Viewing a series of enviornmental art work at Kate Werble, that I found I liked, the more I looked at them.

Of course, there’s the metel piping, to the right, upon entering the gallery, that might as well have been an artwork, it would fit right in.

There’s a few pieces where, it could almost be a found object, stuck to a wall, but then, looking closer, find deliberate interplay, choices being made – where there is choices, and decisions, and it’s evident in the work, I consider it art.

I don’t know the names of any of these pieces, and, I’m not entirely sure it matters.

With a group show, like this one, on no titles on the pieces, it’s tempting to ascribe all the work to a single artist, but, in reality, that’s not the case. In this show are works of Liliane Lijn, Halsey Rodman, Sam Moyer, Molly Smith, Ryan Reggiani,Halsey Rodman and Susana Rodriguez.

The theme- Pinch Pots and Pyramids (title could use some work, but, at least, it’s not an attempt to pander the viewer, what you see is, what you get).

On the other hand, what do you see?

I was at an opening of Rembrandt, Picasso and Warhol prints at the William Bennett gallery tonight, which was enjoyable for a few reasons.

1. I dropped by early, the gallery wasn’t crowded yet.

2. The quality and number of prints from each artist are impressive.

3. Explaination of each medium was placed next to a body of work.

4. The red wine was good and plentiful

5. There were two musicans playing jazz.

However, I would not call this exhibition an “evolution” of printmaking, instead, i’d call it a “restatement”, and each generation and each artist, restates truth, their own way. I just would not look at a Picasso, because it was done in the 20th century, better.

I could not resist posting this image of an impressionist Art Cake care of BoingBoing -

I want to see more cakes like this one – this is one of the nicest cakes I’ve ever seen.   Wonder how a Cezanne would look as a Cake ….ha!

Checked the Flickr photostream to see if there was any others who want to shove their face into this cake (or maybe, just behold it) but I saw no other examples of impressionist cake art …. too bad, the artist ought to do more of them.

I heard about this opening of Michael Mundy from a facebook friend; on a rainy October night I decided to drop by the opening on the upper east side and found the gallery packed.  I would have more to say about the paintings, but the website where they are featured is entirely in Flash, and it’s content is much harder to extract, and there’s not much that explains any particular piece, so I’ll just reference the work I responded to the most.

I think this piece may be called “A-View” and was done in 2002 – I noticed how the textures and colors of the painting on the wall, and, that painting being a face looking out at the viewer, mixes in with the textures of the photo.   I liked the photo, which I found, visually arresting – but I can’t begin to tell you want it means.

The picture of Chuck Close doesn’t need and explanation – most people in the art world know who he is and that he was/is crippled and yet, continued to paint.   I found myself looking at all the objects in the studio.  My feeling- Chuck was fortunate to have the means to live comfortably and hire assistants so he continue to paint.

I find the picture in the foreground, on the floor, was the nicest part of the work and reminded me of two paintings, the first, Velasquez painting of the maids of honor, and the second, my own painting, done 20 years ago, partly referencing the Velasquez painting, see below:

Marshall Sponder – In the Cave, After Paris, 1988, Oil on Canvas 4′ x 4′

Maybe, that’s why I responded to some of Michael Mundy’s photographs, if one calls them that, because they reminded me, that I look back, and so does he.

The photograph below is named after Edward Hopper, and it’s obvious, why.

Having said that, I’m don’t respond to photographs as often as I do to paintings, maybe that’s a bias I have to prefer one over the other.  However, following my thoughts of yesterday’s event at Design Meetup with Rachel Ashwell of Shabby Chic which I attended.

I’m finding it easier to like Michael Mundy’s photographs, once I accepted that no one creates anything, the Creator did all of that, for us – all we do is discover the creation and collect, assemble and annotate the elements we think are meaningful – and there is where there be Art.