mostly white with occasional shocks of screen printed primary color. The color reacts with the white surface to initiate the perception of a spectrum beginning with the primary and fading away into the plane.

Julião Sarmento, Silver Lake Blue Hands, polyvinyl acetate, pigments, acrylic, acrylic gesso, ink, graphite and silkscreen print on unprimed cotton canvas, 2010-11.

The architectural leanings of the artist are evident in compositions that mimic the modernist structures depicted in the printed areas. Suggestions of living tissue, both human and plant often remark on direct sensitivities of the viewer. Sarmento calls on our susceptibilities to nature through the revealing of delicate areas and shared nervous sensation.

Julião Sarmento, White Exit, mixed media installation, 2010-11.

Julião Sarmento
Remarks on Colour
15 February – 19 March 2011
Pilar Corrias
London

Javier Piñón, The Scarlet Woman, collage, 2010.

On the night this opened, we were wandering around Chelsea in the rain and came across a good friend and excellent painter. Without hesitating, he told us to make our way to see this exhibit. It became our next stop and we couldn’t have been more delighted at the suggestion.

Javier Piñón, Sibyl, collage, 2010.

The collages have a seamless quality and that spell is rarely broken. The exceptions, the areas that don’t quite work, serve as occasional reminders that the surface is not whole. This brand of tight technique stirs wonderfully with the mystic naughtiness of the content. The subjects are lost in ritual not entirely meant for our understanding but still manage to keep stride with the real world.

Javier Piñón, The Cave of Knowledge, collage, 2010.

Javier Piñón
O Babalon
14 October – 13 November 2010
ZieherSmith
NYC

The exhibit is a staggering affair. When encountering one of these mixed media masterpieces in the context of a group show, the Tomaselli stands out. His work often alienates itself in this manner. Moving through four rooms of his oeuvre, however, is an experience that one doesn’t question. It’s a larger than human experience not unlike the Great Pyramid or a hurricane. There is no temptation to insinuate and no need for review. Get to the Brooklyn Museum pronto!

Fred Tomaselli with Night Music for Raptors, Brooklyn Museum, 2010.

Fred Tomaselli, Field Guides, photo collage, gouache, acrylic, and resin on wood panel, 2003.

Fred Tomaselli, Red Butte, hemp leaves, acrylic and resin on wood panel, 1994.

Fred Tomaselli, Red Butte (detail), hemp leaves, acrylic and resin on wood panel, 1994.

Fred Tomaselli, Big Raven, acrylic, photocollage and resin on wood panel, 2008.

Fred Tomaselli, Fungi and Flowers, leaves, photo collage, acrylic, and resin on wood panel, 2002.

Fred Tomaselli, Fungi and Flowers (detail), leaves, photo collage, acrylic, and resin on wood panel, 2002.

Fred Tomaselli, Echo, Wow and Flutter, leaves, pills, photo collage, acrylic, and resin on wood panel, 2000.

Fred Tomaselli, Feb. 24, 2009 (detail), gouache and collage on printed watercolor paper, 2009.

Fred Tomaselli, Multiple Landscape, saccharin, acrylic, and resin on wood panel, 1995.

Fred Tomaselli, Multiple Landscape (detail), saccharin, acrylic, and resin on wood panel, 1995.

Fred Tomaselli, Toytopia (detail), photocollage, gouache, acrylic, and resin on wood panel, 1995.

Fred Tomaselli
8 October 2010 – 2 January 2011
Brooklyn Museum

“Abstract Expressionist New York” covers a period in time and a group of artists that have been important to me on a personal level for several decades. I thought hard about how I wanted to approach the exhibit and the advantages I hoped for by showing up in person to look at paintings that were already quite familiar. Somewhere in the Midwest, Nebraska or Iowa, I realized that I wanted to get close, I wanted to get a sense of texture from these masterworks. Here is a selection of details from pieces on the fourth floor. The camera got close enough to garner throat clearing from several guards but no paintings were injured.

Philip Guston, Edge of Town (detail), oil on canvas, 1969.

Jackson Pollock, White Light (detail), oil, enamel and aluminim paint on canvas, 1954.

Robert Motherwell, Pancho Villa, Dead and Alive (detail), cut-and-pasted printed and painted papers, wood veneer, gouache, oil and ink on board, 1943.

Willem de Kooning, Woman, I (detail), oil on canvas, 1954.

Arshile Gorky, Agony (detail), oil on canvas, 1947.

Lee Krasner, Untitled (detail), oil on composition board, 1949.

Ad Reinhardt, Number 43 (Abstract Painting, Yellow) (detail), oil on canvas, 1947.

Willem de Kooning, Painting (detail), enamel and oil on canvas, 1948.

Philip Guston, Painting (detail), oil on canvas, 1954.

Mark Rothko, No. 5/No. 24 (detail), oil on canvas, 1948.

Jackson Pollock, Gothic (detail), oil on canvas, 1944.

David Smith, Cubi X (detail), stainless steel, 1963.

Robert Motherwell, Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 108 (detail), oil on canvas, 1965-67.

Abstract Expressionist New York
3 October – 25 April 2010
MoMA
NYC

Chad Person, The Mayor Rests, vinyl, steel, electronics & mixed media, 2008.

The economic downturn has left most of the country feeling a little flat. A large inflated sign of power slumped in the corner might not make anything better but it can’t hurt. In trying times, change occurs and we’ll need to be ready. For his part, the artist has constructed an “apocalypse bunker” in New Mexico and has been appearing in the gallery from there via live video feed.

Chad Person, Improvised Double Barrel Shotgun, wood, steel pipe and fittings, glue and twine, 2010.

“Surviving the End of Your World,” is a display of repurposed goods. The halted commercial backdrop to these pieces exclaims a transformation of value and a new sense of what may constitute as raw material.

Chad Person, Twelvepack, US currency on canvas, 2010.

Chad Person
Surviving the End of Your World
10 July – 13 August 2010
Mark Moore Gallery
Santa Monica, CA

William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin, The Third Mind, ink and typescript on paper, 1965.

An original Dreamachine is also on display. In 1961, Gysin along with Ian Somerville conceived the device that is intended to be viewed with closed eyes. The Dreamachine produces light that pulses at a frequency that stimulates alpha waves in the brain. Initial experiences conjure common symbols to roll through the mind’s eye. Consistent use over time has been known to invoke virtual three-dimensional spaces and trigger senses beyond vision. I built my first Dreamachine in 1994 and have used it occasionally over the years. Here is a link to an online simulation, please heed the warnings as the effect can elicit photosensitive epilepsy.

Bryon Gysin with Dreamachine at Musée des Art Décoratifs, Paris, 1962.

It is impossible to sum up the importance of this man, his art and collaborations in a few short paragraphs. This is why it is so important to get to the New Museum before October 3rd. We are going to be spending the Fall and Winter in New York and actually altered our plans so that we would be sure not to miss this long-deserved remembrance.

William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin, The Third Mind, crayon, gelatin-silver prints, letterpress, offset lithography, and typescript on graph paper, 1965.

Brion Gysin
Dreamachine
7 July – 3 October 2010
New Museum
NYC