LOOK INTO MY OWL

A “mid-career”exhibition surveying the work of Fred Tomaselli opens today at the Brooklyn Museum. Yesterday afternoon we had an opportunity to preview the exhibit and grabbed some photos to share. It had been nearly a year since L.I.M.O. had a chance to catch up with Fred and it was no surprise to find him in good spirits on the eve of this hometown honor.

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

We are finally in New York for “the season.” Many challenges were bested to get here but it was worth the hurry to have the opportunity to preview this show which will open to members today and to the public on October 3rd at the Museum of Modern Art.

“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

“Surviving the End of Your World” is the first Los Angeles solo exhibition from Chad Person. The multimedia effort currently fills the Mark Moore Gallery and continues through the middle of August.

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