3/11/2008

Ellen Berkenblit


33 comments:

Painter said...

Ellen Berkenblit
was @
Anton Kern

None said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
zipthwung said...

these paintings fit witht he kernesthetic, but Im not too into that sort of thing though I can dig it sort of on one level, but not on another level, which is the level I am at, and its sort of a anti-desilling-slackers need skills not encouragement kind of thing. Not that these are slacker paintigns, it takes a lot of work to stretch large paintings and then paint on them in broad strokes. But the pop-cartoon dealio is kind of tired in my book - these have a historical feel - of their time, rotted on the vine, i'll give it credit Im sure the paper trail is there.

Deep down I think a lot of this kind of work is rooted in a fascination witht he disney look and feel - and who wasnt into Dumbo when it first came out, or was re released or maybe introduced to you, a foregn exchange student, in a class about animation, introduced witht he lament that animation is not nearly as sophisticated as it used to be - nuance and story stripped out like a rice burner compared to a genuine custom chopper.

WHich is to say what is the continuing fascination with ye olde gothic. Does the emporer wear plaid? does the postman ring the bell?

The pursuit of mystery long after the thrill of waiting in line for magic mountain is gone - thats what this painting is. And if thats all it is, and I hope Im just thinking only twelve people ahead, and that there is a corner to all this - then you can find me at the whore house where the lines are shorter, and you can drink while you wait.

youth--less said...

I was sensing a more Olive Oyl-Betty Boop-Fleisher kind of thing. We're back to the Great Depression, and aren't we though?

CAP said...

They're all just the one profile, kind of pouting lip and big sad eyes.

Depressing

It's a kind of recurring craving to combine comic strip characters with Ab-Ex, but all those fun curves in the drawing are kind of strict. B&W keep it together, but...

Joyce Pensato pulls it off, I guess.

edgar belgi said...

aaah, all this time I waited for the new painting and this is it?

webthing said...

it's like watching wild animals tear apart a carcass i tell ya...

webthing said...

let's go for tone, black and blue. bruised immigrants, marching in the parade, under the moon, on par with the stars, follow the leader, it's saddening in the storm of animation loss. or it's tough to be a celebratory american? or yeah, the depression returns (in concept). though nothing will ever be that desperate in this recession incarnation, at least not while the internet is around to mitigate the war and panic that could once topple banks...so we're safe for now. but poor old alethea and gustav have to just march on toward the right with sombre gait...

zipthwung said...

They used to tell me I was building a dream
And so I followed the mob.
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear,
I was always there, right on the job.
They used to tell me I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead --
Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad, I made it run,
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad, now it's done --
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once I built a tower, up to the sun,
brick and rivet and lime.
Once I built a tower, now it's done --
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee, we looked swell
Full of that Yankee Doodle-de-dum.
Half a million boots went slogging through hell,
And I was the kid with the drum.

Say, don't you remember they called me Al,
It was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember, I'm your pal --
Say, buddy, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, ah, gee, we looked swell
Full of that Yankee Doodle-de-dum.
Half a million boots went slogging through hell,
And I was the kid with the drum.

Say, don't you remember they called me Al,
It was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember, I'm your pal --
Buddy, can you spare a dime?

CAP said...

Does Kern have a house style?

More importantly, does he have a house party?

Unknown said...

These are T.L. Solein lite mixed with a dash of Carroll Dunham, and then random "art marks."

I agree with the comment of having waited for this, deflate now.

See ya next month.

ckombo said...

The sad Disney reference alone seems insufficient. I'm hungry over here, feed me, this tastes like ramen... I want something richer, and this doesn't give it. It's simplicity and easy-to-do-ness, aren't coupled with much redeeming skill, nuance, wit etc.

youth--less said...

that's weird kombo cuz I see a lot of skill in the way these are done, lots of nuance. the triangle tit and the round nose...the sharp stars and the curve of the cloud. these things say a lot.

all this capitalism, alienation, so many cyborg, post-human years and yet we are all still capable of a deep deep feeling. It's just confusing as to what to feel about. Or it's sad, like this painting. It's OK to be sad, as the progressive parent tells today's kiddies.

youth--less said...

I always hated waiting in line. I only got thrilled with the ride. Space Mountain.

zipthwung said...

six flags. I went to dizzland once what a letdown. It really is for kids. And what to the parents get? The love and admiration of their kids, who will scorn them or worse, adore them like little psychophantic clones, cloyingly codepedant, without minds of their own. Some people like that and some people like dizzyland.

Parents who squander their kids inheritance on amusement parks.

Like GWB and his army of yes men. Or a documentary that uses the B reel whenever anyone has anything interesting to say.

The other work by this artist (who has friends, evidently) is sort of cartoony - yes not disney but more old school Krazy kat olive Oyl Betty boop, jim crow and apartheid.

Ignatz loves bricks, and I'm out here in the "brick house" making a veritable crystal castle, so what.

At the root where is the joy in this painting? I see a decentered individual looking for external recogniition, which is a moral failing under the puritanical rules the pared down and constricted cartoon vocabulary palette and paint handling.

Why wear a girdle when you can let it all hang out? Bondage is not my thing, and yet it continues to be a thing. Why? Freedom in slavery? Less is more? Who are these people you imagine are your audience? And whom do they think they are?

Idon'tbathe said...

“Polke for a long time has been the most interesting, least predictable of the painters around,” he said by phone from Venice. “He’s almost impossible to get a bite of. People don’t know what to say right off the bat when they see his work. It has a deep kind of shrewdness.”

ckombo said...

Looks like crap to me, Rush. But I'm glad that it tickles you.

CAP said...

This is a Hillary painting.

zipthwung said...

Warum nicht baden?

Idon'tbathe said...

Farts tend to be rich in carbon dioxide, and may also contain hydrogen sulfide, the substance primarily responsible for the stench of farts. If a fart were to be dissolved in water, carbon dioxide would interact with water to produce carbonic acid, and hydrogen sulfide would make hydrosulfuric acid. These are both weak acids, so farts (at least when in solution) are mildly acidic.„

Sekt für alle“

youth--less said...

I tend to like a painting style that is fast and insoucient and shows the way the painter thinks. I have no problem with the mind that is expressed in these paintings. I read the work called "winsome" Always this dig, the weakness of women. Get the fuck over it. Or enjoy your president mccain.

Michael Cross said...

This is a depressing painting. Putting aside the skill/noskill question, these figures are looking east, waiting waiting for their valiant heros' return. But the stars and the stripes have all been drained of color, their formerly proud faces have lost their smiles, and the little cartoon clouds are empty of text because really there is nothing to be said. Just wait... and paint.

None said...
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zipthwung said...

Die Geister, die ich rief

In historical times, urine was collected and used in the manufacture of gunpowder. Stale urine was filtered through a barrel full of straw and allowed to continue to sour for a year or more. After this period of time, water was used to wash the resulting chemical salts from the straw. This slurry was filtered through wood ashes and allowed to dry in the sun. Saltpeter crystals were then collected and added to sulfur and charcoal to create black powder.

This game between irony and Ernst is also his own paintings: The man constantly shows his weapons, his tools - and is not in the cards look. Sein Gangster von 1988, auch so eine Figur auf durchschimmerndem Grund, schlägt ganz weit seinen Mantel auf und zeigt, was er auf der Innenseite versteckt hat. His gangster from 1988, even as a figure on durchschimmerndem reason proposes far his jacket and shows what it is based on the inner side hidden. Es sind lauter kleine Packungen - aber was ist da drin? There are all small packs - but what is it? Dope? Brillanten? Diamonds? Kleinode der Kunstgeschichte? Jewels of art history?

zipthwung said...

After two studio albums, Acid Bath's career came to an abrupt close in 1997 when bass guitarist Audie Pitre and his parents were killed by a drunk driver. This effectively brought Acid Bath to an end. While rumors of another album circulated after the band's end, nothing new surfaced.

Dax Riggs and Mike Sanchez went on to perform in the doom metal/psychedelic rock band Agents of Oblivion releasing one self-titled album until that also ended. Riggs is also the frontman for the swamp rock band Deadboy & the Elephantmen. Sammy Pierre Duet was once a member of Crowbar, but has since left the band. He is now a member of the blackened death metal band Goatwhore and Ritual Killer and his doom metal band with Kelly Pitre (the brother of Audie) Vual. Audie formed a unique sludge metal band in 1995, blending black metal vocals with the heavy sound of two bassists with no guitars, known as Shrum.

zipthwung said...

The second lawsuit was filed against MacDonald, publisher J. B. Lippincott Company, and The Bon Marché (a Seattle department store which had promoted and distributed the book) for total damages of $975,000, as sought by nine other members of the Bishop family ($100,000 each) and Raymond H. Johnson ($75,000), who claimed he had been portrayed as the Indian "Crowbar." The case was heard before a jury in Judge William J. Willkins' courtroom in King County Superior Court beginning February 6, 1951. MacDonald testified that the characters in her book were composite sketches of various people she had met. The defense produced evidence that the Bishop family had actually been trying to profit from the fame the book and movie had brought them, including testimony that son Walter Bishop had had his father Albert appear onstage at his Belfair, Washington, dance hall with chickens under his arm, introducing him as "Pa Kettle." On February 10, 1951, the jury decided in favor of the defendants.

Idon'tbathe said...

People are queer, they're always crowing, scrambling and rushing about;
Why don't they stop someday, address themselves this way?
Why are we here? Where are we going? It's time that we found out.
We're not here to stay; we're on a short holiday.

Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don't take it serious; it's too mysterious.
You work, you save, you worry so,
But you can't take your dough when you go, go, go.

So keep repeating it's the berries,
The strongest oak must fall,

The sweet things in life, to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you've never owned?

Life is just a bowl of cherries,
So live and laugh at it all.

Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don't take it serious; it's too mysterious.
At eight each morning I have got a date,
To take my plunge 'round the Empire State.
You'll admit it's not the berries,
In a building that's so tall;

There's a guy in the show, the girls love to kiss;
Get thousands a week just for crooning like this:

Life is just a bowl of . . . aw, nuts!
So live and laugh at it all!

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

can't paint. please no more controlled melty drip lines.

Paul Pincus said...
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Black.Ink.On.Paper said...

Well her paintings are just dying to become prints, because they are just GRAPHIC. Her style really lends itself to printmaking. I mean the prints makes the marks more finalized, EXTRA graphic and solid.
That's why her prints can be seen as 'better'.

Not to mention the repetition of the sad eyed character in this current series. Surely she has done silkscreens before....besides the lithos that are shown on the gallery's site....
The spray paint paintings on mesh-metal are very interesting...

Hein Koh said...

This is going to sound very similar to my post about Georganne Deen, but this is another artist whose work is poetic, personal, subtle and again, needs to be experienced in person. The work is quiet yet packs a powerful punch - to me, it feels like a dream, as if the paint possessed the artist and led her through this dark, melancholy world which exists in the depths of our psyches. She explores the many possibilities of paint handling, the psychological resonance of each mark, while maintaining a perfect balance and harmony within the frame. I was floored by this show - it pulled me into its world, and I didn't want to leave.

I often find that work that possesses what are considered "feminine" qualities is the most vitriolically bashed. In my opinion, it's a subtle misogyny which is rarely openly addressed in this supposedly post-feminist age, but glaringly exists. The WACK! show at P.S. 1 was an important show to expand viewers' perspectives and teach them about "female" sensibilities and aesthetic.

artaugogo said...

witless, dull, standard. She can fool some of the people some of the time.....