Chris Hayes Art

Provisional painting can be seen as a turn away from “strong” paintings, or any sense of grandeur. But why would any artist not pursue the heights of a masterpiece and a sense of perfection? The history of art, and especially modernism has been littered with artists who never feel satisfied, always feeling weighed down in self-criticism. As Dali once said, “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it”. By not pursuing the illusion of greatness, paintings that show mistakes, seek self-sabotage and turn a cold shoulder towards the high end aesthetic of the art market, these painters unfinished, abandoned works embrace the “purity of the unprofitable”.

Albert Oehlen is a contemporary German painter, closely associated with the Cologne art scene. A former painter in the“bad” Neo-Expressionist style, Oehlen can be seen as pushing bad painting to its limits. Semi-abstracted objects emerge and dissolve against the fluid painterly background. None of Oehlens mistakes are hidden, and many shapes are clearly “re-done”. The refusal to hide away mistakes is surprisingly refreshing, and simultaneously reveals the true process behind a painting. These paintings come alive due to their awkwardness.

Provisional painting is one of the most recent trends today in painting. So underground that none of the major institutions of the art world have yet to champion its heroes. In an even greater sign of the times this “provisional” trend in painting has been declared and discussed by art magazines and blogs online. The internet is shaping art discourse like never before.

The most recent trend in painting today- Provisional Painting.

Provisional painting was originally outlined by the writer Raphael Rubinstein, in “Art in America” 5/4/09. Several other notable art blogs have picked up on this trend and discussed it at length.

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Sol Lewitt came to prominence during the late 1960’s, combining Conceptualism and Minimalism with a forceful joy the likes that had never been seen before. He has had a phenominal career with hundreds of showings in galleries across the world.

Lewitt’s saturated “Pop” colours transform a structural wall into an experience. Our sense of personal space is challenged as the booming colours pulse, the atmosphere is positively electric.

The grand scale, unbrideled strength of colour and unyieldy lines draw parrallels with a  tidal wave, yet these works reject a natural ouerve, even the artists touch is noticeably absent. The dictomony between this work and Jackson Pollocks famous line, “I am nature” draw a clear distinction between the Late Modernist Abstract Expressionism of Pollock and Post-Modernist Conceptual Minimalism of Lewitt.

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Provisional painting can be seen as a turn away from “strong” paintings, or any sense of grandeur. But why would any artist not pursue the heights of a masterpiece and a sense of perfection? The history of art, and especially modernism has been littered with artists who never feel satisfied, always feeling weighed down in self-criticism. As Dali once said, “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it”. By not pursuing the illusion of greatness, paintings that show mistakes, seek self-sabotage and turn a cold shoulder towards the high end aesthetic of the art market, these painters unfinished, abandoned works embrace the “purity of the unprofitable”.

Albert Oehlen is a contemporary German painter, closely associated with the Cologne art scene. A former painter in the“bad” Neo-Expressionist style, Oehlen can be seen as pushing bad painting to its limits. Semi-abstracted objects emerge and dissolve against the fluid painterly background. None of Oehlens mistakes are hidden, and many shapes are clearly “re-done”. The refusal to hide away mistakes is surprisingly refreshing, and simultaneously reveals the true process behind a painting. These paintings come alive due to their awkwardness.

Provisional painting is one of the most recent trends today in painting. So underground that none of the major institutions of the art world have yet to champion its heroes. In an even greater sign of the times this “provisional” trend in painting has been declared and discussed by art magazines and blogs online. The internet is shaping art discourse like never before.

The most recent trend in painting today- Provisional Painting.

Provisional painting was originally outlined by the writer Raphael Rubinstein, in “Art in America” 5/4/09. Several other notable art blogs have picked up on this trend and discussed it at length.

Want more art and art blogging?? Then like my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/The.Chris.Hayes.Art.Gallery

The “New Leipzig” school of art, a group of German artists. Parallels can be seen between these successes and those of the Young British Artists.

His work owes a great influence to the Socialist Realism of the USSR.

Neo Rauch, is a German painter whose paintings mine the intersection of his personal history with the politics of industrial alienation. Here the figures don’t look at each other- they may be in a large crowd, but the isolation of each individual is quite apparent. The strong acidic colours create an unreal and unsettling environment, furthering the sense of displacement. The overall asthetic is much more bright and positive than typical Social Realism, showing how the reunification between Soviet East and Capitalist West Germany has influenced this artist. 

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Vincent van Gogh: Wheatfield With Reaper, 1889
This painting was produced during a period of hospitalisation near Arles. The positivity of the vivid colours and the dancing, golden wheat is undermined by the heavily symbolic presence of the Reaper, toiling beneath a sickly sky. In a letter to his brother, Van Gogh proposed that ‘humanity might be the wheat that he is reaping’ 

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Appropriation is the act of effectively stealing an image and changing it (preferably f#*king it up!) for your own aims. An image which contains a McDonalds symbol, or the motto of Tesco becomes much more than an isolated, self obsessed work of art. Appropriation moves out of the studio right into the streets.

Rauschenberg pushes this even further. His “combines” meld 3D with 2D. They aren’t really paintings, and they aren’t really sculptures. They are on the other hand, really powerful.

From appropriation, to pushing narrow boundaries of disciplines and astute political commentary Rauschenberg is an artist who never stops pushing the boundaries in such a way to make it look simple. 

“Sell me Candy”- by Clare Price.

Everything about a Clare Price painting is jarring and too much- yet that creates an unlikely harmony. Forcefully saturated colours battle with dull quiet drips. Bright colours have always been representative of an optimistic pride. Drips have a signature of resignation, organically breaking down. When these two elements overlap each other the interplay creates a fascinating dialogue within the vocabulary of painting.

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I’m getting all minimalist on you my fellow tumblring folk!

Black indian ink on white emulsion paint. A2.

I was very inspired by a minimalist painting by David Reed, that was black brush strokes in straight lines across the canvas. This is something I don’t think I’v explored enough, I’l definitely touch on it again in the future.

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