3/20/2006

Steve Mumford

82 comments:

zipthwung said...

The one failing for which Kamenetz and Draut take their peers to task is a lack of political awareness. Today's young people don't follow the news or vote in large numbers, much less organize to lobby for their interests -- unlike powerful boomer-centric groups such as the AARP.

If they did, they might achieve another of the authors' cherished goals: grafting European social policy onto our free-market economy. A national health care system, tuition assistance and generous family leave and child-care subsidies could be paid for by -- wait for it -- taxing corporations and rolling back individual tax cuts. Penalizing big business to pay for social programs doesn't sound like a top agenda item for a Republican-controlled government, but you never know -- first ethanol, then nine months of paid maternity leave.

zipthwung said...

Hemingway with a brush

Anonymous said...

These would have been more powerful had they been reproduced on the front page of the times one at a time instead of being hung in ps1. He's talented, but stuck somewhere between illustrator and painter. I think he interestingly mined this area in his 2000 show at postmasters with the animal paintings. Now it's kind of just posing as a war correspondant fromm the early 1800's. It's cool, but doesn't really push anything, artwise.

Anonymous said...

"I think we have had a low-grade civil war going on in Iraq, certainly the last six months, maybe the last year. Our own generals have told me that privately," he told ABC's "This Week." Hagel did not name the generals.

He said the administration should not "walk away from that or ... try to hue this up with some rosy veneer."

Anonymous said...

omg. i am going to mention things outside the painting. kill me.
like you really should read his artnet diary, they are illustrations in a sense, and seem as formalised and forced as inkas. as the years roll on these are turning my stomach.

zipthwung said...

SCHOOL BEATING CAUGHT ON TAPE
Sunday, March 19, 2006

A student at a Richmond, Virginia high school faces assault charges for beating a girl repeatedly in the school hallway. Amazingly the fight was caught on a camera phone and posted on www.myspace.com, but just as shocking as the violent act itself, is the callous response from some fellow students. The dramatic pictures, stirring up many emotions, is disturbing to many parents but is amusing to others. One blogger wrote "I love this. I don`t know what she did to get it, but she deserves it." Another said "That was a good fight."

Some of the postings criticize the girl for not using her fists. One even reads "We don`t see no blood".

It is a very big deal to school officials. School spokesperson Mychael Dickerson says the student who started the fight last Tuesday was suspended, but she was not the only one that received the same fate. He says the student behind the camera phone was also in the wrong. The girl seen throwing punches says the video does not show both sides. According to an emailed statement, she says the other girl hit first, claiming she did not know the video was posted on the web. She says she does not appreciate the video being shown over and over on television.

http://www.kfdx.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=11322

Anonymous said...

this painting has a boring composition and he doesn't move the medium with confidence and hip flair. the paint isn't thick enough, and he was clearly influenced by the relatively unknown Dingo Kastenbaum.

Anonymous said...

yeah, there's no hip flair to this. all paintings should have at least 15 pieces of flair.

Anonymous said...

I agree that there is a problematic non-political stance in this work, like it's too neutral for comfort, but it is a reflection of his experience and if he is conflicted, having seen the events first hand, then at least it is an honest accounting.

Hip flair - maybe more like 17 pieces?

Anonymous said...

i think his perspective is at the level of the foot soldier - reflecting the war on the ground, not the rarified political world where our leaders are completely out of touch with reality - i don't know that a picture which depicts children playing next to heavily armed soldiers can be seen as neutral or apolitical. isn't everything about war political?

he's working in a strong tradition of war reporting, although choosing to work with pen and paper seems anachronistic, i find it brings an interesting dimension to the scenes - it personalizes the events in a way that is unique from photography. there's a different kind of interaction between artist and subject that comes from being on location with a sketch pad vs clicking a shutter for 1/250th of a second.

from the NYTimes

Mr. Cheney was challenged on "Face the Nation" about his statement three years ago that "we will be greeted as liberators" and his assertion 10 months ago that the insurgency was in its "last throes."

He insisted that in both cases his facts were right, but that the news media had created a different perception with vivid imagery of killing.

Anonymous said...

very conservative,court-reporter style-some skill involved,but so much of the work is blah-is that to show how much of war is just waiting around?this stuff can't really be judged on the art level

Anonymous said...

i'll agree with you on one point, it can't be judged on the art level - it's much too relevant to our times. it's probably closer to journalism than to art which is a rather sad indictment of the art world.

Anonymous said...

Think Homer. what is the "art level?"

Anonymous said...

something that transcends complete literal-ness.

Anonymous said...

Art can't be relevant to our times?

what is the 'role' of painting 'as journalism'? is it valid given how easy it is to manipulate digital photography?

If this is journalism and not Art is it interesting to know that some serious Artworld fights have broken out over articles written about this Artist?

Anonymous said...

Uh oh, my heart just stopped. Ah...there it goes

zipthwung said...

Steven Vincent....

"At 18, in a dream, he saw himself ... wandering through the romantic waste places of the world. No man with any of the juices of boyhood in him has forgotten those dreams." Into the Wild shows that McCandless, while extreme, was hardly unique; the author makes the hermit into one of us, something McCandless himself could never pull off. By book's end, McCandless isn't merely a newspaper clipping, but a sympathetic, oddly magnetic personality. Whether he was "a courageous idealist, or a reckless idiot," you won't soon forget Christopher McCandless.

Anonymous said...

these aren't all as straightforward as people assume. he sometimes photoshops compositions together from photographs.

the style and subject matter both guarantee knee-jerk reactions.

Anonymous said...

i can controll it.

Anonymous said...

omg. barney my heart just stopped! i just got an invite to your MoMA premire! can't wait.

Anonymous said...

omg they said to 'get all decked out' release at MoMA after party at Japan society!!!

yawn Steve Mumford put up a barney...

Anonymous said...

this guy is married to inka essenhigh(sic?)right? thats a little out the bue and and what not.......anyway I'm not gonna hate on these cause he did risk his life but they aren't much more than journalism in watercolor. PS he had a bitter exchange with Jerry in V V about this subject, the argument was kinda harsh on both sides ....though honest

zipthwung said...

I like the sketchier stuff better - watercolors look nice loosey goosey. He could do the hot new thing where you use the smudge tool in photoshop...I love the smudge tool. I also like to turn on "wet edges" witht he paintbrush when Im waiting around for something to do in the trenches.

Anonymous said...

I really respect and commend the project as a whole but like many others I prefered his early less illustrative images.

Anonymous said...

i heard it caused some real rifts between journalists in chelsea..

zipthwung said...

I got a real brain lesion trying to think how this is capital A art.

Anonymous said...

or culture with a big C?

Anonymous said...

i swear to my lord, kirk cameron, that if i see the word conservative used to describe another painting that doesn't depict a politically active republican, i am going to feed myself to a lion. now that would be progressive, depending on the style chosen, of course. blood would no doubt drip everywhere.

Anonymous said...

i just dropped a turd, with a "capital T"

Anonymous said...

'someone told me it's all happenin' at the Zoo...'

Anonymous said...

This blog was once a place to discuss the images and artists in a constructive way. I miss that.

zipthwung said...

익명 코멘트 내용...
holy fuck. did someone say art with a "capital A"? that's it, i'm headed to the zoo. nice knowing all of you dumbasses.

11:15 AM

The Zoo? I think we can discuss art in a constructive way. For example, I like my watercolor paper to have some tooth, but not so much that it intereferes with my line. I really like my line.

maybe Mumford should paint on papyrus. I liek the obdurate strength of the traditional paper.

Anonymous said...

The gist of Dadaism was the "gratuitous act," and the most gratuitous Dadaist act of all was Marcel Duchamp’s invention of the readymade. One can regard them as experiments in art, or mock works of art, or critiques of handmade works of art, or demonstrations of Dadaist disgust with the very idea of art -- a nihilistic debunking or demystification of art -- but the important thing is that they led to a whole new idea of art: Objects took second place to ideas, to the extent that they became illustrations of them.

Anonymous said...

how does DaDA relate to this thread?

Anonymous said...

Why is Mumford shown as fine art? His amazing hand eye coordination?

Anonymous said...

Warhol's Mao was considered political and post modern in 1973

Anonymous said...

do you honestly think SM is anything more then an opportunist?

Anonymous said...

this is a stretch, but these could be seen as interesting in relation to previous art that memorializes our country - mostly sculpture or architecture in the neo-classical style. So outmoded, conservative (sorry to the guy who wants to kill himself) art is usually the choice of state-sponsored memorials to our country (all countries really.) The only problem is, Mumford is not state sponsored. So it's kind of like he's setting up this arrangement on his own. It could've been a more interesting project if it was he had a government grant to make the work... just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Cultural Safari... just a thought.

Anonymous said...

that too. but aren't the soldiers just as observed as the 'third world other'?

Anonymous said...

isn't everyone out side of the 'inner cirque' considered 'the other'... just a thought.

Anonymous said...

well that would include Mumford then, right?

Anonymous said...

i think we are seeing in different circles, sorry. i don't want to de-rail this any further i have a bad habit of that.

Anonymous said...

no, no... you are making good points (I think.) and you're not derailing. discussing dana schutz or jerry saltz is derailing, not bush cronyism...

Anonymous said...

i find politics a very difficult area - i am a guest in this country. however i respect anyone for being outspoken with in these areas in such difficult times. it is what i do not respect about this work. i think it appeals to the 'Safari' in the Artist and his enthusiasts.

Anonymous said...

he must have a tough marriage to want to risk his life in Iraq voluntarily. If you criticize the work does that mean you criticize criticism of the war? Nice strategy if that is the case.

Anonymous said...

isn't the very first bump in the road about these images that they are really boring, ugly and awkward? don't we have to get past that before we get to all this political/social stuff?

Anonymous said...

don't necessarily agree with ugly and awkward... but boring? Possibly...

Anonymous said...

"you criticize criticism of the war" that is how it seems to be working out - which is y i pointed out the diary... this seems to be a very very touchy area.

interms of the execution they seem to step the "fuzzy porn" plug and play ultimately empty ... ok i am going to get my self in trouble here... ttys.

Anonymous said...

this pictures are completely ham-fisted--as if the artist had heard about several idifferent apporaches to realism but couldn't decide which one to go for--maybe i'll try to get the light.....naw, too hard, maybe i'll go for the gestures....no, too hard, maybe i'll try to go for detail...nope, too hard, maybe a saturday-evening post-style clarity....nope, maybe a little sketchy-drawing-as-expressionism...no, can't do that either.

it's neither here nor there, which matters much more than the fact that he's over there.

Anonymous said...

back to JudithLinhares/ Dana Shutz.
Besides JL's show there is Tom Nowskowski. another artist over 50 who kicks ass.I don't think he gets enough attention either...and Steve Westfall. All these guys are at the top of their game. They are up now and they have strong shows. I wonder if roberta and jerry will notice this?
Did anyone else think Peter Doig looked terrible in the 2006 biannual???

Anonymous said...

Those kids are probably keeping that tank safe.

Anonymous said...

There not really a strong POV... he's like thomas hart benton, going to war with a sketchbook, unlike goya.

Anonymous said...

more like George Catlin.

He was an artist, writer, historian, and reporter; an explorer, trailblazer, anthropologist, and geologist; a crusader, businessman, opportunist--and a Romantic.

Anonymous said...

....and he wasn't that good.

Anonymous said...

I like Catlin alot. But similarly the images are very dry.

Anonymous said...

I also like Catlin a lot, but I think of Catlin painting's as wet, not dry. Mumford's do feel dry.

Right now I am thinking of Catlin in relation to Joy Garnett.

Anonymous said...

I love Caitlins weird landscapes,thanks for reminding me of him-

Anonymous said...

can someone post a link to Catlin's work?

Anonymous said...

Right on martin, George Catlin is right. I could not make the connection until you said it.

Anonymous said...

Pink and green. He was a great painter.

Anonymous said...

For catlin try //monet.unk.edu/mona/antexplr/catlin/catlin.hthl

zipthwung said...

What about Currier and Ives? Or is it more a stylistic thing? I dont't know.
jpg?

Anonymous said...

zip What are you talking about? Can you actually paint?

zipthwung said...

No i cant paint. I can squeeze pigment from a tube and mix it to make a color and then apply it to a canvas using a brush. I can controll where the paint goes, and I can mix wet paint into wet paint without it becoming mixed together into "mud". Beyond that its anybody's guess as to what I can do.

Do you remember a picture of an indian running but pitched so far forwards so that in reality the figure would just fall over?

Its a famous picture, I know that.

It is about the ide a of the noble savage, and the idea that if you are dumb then somehow you are more trustworthy and your work is better.

Currier and Ives are important because they helped create an image of the west that allowed settlers to kill native americans without feeling guilty.

In the same way the Hudson river painters created a sublime vision of free real estate.

Is that what I am talking about?

D adadadadadadadadadadadadad
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Max said...

Not a big fan of this one. The Norman Rockwell references (see the hips-forward pose of the soldier on the lower left) are interesting in the way of historical relativism, but aside from that... well, I don't see anything terribly transcendant about the execution, composition or subject matter. This is a '50s illustration of a current theme, which bears a certain amount of inherent symbolism, but beyond that, not much there.

zipthwung said...

I liked Blackhawk down. I heard soldiers say that they thought it was a realistic depiction of the war. I didn't like the talky parts. I thought it would be a better movie if you just cut out all the talking.

In the same way i thought King Kong was a good movie if you just watched all the monster fights. The director made a great movie called Meet the Feebles, which is probably one of the greatest puppet movies of all time, barring GW Bush in Washington. It aint easy being green.

Some people think this is journalism while other people think this is a dramatic depiction of the occupation of Iraq through the lense, I mean MINDS EYE of an artist.

In conclusion I like V is for Vendetta because what if the govrnement is in a vast conspiracy to controll the people and not just an emplloyee of the people like our founding fathers wrote in the constituion like that card they send around the office when they want you to get well and everybody signs and there is allways someone who signs very big and often no one wanted that person to sign anyways.

Anonymous said...

<<< o what a brave new world >>>

tools in bushie soma engine they drain my energy

Anonymous said...

<<< o what a brave new world >>>

tools in bushie soma engine they drain my energy

zipthwung said...

Special Forces Totally Rock!

I remember when they used to do that sort of thing in Nicaragua....those were the days...

Anonymous said...

Well,he does seem to capture the whole idea of the powerful west attempting to subdue a savage east but in the process destroying innocense and becoming necessarily ambivilent to its own actions.

Anonymous said...

any picture of the war could refer to that--that comment has nothing to do with anything he specifically does that another artist couldn't

Anonymous said...

Well, except for the fact that he did and they didn't. Perhaps?

Anonymous said...

I can't think of another Iraq war artist. Anyone/ Anyone?

zipthwung said...

Dude this blog is totally over. I was making War art way before anyone. I used colors to represent things like casualties and the collective feeling of dread the american public felt after 9-11. If anyone is to be congratulated, its me.

Anonymous said...

Exploitation!

zipthwung said...

In summary, theres Marcuse's claim that technological rationality has put us in a moral prison. Our politics and our very thinking are subject to its laws. Our so called intellectual, economic and political freedoms are conditioned by this slavewry. Opposition and freedom alike are part of life within the prison. it is impossible to assault the prison walls from the outside.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I spent my last dollar on that today. Ok, one of my last dollars. But you know, it was worth it.

Anonymous said...

zip, has anyone ever seen your war art? Is it pro or anti?

Anonymous said...

So zip is our only other Iraq war artist?

zipthwung said...

A dog is "species-specific." His doggy life is predictable. Inevitably he'll live it out with his doggy actions in a doggy world. But humans are world-open." There is no given human world, human essence. My world is mine to make, It is not enough to say that man is free.. Sartre goes further. "Man is freedom," he tells us. This sets human existence radically apart from everything else.

I think that means peple have more choice(es) and god is dead and so on. Most people are dead allready. The rest could be gods?

zipthwung said...

Are you my daddy?

ungoogleable said...

Saw this stuff in PS1 in the darkened hallway. I felt like I was back in grammar school and some poor kid had to go to Iraq and do this report. I didn't like the courtroom illustration style. Also everything was so sterile and clean and it was obviouslyy pro "we're doing a good thing over there." Yea, it was like CNN painted by that AHA "Take on Me" director. At least that was homoerotic this show was just, well, opportunistic in it's subject and locked into one corner of a clinical perspective. Taking a position and painting uniquelly is more interesting. Why this was at PS1 I will never know. OOps forgot - Nepitism. That's how I'll get into Caligula's gallery too. Who's your Papichullo emerging artist?