when i first saw this guys work in the whitney biennial i thought it was refreshing. after reading an interview with him in beautiful decay- this guy is an idiot. he's making voodoo dolls or voodoo doll paintings about collectors that he's mad at because they have resold his work. he also mentioned how he's doing paintings on stretched animal hides.
I find his small works interesting, they show an authentic inquisitiveness to me....I haven't seen this show yet but I did see the huge painting similar to this one at the armory show last year and was very underwhelmed by it. I'll reserve judgement on this till I see it in person.
I like Furnas' older work, in which he combined a comic-book sketching quality with a tongue-in-cheek (but also genuinely beautiful) spattery paint handling. I felt like this show didn't work so well; it seems like his work is in flux. The large poured paintings seem to be in an uncomfortable place, between "transcendence" (boring and pretentious; the "blood" of the pour, the quotation of Louis and Frankenthaler) and cheesiness (the blendy moons). I kind of like the cheese factor better in Furnas' work. He's a good enough painter that he can pull it off, and it becomes apocalyptically funny without taking itself too seriously. There were also some burned and torn smaller paintings which felt too self-consciously "mentally disturbed" for my taste. It'll be interesting to see his next show. . .
"I always thought his work was hokey and too stylized to be thought of a serious."
I agree witht hat - Barnaby is taking the piss as they say across the pond. A bloody piss.
I saw the blood flood at the armory and it looked the same (wendy white would look better, as would anyone in the new space but there are better chapels).
People would stand in front of the stain and try to grock it like you would a rothko or something.
But its not in a real chapel is it? No. And people dont cry, they grab a beer. No ripples in my oily mind.
WHeres the mphf? This shit reads as diletante 101.
WIthout the context of some story most abstract art falls flat. This stuff is propped up by the bible.
Funny that a reference to the Shining can do more for me than Jesus.
"Surrealism is above all a state of mind, it does not advocate formulas. The most important point is to put oneself in the right frame of mind. No Surrealist is in the world, or thinks of himself in the present, or believes in the effectiveness of the mind as spur, the mind as guillotine, the mind as judge, the mind as doctor, and he resolutely hopes to be apart from the mind. The Surrealist has judged the mind. He has no feelings which are a part of himself, he does not recognize any thought as his own. His thought does not fashion for him a world to which he reasonably assents. He despairs of attaining his own mind.
-Artaud
I keep my bible in a pool of blood so none of its lies can affect me.
"I always thought his work was hokey and too stylized to be thought of a serious."
I agree witht hat - Barnaby is taking the piss as they say across the pond. A bloody piss.
I saw the blood flood at the armory and it looked the same (wendy white would look better, as would anyone in the new space but there are better chapels).
People would stand in front of the stain and try to grock it like you would a rothko or something.
But its not in a real chapel is it? No. And people dont cry, they grab a beer. No ripples in my oily mind.
WHeres the mphf? This shit reads as diletante 101.
WIthout the context of some story most abstract art falls flat. This stuff is propped up by the bible.
Funny that a reference to the Shining can do more for me than Jesus.
"Surrealism is above all a state of mind, it does not advocate formulas. The most important point is to put oneself in the right frame of mind. No Surrealist is in the world, or thinks of himself in the present, or believes in the effectiveness of the mind as spur, the mind as guillotine, the mind as judge, the mind as doctor, and he resolutely hopes to be apart from the mind. The Surrealist has judged the mind. He has no feelings which are a part of himself, he does not recognize any thought as his own. His thought does not fashion for him a world to which he reasonably assents. He despairs of attaining his own mind.
-Artaud
I keep my bible in a pool of blood so none of its lies can affect me.
"After a few more slatherings of paint, Furnas was ready to knock off. His wife and Boesky’s husband, Liam Culman, were expected any minute. “My husband is a total philistine,” said Boesky, whose father is Ivan Boesky. “Liam is a Wall Street trader, but he loves Barnaby, and Barnaby loves the bourgeois life my husband loves. They play squash together at the Racquet Club.” When the spouses arrived, everyone went off to Peter Luger for a celebratory dinner of rare steak and red wine.
“I’m going this way,” Furnas said, examining the layers of red paint on his hands. “I’m not going to wash it off.”
— Calvin Tomkins
Calvin's the one that said abstract painting falls flat without the narrative -as KJ says, the Bar is pretty high.
to quote CT directly:
pg 195:
" The second generation of Abstract Expressionists could not sustain this sort of claim, or the passion behind it. They simply took over the style, which became, in their highly competent hands, a worldwide cliche. WGat I am suggesting is that non-objective painting, in whatever form it happens to take, seems to require a superstructure [thata a marxist term -z] relegated to art for arts sake, abstration succumbs its inherent weakness and becomes mere decoration. Picasso foresaw that. "Abstract art is only painting," he said. "What about the drama?"
Everything is in abstract art--body, figure, drama, relation, nature, mind, landscape, blood--just no image to make it obvious. And abstraction is in every image, natural or made.
Yah figuration abstraction is a continuum not a discrete math - but the point being you can take the content out of person, but you cant take the content out of the art.
Yah figuration abstraction is a continuum not a discrete math - but the point being you can take the content out of person, but you cant take the content out of the art.
Thats cool - ive been playing with a recordable version of that - invented by some dude in canada. You draw lines and it stamps the image on your dealio - ylike an animated stain painting. TWEAKY though jesus. Id rathe rpaint.
nothing to do with anything other than maybe Baudrillardian indifference. (Mel Gibsons next movie?)
"On March 20, 1942, Starostin was arrested, along with his three brothers and other fellow players, facing accusations of involvement in a plot to kill Joseph Stalin. Following two years of interrogation in the Lubyanka, the charges were dropped (it was considered unwise to involve the country's most popular footballer in such an affair) but the Starostins were tried and sentenced to ten years in Siberia anyway, having been found guilty of "lauding bourgeois sport and attempting to drag bourgeois motives into Soviet sport".[11]
I think he is an artist who likes to play around and these are an experimental diversion for him. They aren't bloody like Klaus Theweleit's mud and blood. I think they are meant to be voluptuous and beautiful. Close but not quite there for me. Painter likes themes. I think the recent theme is artists who need to be seen in person.
I paint like this I don't paint like that, Cause this means this, and that means that. Wickedy, Wickedy Wickedy, Wickedy Wickedy, Wickedy Whack! History is precious don't drop the baby as it suckles your teat.
the opening of this was really fun i loved the little grilled cheezes that are so popular with the rich - and steve martin was there ;)
this is one of the 'pour paintings' a girl from (i think it was art and auction) kept going off to this dude about "do you know how long these took to make" the dude said it didn't matter and refused to harbor a guess.
check: Alfred Jensen: The Number Paintings at pace. its hot.
Okay, okay, here it is with admittedly dumb comment expunged (sorry, I was in a bad mood):
I saw this show today and I completely agree with JD's comments.
The small portraits read as vindictive voodoo dolls, but I'm not buying the "crazy." The other small paintings were mostly of Jesus.
The ginormous "Parting of the Red Sea" paintings in the back are undeniably beautiful, but a bit portentous... that plus the garganuan scale smack a little of Kiefer. Also made me wonder how these will look in 20 years.
I liked his older work betta. More open-ended, more room for the viewer.
vat is this veil? I couldn't care less what you personally think of me.
Living a hyper-religious country like the USA, a girl gets Jesus fatigue, but later it did re-read as a dumb comment & not about the art. Which is what we are here to talk about.
Jesus is a concept designed to keep people enslaved, always sacrificing, never allowing them to reach their human potential. All that needs to be done is to tax religions as businesses. That would get rid of most of them.
It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission
...After a few more slatherings of paint, Furnas was ready to knock off. His wife and Boesky’s husband, Liam Culman, were expected any minute. “My husband is a total philistine,” said Boesky, whose father is Ivan Boesky. “Liam is a Wall Street trader, but he loves Barnaby, and Barnaby loves the bourgeois life my husband loves. They play squash together at the Racquet Club.” When the spouses arrived, everyone went off to Peter Luger for a celebratory dinner of rare steak and red wine.
“I’m going this way,” Furnas said, examining the layers of red paint on his hands. “I’m not going to wash it off.”...
--calvin
I know z posted the same, to my surprise. I actually copied those two paragrahs to the clipboard w/o knowing it ... wow. and so i guess it's worth the iteration. It's worth the read...(NewYorker) about the moment of the above's creation.
oooo' you know I like the image, truly do: but the blue, at the top, and the white, the 'bit' middle top, the mothball thing, is a worry. While I'm happy with the adage 'two wrongs don't, or do, make a right', I want it worked out so the adage holds true for, us, until, tomorrow night. I've debated briefly--on the courts, especially on the center and the top:
The article was entertaining, sort of 'back to the fifties' feel. In history, in class, I remember, a dude was downsized for much better and much less. Barnaby, structurally sharp and physically unkind is the next thrust, and vestibule!
i think you need permission, flash or no flash. a friend of mine was told they must ask permission of me once when it was not for publication, was just for them personally, and without flash.. can call a gallery
Gee I don't know. I usually interupt some of the hate fests. If other people want to make things personal I can make things personal. But I won't make the first move.
alright, if kelli is really kelli williams, and should we assume mothra is really ann craven(?), and phantom is really professor mouth, and painterdog is really screech.. and zipthwung is really kramer...
Jpeg you are charming but sometimes your late night posts make me worry about you. Martha Stewart is making new work using dried nuts, flocking and a hot glue gun. Anderson Cooper posts here in an effort to pick up young art students but I am not sure of his tag. I have my suspicions though.
ahh thanks kelli. I find you charming as well. And i mean it. but I worry about you and those who opt-out of the choice to use the shield of anonymity to their advantage.
I remember you on this blog from when painter first posted you. You are brilliant, and you are a talent. You had the courage to post as your own name, and it was cool. but you're now, a somewhat public figure. ..With much to defend. And you're an easy target. And this medium is publishing, and archivable, regardless of the perception of ephemerality. Please consider using a pen name. It's a matter of professionality, designed for your own protection. Sorry to get 'corporate' on you... take this advice a honest, and do with it as you please. Though i do look forward to reading your posts every day on this blog, it worries me.
souless garbage I wrote in the signiture book....Makes me sick to think what wasting yur time sustaining yur life on the reched bubble caught between rich peoples asses--really gets you the ability to do what you want. Luckily in barnaby's case when he gets the chance hez such a numb nut-he throws up sensationalist garbage, a cheap gaudy facade over an immense need for attention -a monument of mindless -directionless ambition. Doesn't anyone notice how this shit is illustration of a shithead teenager sustaining himself on video games. Its really pitiful--reminds me of rossin crow's work-collector friendly-constructed to be bought by rich people from the start---and--in both case their attempt to throw around paint is a joke--maybet a pedestrian could not pick up,,but a true painter sure fucking could----I just dont believe ethiers drips or spills--they are an attempt to hide their illustrating ways.
Barnaby Furnas @
ReplyDeleteMarianne Boesky Gallery
509 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011
when i first saw this guys work in the whitney biennial i thought it was refreshing. after reading an interview with him in beautiful decay- this guy is an idiot. he's making voodoo dolls or voodoo doll paintings about collectors that he's mad at because they have resold his work. he also mentioned how he's doing paintings on stretched animal hides.
ReplyDeleteI find his small works interesting, they show an authentic inquisitiveness to me....I haven't seen this show yet but I did see the huge painting similar to this one at the armory show last year and was very underwhelmed by it. I'll reserve judgement on this till I see it in person.
ReplyDeleteGreat, great, great show. The new space is really nice and these paintings at the back of the gallery are a dramatic ending to viewing the show.
ReplyDeleteI like Furnas' older work, in which he combined a comic-book sketching quality with a tongue-in-cheek (but also genuinely beautiful) spattery paint handling. I felt like this show didn't work so well; it seems like his work is in flux. The large poured paintings seem to be in an uncomfortable place, between "transcendence" (boring and pretentious; the "blood" of the pour, the quotation of Louis and Frankenthaler) and cheesiness (the blendy moons). I kind of like the cheese factor better in Furnas' work. He's a good enough painter that he can pull it off, and it becomes apocalyptically funny without taking itself too seriously. There were also some burned and torn smaller paintings which felt too self-consciously "mentally disturbed" for my taste. It'll be interesting to see his next show. . .
ReplyDeleteinteresting, what a change. here's a link to some work from 03 I think.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/barnaby_furnas.htm
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/barnaby_furnas.htm
ReplyDeleteThese are very powerful paintings but also real creepy, flowing torents of blood. Those are my issues. I'm dealing with it.
ReplyDelete"I always thought his work was hokey and too stylized to be thought of a serious."
ReplyDeleteI agree witht hat - Barnaby is taking the piss as they say across the pond. A bloody piss.
I saw the blood flood at the armory and it looked the same (wendy white would look better, as would anyone in the new space but there are better chapels).
People would stand in front of the stain and try to grock it like you would a rothko or something.
But its not in a real chapel is it? No. And people dont cry, they grab a beer. No ripples in my oily mind.
WHeres the mphf? This shit reads as diletante 101.
WIthout the context of some story most abstract art falls flat. This stuff is propped up by the bible.
Funny that a reference to the Shining can do more for me than Jesus.
"Surrealism is above all a state of mind, it does not advocate formulas. The most important point is to put oneself in the right frame of mind. No Surrealist is in the world, or thinks of himself in the present, or believes in the effectiveness of the mind as spur, the mind as guillotine, the mind as judge, the mind as doctor, and he resolutely hopes to be apart from the mind. The Surrealist has judged the mind. He has no feelings which are a part of himself, he does not recognize any thought as his own. His thought does not fashion for him a world to which he reasonably assents. He despairs of attaining his own mind.
-Artaud
I keep my bible in a pool of blood so none of its lies can affect me.
"I always thought his work was hokey and too stylized to be thought of a serious."
ReplyDeleteI agree witht hat - Barnaby is taking the piss as they say across the pond. A bloody piss.
I saw the blood flood at the armory and it looked the same (wendy white would look better, as would anyone in the new space but there are better chapels).
People would stand in front of the stain and try to grock it like you would a rothko or something.
But its not in a real chapel is it? No. And people dont cry, they grab a beer. No ripples in my oily mind.
WHeres the mphf? This shit reads as diletante 101.
WIthout the context of some story most abstract art falls flat. This stuff is propped up by the bible.
Funny that a reference to the Shining can do more for me than Jesus.
"Surrealism is above all a state of mind, it does not advocate formulas. The most important point is to put oneself in the right frame of mind. No Surrealist is in the world, or thinks of himself in the present, or believes in the effectiveness of the mind as spur, the mind as guillotine, the mind as judge, the mind as doctor, and he resolutely hopes to be apart from the mind. The Surrealist has judged the mind. He has no feelings which are a part of himself, he does not recognize any thought as his own. His thought does not fashion for him a world to which he reasonably assents. He despairs of attaining his own mind.
-Artaud
I keep my bible in a pool of blood so none of its lies can affect me.
"After a few more slatherings of paint, Furnas was ready to knock off. His wife and Boesky’s husband, Liam Culman, were expected any minute. “My husband is a total philistine,” said Boesky, whose father is Ivan Boesky. “Liam is a Wall Street trader, but he loves Barnaby, and Barnaby loves the bourgeois life my husband loves. They play squash together at the Racquet Club.” When the spouses arrived, everyone went off to Peter Luger for a celebratory dinner of rare steak and red wine.
ReplyDelete“I’m going this way,” Furnas said, examining the layers of red paint on his hands. “I’m not going to wash it off.”
— Calvin Tomkins
Calvin's the one that said abstract painting falls flat without the narrative -as KJ says, the Bar is pretty high.
to quote CT directly:
pg 195:
" The second generation of Abstract Expressionists could not sustain this sort of claim, or the passion behind it. They simply took over the style, which became, in their highly competent hands, a worldwide cliche. WGat I am suggesting is that non-objective painting, in whatever form it happens to take, seems to require a superstructure [thata a marxist term -z] relegated to art for arts sake, abstration succumbs its inherent weakness and becomes mere decoration. Picasso foresaw that. "Abstract art is only painting," he said. "What about the drama?"
someone dial 911
should herman nitche move over? I dont think so.
ReplyDeleteEverything is in abstract art--body, figure, drama, relation, nature, mind, landscape, blood--just no image to make it obvious.
And abstraction is in every image, natural or made.
Otto Muehl. jan svankmajer
ReplyDeleteYah figuration abstraction is a continuum not a discrete math - but the point being you can take the content out of person, but you cant take the content out of the art.
Thanks painter.
Otto Muehl. jan svankmajer
ReplyDeleteYah figuration abstraction is a continuum not a discrete math - but the point being you can take the content out of person, but you cant take the content out of the art.
Thanks painter.
double post hell. WTF.
ReplyDeleteDont buy it-- but thats OK. Hey even the ancient Mayans played squash...
ReplyDeleteuser generated content
ReplyDeleteThats cool - ive been playing with a recordable version of that - invented by some dude in canada. You draw lines and it stamps the image on your dealio - ylike an animated stain painting. TWEAKY though jesus. Id rathe rpaint.
ReplyDeleteThe communists had ballgames too.
nothing to do with anything other than maybe Baudrillardian indifference. (Mel Gibsons next movie?)
ReplyDelete"On March 20, 1942, Starostin was arrested, along with his three brothers and other fellow players, facing accusations of involvement in a plot to kill Joseph Stalin. Following two years of interrogation in the Lubyanka, the charges were dropped (it was considered unwise to involve the country's most popular footballer in such an affair) but the Starostins were tried and sentenced to ten years in Siberia anyway, having been found guilty of "lauding bourgeois sport and attempting to drag bourgeois motives into Soviet sport".[11]
here
I think he is an artist who likes to play around and these are an experimental diversion for him. They aren't bloody like Klaus Theweleit's mud and blood. I think they are meant to be voluptuous and beautiful. Close but not quite there for me. Painter likes themes. I think the recent theme is artists who need to be seen in person.
ReplyDeleteI paint like this
ReplyDeleteI don't paint like that,
Cause this means this,
and that means that.
Wickedy, Wickedy
Wickedy, Wickedy
Wickedy, Wickedy
Whack!
History is precious
don't drop the baby
as it suckles your
teat.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletethe opening of this was really fun i loved the little grilled cheezes that are so popular with the rich - and steve martin was there ;)
ReplyDeletethis is one of the 'pour paintings' a girl from (i think it was art and auction) kept going off to this dude about "do you know how long these took to make"
the dude said it didn't matter and refused to harbor a guess.
check: Alfred Jensen: The Number Paintings at pace. its hot.
stop saying things like your not smart
ReplyDeleteyou know who....
Don't let the haters get you down. I know these people. You aren't missing anything.
ReplyDeleteOkay, okay, here it is with admittedly dumb comment expunged (sorry, I was in a bad mood):
ReplyDeleteI saw this show today and I completely agree with JD's comments.
The small portraits read as vindictive voodoo dolls, but I'm not buying the "crazy." The other small paintings were mostly of Jesus.
The ginormous "Parting of the Red Sea" paintings in the back are undeniably beautiful, but a bit portentous... that plus the garganuan scale smack a little of Kiefer. Also made me wonder how these will look in 20 years.
I liked his older work betta. More open-ended, more room for the viewer.
Wow people are so polite when the veil of anonymity is lifted.
ReplyDeletevat is this veil? I couldn't care less what you personally think of me.
ReplyDeleteLiving a hyper-religious country like the USA, a girl gets Jesus fatigue, but later it did re-read as a dumb comment & not about the art. Which is what we are here to talk about.
Jesus is a concept designed to keep people enslaved, always sacrificing, never allowing them to reach their human potential. All that needs to be done is to tax religions as businesses. That would get rid of most of them.
ReplyDeleteIt's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission
...After a few more slatherings of paint, Furnas
ReplyDeletewas ready to knock off. His wife and Boesky’s
husband, Liam Culman, were expected any minute.
“My husband is a total philistine,” said Boesky,
whose father is Ivan Boesky. “Liam is a Wall
Street trader, but he loves Barnaby, and Barnaby
loves the bourgeois life my husband loves. They
play squash together at the Racquet Club.” When
the spouses arrived, everyone went off to Peter
Luger for a celebratory dinner of rare steak and
red wine.
“I’m going this way,” Furnas said, examining the
layers of red paint on his hands. “I’m not going
to wash it off.”...
--calvin
I know z posted the same, to my surprise.
I actually copied those two paragrahs to the
clipboard w/o knowing it ... wow.
and so i guess it's worth the iteration.
It's worth the read...(NewYorker) about the
moment of the above's creation.
but seriously, I read the article months
ReplyDeleteago and was bothered about it. 'the pour'.
doing this cuz he was having trouble
drawing, etc. i dunno man...
idiotic statements like:
"I think these big blood floods are absolutely timely,”
etc.
oooo' you know I like the image, truly do: but the blue, at the top, and the white, the 'bit' middle top, the mothball thing, is a worry.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm happy with the adage 'two wrongs don't, or do, make a right', I want it worked out so the adage holds true for, us, until, tomorrow night.
I've debated briefly--on the courts, especially on the center and the top:
The article was entertaining, sort of 'back to the fifties' feel. In history, in class, I remember, a dude was downsized for much better and much less.
Barnaby, structurally sharp and physically unkind is the next thrust, and vestibule!
I love red, swish, though, let it be known!
clement,
ReplyDeletei think the rule of thumb is no flash with out asking - that is the only thing that could harm the work.
feh etiquette, each gallery/ist museum had a diff. reaction types.
i guess it depends on if you care what people think. most seem to find it flattering and if you ask you risk the answer of a "no"
i think you need permission, flash or no flash.
ReplyDeletea friend of mine was told they must ask permission of me once when it was not for publication, was just for them personally, and without flash..
can call a gallery
Gee I don't know. I usually interupt some of the hate fests. If other people want to make things personal I can make things personal. But I won't make the first move.
ReplyDeletephantomwantums needs a bath. A blood bath.
ReplyDeleteGive it up, Im a bigger hater than kelley.
I don't like NYC anymore.
ReplyDeletealright,
ReplyDeleteif kelli is really kelli williams, and should
we assume mothra is really ann craven(?),
and phantom is really professor mouth,
and painterdog is really screech.. and
zipthwung is really kramer...
how does martha stewart fit in?
Jpeg you are charming but sometimes your late night posts make me worry about you. Martha Stewart is making new work using dried nuts, flocking and a hot glue gun. Anderson Cooper posts here in an effort to pick up young art students but I am not sure of his tag. I have my suspicions though.
ReplyDeleteahh thanks kelli.
ReplyDeleteI find you charming as well.
And i mean it. but I worry
about you and those who
opt-out of the choice to use
the shield of anonymity to
their advantage.
I remember you on this blog
from when painter first posted you.
You are brilliant, and you are a talent.
You had the courage to post as your
own name, and it was cool.
but you're now, a somewhat public figure.
..With much to defend. And you're an
easy target. And this medium is publishing,
and archivable, regardless of the perception
of ephemerality.
Please consider using a pen name.
It's a matter of professionality, designed
for your own protection. Sorry to get
'corporate' on you... take this advice
a honest, and do with it as you please.
Though i do look forward to reading
your posts every day on this blog,
it worries me.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete"I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself"
ReplyDelete-Ivan Boesky
Hey he tried to make something big and epic and beautiful
ReplyDeleteWho ivan or barnaby?
ReplyDeleteFurnas. Points for ambition and romanticism.
ReplyDeletetopical sarcasm
ReplyDeleteI found the New Yorker article quite disturbing. I think it was the mention of squash playing.
ReplyDeletesouless garbage I wrote in the signiture book....Makes me sick to think what wasting yur time sustaining yur life on the reched bubble caught between rich peoples asses--really gets you the ability to do what you want. Luckily in barnaby's case when he gets the chance hez such a numb nut-he throws up sensationalist garbage, a cheap gaudy facade over an immense need for attention -a monument of mindless -directionless ambition. Doesn't anyone notice how this shit is illustration of a shithead teenager sustaining himself on video games. Its really pitiful--reminds me of rossin crow's work-collector friendly-constructed to be bought by rich people from the start---and--in both case their attempt to throw around paint is a joke--maybet a pedestrian could not pick up,,but a true painter sure fucking could----I just dont believe ethiers drips or spills--they are an attempt to hide their illustrating ways.
ReplyDelete