Simone Lanzenstiel / O.T. / 2007 / Acrylic and spray paint on cotton / 200 cm x 230 cm  / Barbara Gross Galerie

From Art Knowledge News

The artist begins with imaginary and immediate elements, such as pavement, construction scaffolding, graffiti, or blotches of paint on the floor of her studio. This recourse to found markings is a breakaway move from the conventional means of painting.

Simone Lanzenstiel develops her painting as a series of actions on the canvas. She shakes, splashes, sprays, brushes, scrawls, and wipes – in an apparently accidental, fleeting manner. This creates free, open zones, light and soaring. In contrast, colors are varied and re-worked until they are finally condensed into painterly figures and powerful accents of color; this finely attuned balance lends rhythm to the work.

The artist prefers to work with acrylics and enamel sprays in predominantly cool, brilliant tones, such as blue, green, purple, and magenta. Each painting is specified by a precise color composition, dominated by white. White is used as ground and mask – it is a color and a non-color, passive and active. White simultaneously limits and intensifies the space in which all of the other colors are expressed. Strong and gentle color gradients cover the entire surface of the picture, only coming to an abrupt stop at the edges of the painting. Hence, the paintings seem to have been removed from a larger context, and yet they expand far into the space. {Read More…}

Simone Lanzenstiel’s work featured at Barbara Gross Galerie

In art criticism of another era, John Dewey made an attempt to distinguish between expression and emotional discharge. To paraphrase, expression is a distillation of emotion whereby the artist creates a unity between medium, idea, and emotion to create a communication of a higher order, whereas emotional discharge is the actual experience of an emotion at a moment in time. Expression is the mark of the artist and art, while emotional discharge is simply an ordinary universal human experience, its not art. While criticism of this sort has fallen out of fashion, I think it is relevant to a discussion of Andre Butzer’s work and the category of abstraction represented by his paintings, because his work reminded me of Dewey’s distinction between expression and discharge. It wasn’t and isn’t clear to me exactly what was going on in his paintings. In formal terms, the figure ground relationships weren’t well developed, the gestural markings didn’t seem to relate to images, and the colors were all the same intensity, which is not to say that this is not intentional. The overall effect in all of the paintings is a of a flat, busy, and loud pictorial surface that is visually disturbing.

As I am not in the business of psychoanalyzing artists, and as I have no knowledge of the artist’s history, I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he is most likely not engaged in emotional discharge. But, it is a fine line, and the artist’s loose methods of drawing and paint application make it difficult for one to know for sure. In addition, the mask-like and vegetable-headed figures that populate the paintings provide few clues to the communication, making it difficult for the viewer to know what to make of what is happening on the walls. Only if you take time to read the exhibition listing and press release on the counter at the front of the gallery do you learn the titles of the paintings or the identities of the figures, but even that is only of limited help.

When I enter a gallery or museum and engage with a piece of work, I try to avoid reading any of these statements and try to engage first with work. I want to try, as much as is possible, to engage directly with the work and not have that initial first experience mediated by the artist or critic telling me what I am supposed to experience or take away from the artwork. It’s more interesting for me to watch my own response and sort through what I bring to the experience and what the artist is attempting to communicate or get me to experience. In this case my first response was very hesitant, looking through the widows of Metro Pictures and seeing Andre Butzer’s paintings on the walls, I almost didn’t enter the gallery. Once I was inside I could feel my body collapsing in on itself, overwhelmed, as if I had entered a space with loud punk rock distorted guitars blaring. The paintings are intense, loud if you will, very large format, saturated bright colours, disturbing imagery, applied with bold gestures and strokes, as well as other abrasive or jarring sprays and splashes. They are heavy and charged, loaded with emotion (or irony, if I am to be fooled). It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the stimulation. I noticed many others step in through the doors only to turn around and quickly scurry away without exploring the exhibition and spending time with the paintings.

The fact that people walked out of the gallery before engaging with the paintings on the walls was actually something very interesting to me. It was easier for them to turn and walk away than to move forward and face the issues on the walls. Like not talking about the alcoholic or abusive family member, or about the fascist president or dictator and their crimes or society’s crimes (remember the artist is German), it easier to remain silent. To try to ignore the abuse. If I don’t pay attention to it, its not there, and its not a problem. Yes, Andre Butzer’s paintings are difficult and problematic, but they should not be ignored or avoided.

Andre Butzer’s work is on view at Metro Pictures Gallery through May 3

Not abstract but it’s around the corner in my hood and its painting.

JERSEY CITY, NJ – Jersey City Museum asked Publisher and editor, Billy Miller to invite one of his favorite artists, painter Pia Dehne for INTRODUCING: Why Paint Now? The program will focus on the painting in the 21st-century and feature a discussion with the artists about her commitment to painting in the modern age of the Internet, multimedia and instant image-making. Pia Dehne studied with Markus Lüpertz at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.

About Pia Dehne: Influenced both by Classic German Modernism and the style of the Italian artist Tanino Liberatore’s comics, Dehne incorporates both famous and infamous ‘masterworks’ into her paintings, from Ingres’ Oriental Bathers to Queen’s Fat Bottomed Girls and Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland album art. Ms. Dehne’s painting process is as indebted to photography as it is to performance.

In her work, Dehne assembles live models into a tableaux vivant that are centered on pop imagery. Next, she photographs the tableaux. Finally, back in the studio, she makes a series paintings and drawings based on the photograph of the tableaux. Dehne says, “In the end I don’t really need the photograph anymore. It’s more like a crutch, a place to start. This combines with memory and I completely lose myself to the drawing. I see myself more like an abstract artist. I transform form and content, and try not to think. Otherwise, I would just show the photograph instead of the drawing.”

About Billy Miller: Billy Miller is an artist and writer. He has exhibited his work both nationally and abroad. Some of his exhibitions include P.S.1, John Connelly Presents, Visionaire, Kunstverein München, and Dietch Projects. He is also the editor and publisher of a number of independent publications, including the cult series Straight To Hell, a/k/a The Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts. Pia and Billy at 58 Gallery: Why Paint Now? coincides with “THE OTHER SIDE,” a group exhibition at Jersey City’s 58 Gallery. The opening reception is Friday, April 11, 2008 at 7 pm. The show, curated by Billy Miller, features small works by Pia Dehne, as well as artists from New York, Brooklyn and New Jersey.

Founded in 1901, the Jersey City Museum is the major presenter of contemporary art serving the people of Jersey City, Hudson County and the region. The museum organizes many group and solo exhibitions every year, featuring works by culturally diverse, contemporary artists and from its 10,000-piece collection of regional significant art and historical objects. Through exhibitions, educational initiatives and programs, the museum welcomes over 25,000 visitors each year, including 11,000 school-aged children and youth. Jersey City Museum is located at 350 Montgomery Street at Monmouth in the Historic Downtown District of Jersey City, within walking distance of the Grove Street PATH and Jersey Avenue Light Rail stations. For more information, visit www.jerseycitymuseum.org or call 201-413-0303.