8/01/2007

Shirley Jaffe

38 comments:

Painter said...

Shirley Jaffe @
Lennon, Weinberg inc.
514 West 25th Street
New York, NY
10001


Group show

milf-magic said...

huzzah!

CAP said...

Good to have you back, Painter.

Nomi Lubin said...

OK. Shirley Jaffe is clearly devout.

I'm only kidding. Don't hurt me.

Can't see it well enough; don't know her. But I do like that Daniel Carello.

Unknown said...

Aliens land at Santa Fe arts colony and tell everyone that Shirley Jaffe is a good painter.

The blue light reminds me of this
http://www.thedolphingallery.com/exhibitions/Gainan/gainan02.html

What is beckoning Shirley?

Michael Cross said...

(Welcome back painter)

Her name is familiar, but first without knowing her history I just saw glimpses of several painters who I thought have influenced her. Then I read a little about her, that she is in her 70's, etc.

Now I realize that she is the influencer not the influencee.

This one painting seems to come right out of the southwest US, although she has been an ex-pat living in France for quite a while. I like it in a sort of nostalgic way. Which I don't like doing.

Steppen Wolf said...

Good to have you back..
I plan to go to this show tomorrow... Will be interesting to see what people can do in their 70's.

David D'Andrade said...

It's like Stuart Davis with acid reflux. I kind of like it.

zipthwung said...

The NYT says she is Zany!!!!!

WTF Grace?

Was stuart Davis ever called Zany?

I know its a compliment, but thats the kind of vorpal sword that de-legitimizes the seriousness of this work and its major art historical place amongst the foment of the moment.

All movements are collaborative.

When I see someone raised up on a pedestal, good lookin', oozin' class, I wonder, what fucking god created our top down hierarchical social organization?

It was the devil actually. This here is hell, and we are living in a Gnostic purgatory.

Amen to that mr. narrator.

thank you for listening.

Mr narrator?
Yes?
SOme people find this irritating.

Indeed.

This here is a Frog. You can tell by the palette choice. Franco-Euro-philes and modernists - so dated. So wiltingly effluvial.


What next, horn rimmed glasses and cognyak snifters by the sea shore? Golden sunsets in hipster glasses, memorializing death as if its some goddamned twilight of the gods?

Lets all sail to fucking avalon.

I mean Europe was the source of culture for a long time. Now, realisticly its Hollywood vs. Millitant Islam.

I'm not really a fan of Stuart Davis, Matisse or even Elizabeth Murray or Picasso, but I guess they paved the way for me to make undocumented spit bubbles, so thats cool.

My question though is, what did she do and when did she do it.

And

How does that relate to my current surf-noir wall decor?

zipthwung said...

This show coincides with a rehabilitation of Sophie Tauber-Arp

Sophie is is famous for having a job at an art school and performing with the dadaists - she had to wear a mask because she would have been fired for doing so. Thats pretty funny.

But in all this, is copying or "being influenced" - immitation, is that a show of solidarity or a cop out?

is progress an emergent thing we attach to individuals in order to fix history, market goods and achieve a sense of closure?

Does the market call into question the clear boundary between an honest pure creative impulse and the need to make a living?

How can one remain pure and unsullied by the market?

Is this show necessary?

Michael Cross said...

No show is necessary.
And every show is necessary.

Lots of wiggle room.

zipthwung said...

here's the show

I read a review of this show that was negative of the "mugwump" piece (this show includes the Jaffee.

While being critical is of the upmost importance, I find such formal judgments in this context to be superficial, and bland (pick on the one pice that does not fit with the curatorial conceit)

But work like this - they were once amusing but now so old and shorn of irony they are simply boring — like a joke told over and over again to a point where it is no longer funny.

You know?

zipthwung said...

"Billy Copley’s Mugwump (2007) is the odd painting out: With its scrabbled surfaces and ungainly cartoons, it crashes the party with an unappealing thump."

here

Mario, you are lazy. And old.

I dont know Bill Copely, nor do I particularly care for the work, but you crash my party.

zipthwung said...

I mean I love a good pissing match.

youth--less said...

Abbas Kiarostami vs. Brett Ratner.

Wasnt JFK (president/son of a criminal/icon of glamour) one of the first to use American art as a cudgel against the commies? A mick and a lawyer. Take that! Whatever.

Anyway, Shirley is a very good modernist. The show looks pristine, delightful. Some favorites: Apfelbaum, Mueller, that guy that loves NY.

The mugwump looks like an aztec frog to me. War pig?

David D'Andrade said...

In order for abstraction to be considered relevant again, It seems a lot of galleries are dedicated to presenting a recycled version of this anal retentive hard edge modernist dogma with a clever ironic pop twist.

CAP said...

Watch out for the fog Rush.

Rattner indeed.

Damncrazymixedupskateniks!

Shirley’s not bowling any jaffas here, I’ll say that.

GmR said...

Isn't every artist's art "dogmatic" in a way? If it wasn't you couldn't call it your own.

And I am not so sure 4th generation graffiti inspired comic book incoherence by white brats from the burbs passes for soul-searching transformative art in the face of unbridled capitalism.

Perhaps Shirley Jaffe is just what we need. Calm, brainy, and collected with a dash of hidden expressionism. I'd like to see more by this veteran of the conquered city.

zipthwung said...

oh yeah dino egg, thank you!

1) 4th generation

you have to start somewhere.
Should we close down the patent office?

Fuck that shit. Pabst Blue Ribbon!


And also - the modernists might ahve been THINKING different but according to the historical record abstaction dates back to Lascaux.
What generation was that?

Booya!


2) graffiti inspired comic book incoherence

I see a lot of coherence, too much in fact. Guess its my language. I;d like to see more graffitti inspired by incoherence rather than some outdated weimar era namby-pamby privileged bohemian fantasy of what art looks like.


3) by white brats from the burbs

That covers most artists born after around 1960 right? I mean immigrants to urban centers.

4) passes for soul-searching transformative art in the face of unbridled capitalism.

Like who?

youth--less said...

Bohemian fog. Ive never actually seen a Brett Ratner movie, I just know he exists.

Whats a jaffa?

Anonymous said...

sometimes you want a painting to be just there. the two in the show by jaffe look pretty jivey, but in another sense they are just there, definitely not earnest. I noticed kalm james took a vid.

zipthwung said...

yeah, fog!

Dino Egg have you been to suburbia? I mean more than just a fresh air fund dealio - I mean a year or two?

Garage?
One two or four cars?
Shag or no shag?
Lawn furniture or rock garden?
Cable or no TV?
All white or mixed race?
Gated?
Good neighbors or fucking cunts?
Noise complaint or quiet as a church mouse?
Jewish or Catholic?
Protestant or Atheist?
SOccer Mom or roid rage ronnie?

See how complicated it gets? How DRAMATIC? I know you saw American Beauty.

Its almost as complicated as living in Manhattan (woody allen, Scorsessee, my god its so six degrees of separation aint it?)

Manhattan, city of contrasts! Its mysterious nail salons!!!!! Its secluded martini bars!!! Its AVANT GUARD ARTIST REBELS!!! Its all but institutionalized art marketing system! Yep, its CRAAAAAAZY!!!!!!

WHats interesting is that many so called art galleries and their artists cant accurately describe their AUTHENTIC backgrounds, instead opting for some IDEA of what CULTURE should be.

A notable exception - I noticed Dana schuts is now painting herself in her studio - a bold move! She's not alone in doing this, dare we call it a movement?

Artists dont paint their quotedienne lives ecause they don't want to live there. No opressed soul with a bohemian mind does of course, and utopia sounds great and all but

Ironicly, THERE is more interesting to clients (or should be) than HERE - check out all the art ABOUT suburbia that gets loads of critical accalim and attention ($$$$$$$)

This is because for privileged people suburbia, the STUDIO (tres exotique) and THE LABORATORY (tres dangereux)are THE OTHER.

Isn't that funny?

John Waters made a movie about it called Pecker.

Yeah that bohemian fog stuff,
Its an illusion to me now.

Ok thats all jsut theory, thought I;d run it by you for fact checking. Heck I dont even believe it. Nope, I'm probably jsut lsot in the fog myself. Jesus where is the blue light?

Anyone want to go treking in Nepal next year? I dont plan on climbing, just doing a bunch of weed and dodging kidnapping by the local heroes.

CAP said...

Now Zip, I think you're generalising there.

Jaffas are painters' talk for using too much angel dust, or was it fairy dust? - anyway the thing gets dusty and slows down.

zipthwung said...

Mao-Maoing the Flack Catchers.

I read a few pages in the book store a couple of years ago.

no-where-man said...

bridges falling, streets exploding - no time like the present, to revisit the modernist agenda.

Nomi Lubin said...

zipthwung said...

here's the show


Cool. I didn't know about this guy. Now I never have to leave the house.

Do you all know him?

zipthwung said...

No I dont know James but he posted here and writes for the brooklyn rail, which is fast becoming THE sharpest forum for cri..crit...ca...

exploding shingle factories!!!!

When Bridges Fail.

Wonder if people will make art about it or if it will be taboo for a while. Who will make the movie? Oliver Stone?

A bridge too far....

Maybe we could get Chris Burden to make an erector set memorial with an otterness bronze troll car dead dog thingy underneath.

Anonymous said...

I thought a 'jaffas' was an orange round candy that you roll down the ole movie theaters' wooden floors to create a disturbance, well in some parts of the world, long, long ago... if that helps rush. Old guy probably means that this painting is not upsetting anyone.
The painting is nicely put together though, a product of itself more than the modern, a word infinitely tiring nowadays....

None said...
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None said...
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zipthwung said...

modern love

Sven said...

i ilke al jaffee more

youth--less said...

well if throwing candy is your idea of dissent.

surrender to jonathan - makes you wonder how shirley ever left?

flag burning is the way to go

amy boras said...

love her work. good stuff. thanks painter.

Nomi Lubin said...

Yes, I only saw it in the video -- very poor conditions -- but that oval painting of Jaffe's I really liked. This one I'd have to see.

CAP said...

I don’t think this picture has the kind of vigor and whimsy I’d call ‘zany’. It’s slower, more relaxed than that. There’s a kind of looseness, airiness to the construction that’s down to the drawing. It follows things (figuratively) but not too closely or carefully.

It’s none too original, but I suppose if there’s anything to be taken from it it’s the drawing, and the fact that it doesn’t look like it was designed on a computer. It could have been, but it’s not something computers are known for. If the digital people (Giehler say) needed to take a step back sometime, they might want to look in this direction.
As long as they don’t go Southpark on me.

It’s hard not to see it as just the sum of its influences. And reading others comments I was thinking – if this was painted by someone like Sherrie Levine, would we say it was a sort of ersatz transatlantic 20s-30s thing?
Mercifully, it seems irony free for some reason – maybe it’s the scale.

But technically, it could be unoriginal enough to count as postmodern.

Ryan Hancock said...

I have a really hard time seeing modernist painting like this in any real way. I can't dissociate it from "style"; even when I like it, I still think I like it in the way I like an Eames chair, or a certain type of orange. I wonder if it's because modernist painting had such a signature "look" that it was caricatured endlessly in adverts and fashion (Mondrian dresses, for ex.). I wish I could get that stuff out of my head, but it really colors what I see.

CAP said...

The same thing goes for the next post.

It definitely alerts us to
the 'currency' of the style. Here my first thought was of scarves or tea-towels in the gift shop.