Ann Craven has a new painting up at Gasser/Grunert, and a few smaller canvases in the back room. The new one is more "emotionally wrought" than others. Lots of black. Kind of funerary.
Listen, what I am not able to understand is why she chose to reproduce her entire show. Remember that? Why would someone do that aside from not having a new idea? Is it in response to the demands of the marketplace? Is the concept about painting having conceptual content? Are the birds transporters of secret meaning? I am thick, I guess, but I look at a lot of contemporary art and have many thoughts and feelings. Is this another case of high and drunk in the studio?
Fred: I think the repetition of images is a device to challenge the supposed spontanaeity of the wet-into-wet gesture. Many of the new paintings are repeated at the same scale, sometimes like a mirror image - stroke for stroke.
Also, you might check out the essays on her web site: http://anncraven.com/craven_home.html
TD, agreed, great description. I am seeing more than I did before, which was deft paint handling and soothing birds, but you give it much more purpose.
WW, what did you mean by "edges"?
Fred why do you think all artists are high and drunk? Is it based on empirical evidence? Or heresay?
i love the way she deals with edges conceptually - i agree with what t.d. said about repetition, plus she references photographic space and illustration (use of white as a spatial delineator). then the line quality... those rough little ticks on the edges of the bird really destroy preconceived notions of how objects mesh visually.
I love Ann Craven's work. She creates a great tension between disciplined painting, risky use of color and subtle emotional undertones. I would like to see her newer darker work.
w.w. that is terrific about the edges. it is what I felt about this work but could not articulate. it is so fun when someone puts the right words to a thought you have but can't express. bravo!
Much of her work is a larger than I expected...4' x 5', which changes my jpeg response to them. Some titles I came across are befuddling to me...Blue Pecker, Pink Pecker, Yellow Fello with Cherries, Pecker with Cherries, Red Head....on and on with Tourettes-like insistence. The repetitious, rhyme-y babble of it does remind me of personal mental states I'll only confess to anonymously. Anyone have insight into this?
See the world in green and blue See China right in front of you See the canyons broken by cloud See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out See the Bedouin fires at night See the oil fields at first light And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth After the flood all the colors came out
i've noticed that when we reach around 20 comments all turns to poo. she is not boring. you must look closely. it is a spookfest desguised as cute birdies if you clue in. take an ambien and look again.
WW is right. Drugs can sometimes help you see what your sober eyes won't let you. Even if you don't like them you can still find the creeps, the wrongness, the cloning. The birds are dead sexers, makes me think of taxidermy, CPR, Hitchcock, finding solace and transportive power in wallpaper, figurines, soup terrines and other types of what-not that you find at your grandmother's house.
Sorry, I took an ambien like WW said and that's what I'm seeing.
i am actually out of ambien if anyone has some. i suppose we should not drug traffic on this blog, but just putting it out there. perhaps we can think of a code word for ambien - "blue/gray spellbinder?"
mountain man and w.w. - I was teetering between 'how creepy good' and 'art-smart for art-smart's sake?'. You are both right, these are soooo wrong. thanks
I'm still not convinced, though I appreciate all of the comments. I may be reading these wrong, but I get a strong whiff of art theory about paint and the mark being suspect, and content, too: to me the catologuing of the birds feels like a birdwatchers manual or something, which makes me think about the whole "no new content under the sun" thing, or maybe "its impossible to have authentic content." Feels very 80's to me.
Plus i kinda think they're ugly. Sorry, I feel mean.
Who would like to have Fred banned from the blog? He does not seem to know anything about painting! Or like painting! Or painters! Or people who like painting! Can I have a show of hands? Anyone? Anyone? Fred, do you have anything constructive to say about this painting or painter that would improve the rest of the world?
another quote from fred from a previous day (nozkowski:) "Don't take this the wrong way, I am not angry, just jealous. If only I had the nerve I could while away the days in a stupor of neurotic ambition, eating pills and drinking the fascist tonics. Let's face it, art is for miscreants."
WHAT ARE THE FASCIST TONICS? i think you've had too many of them!
Barbara Pollack essay is interesting but problematic given the actual paintings. "Working wet-on-wet, Craven builds gorgeously garish paintings that seem to be entirely spontaneous—without a whiff of mass-production or even tightly controlled photo-realist techniques--making the act of replication all the more remarkable" quotes Pollack, but the paintings do not seem spontaneous but rather formulaic and routinely routine - blurry background floral motif, higher contrast frontal figurebird, again and again and again.
I need some focusin, anyone? I think its cool, that repetition thing. I'm scared to do it, because what if I become some Blue Dog with a message of love, and only love, when I feel so much more?
I love me some Blue Dog! Got one in the shitter, one in the rumpus room. Theez birds look fukin' wicked too! Don't know what anyone's talkin' about - with that cloning bullshit? I just see sweet bird paintings like my granny used to make in vermont. damn! granny I miss you.
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edges
ReplyDeleteWhere is Ann showing? I want to see more.
ReplyDeleteWOW...the colors, the brush strokes, the perspective all work to create a magnificent piece...I would like to see more too...
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog. A lot of good painters I have not seen. How do you find them?
ReplyDeleteShe doesn't have a show up right now but I think she shows with Gasser and Grunert gallery in New York.
ReplyDeleteAnn Craven has a new painting up at Gasser/Grunert, and a few smaller canvases in the back room. The new one is more "emotionally wrought" than others. Lots of black. Kind of funerary.
ReplyDeleteListen, what I am not able to understand is why she chose to reproduce her entire show. Remember that? Why would someone do that aside from not having a new idea? Is it in response to the demands of the marketplace? Is the concept about painting having conceptual content? Are the birds transporters of secret meaning? I am thick, I guess, but I look at a lot of contemporary art and have many thoughts and feelings. Is this another case of high and drunk in the studio?
ReplyDeleteHmmmm! Interesting thoughts fred, maybe a little harsh.
ReplyDeleteFred: I think the repetition of images is a device to challenge the supposed spontanaeity of the wet-into-wet gesture. Many of the new paintings are repeated at the same scale, sometimes like a mirror image - stroke for stroke.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you might check out the essays on her web site: http://anncraven.com/craven_home.html
Hey td, thanks for that amazing insight, its like a light went on and I get a whole new perspective on the work
ReplyDeleteTD, agreed, great description. I am seeing more than I did before, which was deft paint handling and soothing birds, but you give it much more purpose.
ReplyDeleteWW, what did you mean by "edges"?
Fred why do you think all artists are high and drunk? Is it based on empirical evidence? Or heresay?
i love the way she deals with edges conceptually - i agree with what t.d. said about repetition, plus she references photographic space and illustration (use of white as a spatial delineator). then the line quality... those rough little ticks on the edges of the bird really destroy preconceived notions of how objects mesh visually.
ReplyDeleteI love Ann Craven's work. She creates a great tension between disciplined painting, risky use of color and subtle emotional undertones. I would like to see her newer darker work.
ReplyDeletew.w. that is terrific about the edges. it is what I felt about this work but could not articulate. it is so fun when someone puts the right words to a thought you have but can't express. bravo!
ReplyDeletePhotographic space definitely and hadn't thought of the illustration reference in quite the way you describe it WW. Hmmm. Learning.
ReplyDeleteMuch of her work is a larger than I expected...4' x 5', which changes my jpeg response to them. Some titles I came across are befuddling to me...Blue Pecker, Pink Pecker, Yellow Fello with Cherries, Pecker with Cherries, Red Head....on and on with Tourettes-like insistence. The repetitious, rhyme-y babble of it does remind me of personal mental states I'll only confess to anonymously. Anyone have insight into this?
ReplyDeletei like how she lets the colors fight it out like in The Conversation
ReplyDeleteRhyme-y babble of sexual acts?
ReplyDeleteIssues with John "Ham Hand" Newsome? And whats with birds in general? I'm going to say its a grassy knoll kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of the edge, and I must say I just saw the Munch show up at the MOMA - two different bodies of work. And I love Betty Crocker, too.
ReplyDeleteck,"tell us more, tell us more" as they sing in grease about the rhyme-y babble mental states. sounds fun
ReplyDeletezip, the bird is the word! and the word was made flesh
ReplyDeleteThe bird was made sexed, think pink pecker.
ReplyDeleteRe: Edgy
ReplyDeleteSee the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out
I mean there is a lot of tension between her colors not always but in a lot of her painting she is not trying to harmonize the color
ReplyDeletei've noticed that when we reach around 20 comments all turns to poo. she is not boring. you must look closely. it is a spookfest desguised as cute birdies if you clue in. take an ambien and look again.
ReplyDeleteWW is right. Drugs can sometimes help you see what your sober eyes won't let you. Even if you don't like them you can still find the creeps, the wrongness, the cloning. The birds are dead sexers, makes me think of taxidermy, CPR, Hitchcock, finding solace and transportive power in wallpaper, figurines, soup terrines and other types of what-not that you find at your grandmother's house.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I took an ambien like WW said and that's what I'm seeing.
thuth may seem but cannot be beauty brag but tis not she truth and beauty buried be
ReplyDeletei am actually out of ambien if anyone has some. i suppose we should not drug traffic on this blog, but just putting it out there. perhaps we can think of a code word for ambien - "blue/gray spellbinder?"
ReplyDeleteMM, stop blogging. NOW.
A Silent Spring.
ReplyDeleteHelps me sleep.
mountain man and w.w. - I was teetering between 'how creepy good' and 'art-smart for art-smart's sake?'. You are both right, these are soooo wrong. thanks
ReplyDeletepraise the lord and pass the ambien
ReplyDeleteI've never been spellbound -wondering what dreams may coma?
ReplyDeleteI'm still not convinced, though I appreciate all of the comments. I may be reading these wrong, but I get a strong whiff of art theory about paint and the mark being suspect, and content, too: to me the catologuing of the birds feels like a birdwatchers manual or something, which makes me think about the whole "no new content under the sun" thing, or maybe "its impossible to have authentic content." Feels very 80's to me.
ReplyDeletePlus i kinda think they're ugly. Sorry, I feel mean.
sad! everyday there is something new under the sun! a new preception and a new perspective
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crystal-fox.com/index.cfm/Swarovski_Crystal_Unicorn_3480.htm
ReplyDeleteMore human than human
the essay by barbara pollack at the site noted above
ReplyDeleteexplains clearly why she re-did her show
(http://anncraven.com/craven_home.html)
Thanks Snacky, that helps quite a bit. I need to restore my faith in the deadbeats known as artists.
ReplyDeleteHey how many of you commentors are artists and how many are critics? I am curious. How many of you are a tainted combo?
ReplyDeleteTainted combo? Fred, what planet are you from?
ReplyDeletei know... oy, another irritainment like the bad anon. fred lipman is probably from chicago too.
ReplyDeleteWho would like to have Fred banned from the blog? He does not seem to know anything about painting! Or like painting! Or painters! Or people who like painting! Can I have a show of hands? Anyone? Anyone? Fred, do you have anything constructive to say about this painting or painter that would improve the rest of the world?
ReplyDelete“whether some flowers of fancy, some grateful errors, have not been eradicated with the weeds of prejudice.”
ReplyDeleteI am an art agregator.
Hail Dagon!
another quote from fred from a previous day (nozkowski:)
ReplyDelete"Don't take this the wrong way, I am not angry, just jealous. If only I had the nerve I could while away the days in a stupor of neurotic ambition, eating pills and drinking the fascist tonics. Let's face it, art is for miscreants."
WHAT ARE THE FASCIST TONICS? i think you've had too many of them!
Barbara Pollack essay is interesting but problematic given the actual paintings. "Working wet-on-wet, Craven builds gorgeously garish paintings that seem to be entirely spontaneous—without a whiff of mass-production or even tightly controlled photo-realist techniques--making the act of replication all the more remarkable" quotes Pollack, but the paintings do not seem spontaneous but rather formulaic and routinely routine - blurry background floral motif, higher contrast frontal figurebird, again and again and again.
ReplyDeleteI need some focusin, anyone? I think its cool, that repetition thing. I'm scared to do it, because what if I become some Blue Dog with a message of love, and only love, when I feel so much more?
ReplyDeleteI love me some Blue Dog! Got one in the shitter, one in the rumpus room.
ReplyDeleteTheez birds look fukin' wicked too!
Don't know what anyone's talkin' about - with that cloning bullshit?
I just see sweet bird paintings like my granny used to make in vermont.
damn!
granny I miss you.
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ReplyDelete