I am currently enrolled in a class called "aesthetics and criticism." For that class we had to do a juror's statement including selection of first second and third place for a recent edition of New American Paintings Juried Exhibition-in-Print (Number 52).
Following is mine.
(All references are to New American Paintings Juried Exhibition-in-Print Number 52)
Several of the painters in the exhibition had two wonderful pieces but had a third work that seemed inconsistent with their other work. One such painter was Lauren Clay. “SUBTERRANEAN” and “LITTLE TRUTHS FOR HER TO REST IN” have a soft and mysterious beauty that made me want to turn the page to see the third work. Imagine my disappointment when I was confronted with the flat and relatively unappealing “A BOW TO THE MODERN MALAISE”.
Fortunately there are also those, like Jennifer Drummond, who showed three consistently powerful works. Drummond’s simple if diminutive drawings remind me of a Matise in their unabashed simplicity. It is as if Drummond is telling us that she is confident of these three images even if the rest of the world is hard to make out.
To Benjamin Jones goes the Post-modernism award. His drawings are powerful and achingly conflicted. Is the aesthetic distance part of Jones’ intellectual, Hegelian dialectic or is it just a fond nostalgia for those rosy days of Dada. So… to Jones I say “Fishing….confused….James Joyce’s PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN………...Duchamp……….Gunga Din …………decamp…….”
Third pace goes to Anna Keck, more specifically to “WATCH ME WHILE I SLEEP”. Unusual process and a great color sense combine to draw you in. You want to listen close to whatever whisper Keck has for you.
Second was “COYBOY Nº. 2” by Nicole Charbonnet. Powerful if ambiguous imagery combined with an almost disturbingly tight palate shout for a strong female roll model. Even if I disagree with the political connotations I can’t overlook the power of her subtle painting. Charbonnet’s painting doesn’t weaken in her other works either. In fact, “SAFARI” shows an even stronger technique. Her surfaces are superb with their incised background imagery.
Far and away, my favorite painting is “VILLA NEL BOSCO” by Cheryl Goldsleger. Her deep technique is totally appropriate for the maze forms she constructs. Layer upon transparent layer of encaustic and ink, Goldsleger’s work breathes new life into an archaic, labyrinthine motif. Goldsleger has cut through the Gordian knot of tangled drawing and concept without sacrificing formal beauty. Somehow the monochromatic nature of the works leaves you to think that the puzzle of the world is not cold or hopelessly difficult. Instead you are led to think that the solution is only obscure.