I went to the Artist’s Panel discussion on The Optical Edge last night and got a chance to see the exhibition as talk to a professor whom I studied with at Hunter College during the 1970’s,  Sanford Wurmfeld. 

Note to myself: Strange, but Sanford Wurmfeld has no official website - I’m not sure that’s by design or just omission - but you’d think an Artist of his stature would have a site where he displays his work as he’d like it to be seen - weird!   Here’s a guy that talks the talk, an eloquent speaker - and an eloquent painter of hard edged color field painting …… and yet in 2007 ….. no official website!

Anyway, I saw a couple of paintings I really liked at The Optical Edge, including one of Sanford Wurmfeld’s - a large color field painting that I hope my less than optimal camera and photographer’s ability does not take too much away from it:

I did my best to capture this large color field, Op-Art, piece by Sanford Wurmfeld, who still teaches at Hunter College (Hunter has a pretty strong Art Department - I’ve found, a department with a lot of Tenured Artists, it seems to me, many well known - though none are “superstars” of the Art World). 

I don’t know what this painting is called - but if Wurmfeld ever sees my blog post (doubtful - given he does not seem to have his own website), he’s free to comment here and I’ll update this information.

The Artist Soonja Han (who does not speak English and lives in Paris; Soonja had a translator with her and prepared most of her statements in writing before the panel discussion) has the strongest work in The Optical Edge show - and perhaps, transcends the rest - her work, more than any other - is actively engaging the viewer - it can not be ignored and many a visitor last night was stumped into staring at the work below (whose name I don’t know - it’s another large painting - but with square dimensions).

 

I could not stop looking at this Soonja Han painting - which my photo probably does not do justice to.   In a way, Soonja Han, to the greatest extent, and the rest of the artists in the show (to a lesser extent) work does exactly the opposite of what they say their work is doing!

Note to myself:  One of the artists, either Jon Groom or Ryszard Wasko, said that “Painting” is a “passive” artform whereas most other media directly engage you … Painting is something where you need to slow down, be still and take the work in - a painting “shows” itself to you over time.

In practice - The Op Edge Artists in this show did the reverse of what they say painting is supposed to do - they’re making artworks that actively try to engage the viewer with geometric patterns of ambiguity that force the brain of the viewer to make resolution - to make sense of what they’re seeing.   I’d say, Soonja Han’s and Sanford Wurmfeld’s work - actively engages the viewer - just the opposite of what all the artists were saying about their work last night on the Panel discussion that I sat in on.

Just shows you … don’t listen so much to what the Artist says … look at what they’re doing - and remember - your interpretation is just your interpretation - someone else may see it differently.

In my next post, I’ll present the notes and thoughts I had while listening to the Panel Discussion on The Optical Edge.