A sea of clouds the color of freshly shucked oysters hovered over southern Louisiana as we drove into New Orleans to view the new art shows before the opening night crowds. Rain fell continuously until we got to La Place. As we drew nearer to New Orleans, a pale yellow aura lying just above the horizon suggested that rain was not yet falling in the city.
As a primary and collective ethos, postmodernism probably no longer exists. Too many years have passed. And yet, as sheer effect, it seems absolutely pervasive —and interminable.
As a primary and collective ethos, postmodernism probably no longer exists. Too many years have passed. And yet, as sheer effect, it seems absolutely pervasive —and interminable. A movement that was, at once, soundly intellectual and blithely reactionary, now proceeds rutterless.
At first glance the room seems cluttered with wildly disparate icons, the detritus of western culture: ceramic pencils, mirrors, piano keys, floppy disks, dollar bills, musical notes, hamburgers, coffee cups, religous symbols.
By Paul Ryan, ART PAPERS Staunton, Virginia Al Souza’s puzzle “paintings” (Reynolds Gallery, July 10—August 24) are actually assemblages that he constructs from multiple, found jigsaw puzzles. Yet, within the blurred boundaries and permissiveness of our post-painting era, and particularly through the work’s smart (and sometimes accidental) links to various strains of modernist painting, “painting”…
One of the more curious aspects in the history of photography is the quixotic, and lasting, interest in photographing what can’t be seen. No sooner did the daguerreotype confer the ability to capture reality than early enthusiasts began attempting to use the new device to prove the reality of the unreal.
Al Souza’s puzzle “paintings” (Reynolds Gallery, July 10—August 24) are actually assemblages that he constructs from multiple, found jigsaw puzzles. Yet, within the blurred boundaries and permissiveness of our post-painting era, and particularly through the work’s smart (and sometimes accidental) links to various strains of modernist painting, “painting” is an appropriate and perhaps more accurate description. With the exception of two small-scale works each painting in the exhibition, like the startling 18-foot-long The Peaceful Kingdom that was included in the 2000 Whitney Biennial, consists of thousands of related and unrelated puzzle pieces that are assembled and glued together. Obsessive constructions consisting of multiple images, the paintings are object like, turgid oceans possessing islands and partial continents of the pictorial. The rippling, unified space of each composition announces an image-based theme—pop stars, museum masterpieces, cartoon celebrities, the terrain of fast food packaging, postcard landscapes; and, Souza’s playful/critical aestheticization of the material excesses of late capitalism provides conceptual drive.
If ever the light could transmute itself into sound, or conversely sound into color, the result would resolve itself into a painting rendered by lifelong Louisiana resident Francis X. Pavy of Lafayette. His palette reflects the brilliant sun-imbued hues of South Louisiana.
Dale Chihuly at Marlborough By Edward Leffingwell (brief article), ART IN AMERICA Dale Chihuly, who in most respects seems to deny himself little in the service of his work, awarded descriptive titles of uncharacteristic restraint to his new specimen objects. At the far end of the long axis of a familiar viewing space transformed by…