It's great to talk to artists who are really excited about their work. Here at the Underground yesterday, I had the pleasure of actually meeting Jason Davis, who produces neoprimitive vernacular sculptures from Oklahoma marble. Jason said he has been inventing an alphabet that will be incorporated into his next piece, one that is half finished. Something to be read intuitively instead of literally.
I thought of Hank Kaminsky's work with script and language fragments. Some of Hank's work has lines that are presented as 'writing,' but interpreting the content is left to the viewer. It is interesting that these two artists have a parallel interest in the 'script' that infuses their work. I think it is an ingenious way of engaging the viewer in an interactive experience. It is also interesting to ponder the nature of the 'languages' of art.
Eugene Sargent brought some new drawings to the gallery yesterday and we talked about his current interest. He described his work as 'encoding visual information in space,' and I thought that was about the most economical definition of art that I've ever heard. The 'code' is both highly individualized for each of us and yet universal at the same time. Language again.
Last night I had the pleasure of talking about art with Brandon Bullette and Candy Lee. Brandon is currently working on 'edges' in his crisp visual montages. He's interested in softening the lines in form and finding accents of detail in the lost edges.[my paraphrase of his words]. That got my interest up, and I said something about the boundaries of form extending beyond our human ability to see. I think I mentioned that a world that insists on photorealistic images denies the opportunity for seeing in an artistic way. Or maybe Brandon said that. Anyway we agreed that our personal 'seeing'
experience is much different from the camera's experience, and that we both pursued the artistic places where definitions fade and overlap and intersections and other interesting non photorealistic phenomena occur. Two more artists working on a visual language. Whew! Can't believe I wrote all that. All for now.
