Pandemic Edition
CONTEMPORARY The Fine Arts Magazine FREE
April 2020 Issue No. 1
Spear Post Punk Rebellion
LITTLE
Minter Free Flow and Function
Transcending Space
Hammer
and Time
Dot Dot Goodness
Reviews/ Commentary/ Exhibitions/ News/ Events
IN THIS ISSUE
Adam Spear Urban Pop Post Pop aesthetic mixed with an urban flair for anarchy.
The Fine Arts Magazine
April 2020
PUBLISHER Gabriel Diego Delgado Contributing Writers Gabriel Diego Delgado
Erik Minter Neon Magic for the contemporary collector.
All artwork photography courtesy of Gabriel Diego Delgado and notated contributions when appropriate Š 2020 Edited by Gabriel Diego Delgado, Melissa Belgara Design by: Gabriel Diego Delgado
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FEATURES Mike Hammer Blobs galore within an infinite composition
James Little Black as atmospheric meditation.
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A Note from the Publisher In today’s economic and financial climate, we are indeed in uncertain times. I can officially say I have experienced a lay off and seen the overnight disruption of everything. Yes, a shelter in place mandate and a global awareness like no other has not only made me re-evaluate my priorities, but it has also shown me that I am not a great home school teacher for my younger ones. The perspective I have now, is one I probably share with others. I am stressed about the present, grateful for the past and hopeful for the future. Yes, these times are uncertain, but you just have to keep producing, keep creating, keep hustling, and keep your eyes focused on how to make your life better. In the words of the great media content creator, Gary V. , all I can say is create content, do something, anything, whether it is good or bad, just put it out there. “Hope” is in all of us as we face unprecedented odds- over 6 million people currently filing for unemployment (at the time of this writing), refrigerated trucks positioned into place to act as field hospital morgues, and CNN’s grim, unpleasant, and constant catastrophic reminder- its graphic side screen numerical ticker that displays the nations hourly pandemic fatality counts. Yet, as many of us cling to our loved ones, try to embrace the new normal of working from home, and begin to incorporate ordering food from the front line workers, I mean, warriors... we have to be aware that sometimes those in the proverbial or peripheral shadows can also teach us some lessons on life. Artists.
Television personality, Fred Rogers (“Won’t You Be My Neighbor”) often spoke about his own mother’s advice of looking for the “Helpers”, those ordinary people who emerge from the wreckage and try to help others, often against unbelievable odds… in times of distress, of emergency, and even pandemics. The media, left or right, continue to cast a dramatic and much needed spotlight on the doctors and nurses risking their own lives to save others; a superhuman feat that none of us ever want to experience. But, the deafening roar is now coming from the layman grocery store worker that continues to come face to face with the pandemic every day to just restock the commodities needed to feed their community, and diligent delivery drivers venturing into the unknown with each destination to complete app driven commerce. However, artists, yes artists, have been uniting too–becoming helpers, and continuing to create artwork even in the direst of challenges… this unique global and economic disaster. The need to create is often described as an internal need, almost an uncontrollable determination, an involuntary movement- like breathing. Here, today, in the midst of the worst global financial landscape that most of us have ever experienced, artists everywhere- in isolation perhaps, are "helping" by creating. They create to share, they create to educate, they create to sell, they create to heal, they create to live, they create to be, and they create to find purpose. All this still applies now! Even with the dreaded “C” word of 2020. Artists are helpers too.
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On the Cover / Contributor Cover: Louis Vega Trevino— This a detail of a trapezoid shaped canvas painting series by Texas based artist, Louis Vega Trevino. Trevino is a lifelong Texas artist who has crafted his own signature style of minimalistic stripe painting. When asked about this development, the artist discussed the way in which he chooses three colors for the blends and that the feathering effect is modeled after a full body movement that mimics the meditative movements of an artistic Tai chi flow.
Contemporary Land, The Fine Arts Magazine hopes to use its pages as a vehicle to educate, entertain and enlighten our audience on a variety of topics ranging from reviews, news, artist narratives, interviews, criticism and a cohort of other art related stories from within the gallery walls to the major metro centers. I hope you find this informative and hope you continue to follow the artistic happenings around you in your local neighborhoods.
Sincerely,
Gabriel Diego Delgado Publisher
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Art Profile In Uncertain Times with ADAM SPEAR 6/
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ith most of the fine art galleries closing their doors and concentrating their efforts online, we are seeing a surge in the new gallery “viewing room” virtual art exhibition. On the flip side of this, are the artists who are reshaping not only the artworld, but their own isolated worlds- establishing new practices and beginning new habits in lieu of COVID-19. Adam Spear an artist in the greater Miami, Florida area has also self -isolated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As interviewed over the phone, Spear says his world is “upside down”. “My days are flipped…I paint all night now and sleep when I can. The room I am in now, is the room I also paint in. I don’t go out to the store too much anymore. I am ordering things online constantly,” he adds. As he continues to distance himself further into seclusion, he has also deeply submerged himself into the virtual realities of artistic existence. From online and freesourced programs to creative suites, Spear uses a wide-range of graphic software as tools as a means to an end. Not only is he highly cognizant of his decisions to utilize these digital programs, but he is also conscious of his decision to then reverse this train of thought and use the digital compositions only as muses and inspirations by painting them “organically” onto the canvases and panels; bringing his artwork full circle back to the painter’s hand and the coveted artist touch.
Opposite page: Detail, Adam Spear live painting at Rosenbaum Contemporary gallery, in Boca Raton, Florida. Image left; Live painting demonstration, 2019, Boca Raton, Florida
As he continues to distance himself further into seclusion, he has also deeply submerged himself into the virtual realities of artistic existence. CONTEMPORARY Land The Fine Arts Magazine /
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Detail, Petals, 48 x 48 inches, Adam Spear, 2019, Image courtesy of the artist.
As he continues to create new artwork while COVID-19 throws the world in uncertainty, his artistic language has begun to change, and a more mature aesthetic is beginning to evolve. Adam Spear’s new body of work delicately dabbles in the commercially viable palette of post-pop imagery while simultaneously throwing a middle digitus impudicus to the quasi-establishment of monopoly driven designers who volley for acceptable faux graffiti.
Yes, Spear has toned down his juxtaposed painterly and image-driven narrative that once revolved around the rudimentary protagonist, but he has replaced it with a highly self-edited and toned-down cryptic zest of grey-scaled urban decay. New backgrounds include facades that resemble puckered wheat pasted posters on abandoned buildings to pirated copy-right infringed appropriations what reek of mockery to the corporate enterprises. His flair of capturing the placid and low-key counter-culture vibes or the selfcentered fashionista personality play center stage to something more diabolical and sinister, more underbelly- a world of deviancy, of antiauthoritarian regimes, of anarchistic revelry.
“Spear acknowledges the trivial and uni-dimensional poser that mimics the authentic social norms.�
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Image left; Work in progress, April 2020, Adam Spear, Image courtesy of the artist
In “Relax”, a mixed media painting measuring 48” x 48”, Spear lobs an Abercrombie & Fitch persona at the viewer, complete with trucker hat, short shorts and canvas high-tops. If you look carefully, you can see the Adbuster infringement; smooth like freshly rolled tar- pungent in its high temperature of toxic exhaust. Our nostrils flair and our insides clench, but we know it’s needed to allow the plight of metropolitan movement.
Image: Relax , 48 x 48” Mixed media, Adam Spear, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
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Detail, Bohemian 48 x 48 inches, Adam Spear, 2019, Image courtesy of the artist.
The same applies here, Spear acknowledges the trivial and unidimensional poser that mimics the authentic social norms. He accepts the trifling barrage of mindless advertisement, but redirects, flips, and arrogates these notions to smooth the graphic highways of billboard liberations. “New Wave” pierces our self-imposed and transparent barricade… those communal rose-colored glasses of consumer culture acceptance. A tattooed model’s gaze is redirected past the viewer to the unknown--the abyss of consumerism teaming with shopping mall kiosks of wooden cell phone covers and aromatic incense dispensaries. The evidences and plight of taggers and juvenile misfits run amok on the painting surface. Layers of lacerated symbolgy conceal gestural marks by the artist, like some kind of gang cross-out war; but this home turf warfare is internal and yet instantaneously external – a metaphor for the overabundance of capitalistic tendencies by industrial savants. Adam Spear’s new work has visually matured by leaps and bounds…artistic movements that continue to plot destructive demises on the restrictive shackles of oppressive consumerisms.
“Layers of lacerated symbolgy conceal gestural marks by the artist, like some kind of gang crossout war; but this home turf warfare is internal and yet instantaneously Image Right; New Wave, 48 x 48”, Mixed media, Adam Spear, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
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Written by Gabriel Diego Delgado Erik Minter Studio, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
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Erik Minter Don’t Pass the Corona – A Personal Perspective During the Pandemic CONTEMPORARY Land The Fine Arts Magazine /
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Erik Minter Studio, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
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Erik Minter Studio, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
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s the 24-hour news cycle feverishly pitches the latest areas to shelter
in place and continues to mansplain modes of self-isolation, it is easy to lose focus on the daily rituals- trivial routines and schedules that seems to curb anxiety and depression. Artists, on the other hand, can sometimes be inherently isolated individuals, finding solace within the confines of the studio; a personal space to be creative without restriction. Artist, Erik Minter stays strong in the face of adversary: contagion. I caught up with Erik Minter in his studio to touch base during this international chaos. A genuine conversation was had in these tumultuous times, a dialogue focused on personal reflection and artistic vision.
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Gabriel Diego Delgado (GDD): First off, for those who do not really follow your career, What’s your art background? Erik Minter (EM): I’ve been drawing since I can remember…My mother told me she remembers when I was 6, and how I was enthralled by Ellsworth Kelly paintings at the Hirschhorn Museum. I completed 3 years of undergraduate studies at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, but I expedited graduating by taking some summer courses and graduated a semester early. Initially, I sought an opportunity to work on some cool sculptural works for Matthew Barney on his final Cremaster 3 film series. I quickly acquired a studio with my friend Rafael Rangel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, where I was experimenting with all kinds of paint scenarios. I think that's where I was painting on metal street signs with enamel paints and spray. A lot of visual tendencies and stylistic elements were cracked during that time.
To stay afloat during that tough economic period surrounding 911, I ended up pursuing more art and design consulting work, like sculpture fabrications and mold making, welding, and even managing some major public arts installation work for artist, Tom Otterness. GDD: What does your artwork aim to say? EM: I would like to keep my art open for one's own interpretation. However, I feel like I'm regurgitating the stimuli of what surrounds us--- energy, speed, light, colors, fear, excitement, and all the emotions that come within this time of unknowns. …It can be self-referential, from being immersed in the act of painting. Painting is a nexus of decisions made both subconsciously and consciously, that arrive at a kind of expression that embodies taking in everything. Explosive!
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GD: How does your work comment on current social or political issues? EM: Great question! I think every artist today must ask that question‌ to somehow be relevant to the contemporary art scene. For the most part, I'm pretty apolitical. I feel like most of the social and political issues end up creating a kind of tribalism in our culture and I think that is very dangerous for society. I think it promotes a kind of mediocrity in human progression. I tend to get excited about people who are really making real changes in their field. In my work, I strive to make painting an experience, traveling to an unforeseen place; hopefully pushing someone's thinking. On the other hand, I think it's vital for every artist to be an activist. Our art can make big and small impacts on society, and hopefully the environment, in a good way. As an artist, I'm not interested in the status quo.
Erik Minter Studio, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
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Nomorempires, 20 x 20 inches, spray paint on canvas Erik Minter 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
GDD: Who are your biggest influences? EM: Well, there are quite a few. From day to day they are probably changing, because I see so much goodness going on out there. Miles Davis has always stuck with me since I was a child in Maryland practicing piano. I would listen to my mom's albums on the record player through these sweet tweed speakers in the living room. When I started reading about him, I started to see what I could pick up from him- his presence, how he commanded the band, and his audience. He became a kind of superhero. I am inspired by his ability to push other great musicians of his time. His transformation of contemporary jazz is very inspiring. More recently, I've grown to really appreciate the Chilean painter Roberto Matta, I love how he was able to weave in and out of major 20th century art movements, from surrealism to abstract expressionism. Yet, he never really fits into one artistic genre. His work has a unique voice that speaks to me. I especially like his investigations into ‘innerscapes’- paintings that deal with psycho analytics and how the artworks become visual analogies of the psyche. As of late, I take inspiration from the interdisciplinary designer/artist, Neri Oxman, and her amazing research on physical and aesthetic discoveries with material like ecology and nano construction.
Erik Minter Studio, 2020, Images courtesy of the artist
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GDD: Which current art world trends are you following? EM: If I knew, I would just be following the herd. I feel too often that there are writers and art surveyors putting their own spin on what's the next’ big thing’ in art. I guess ‘identity’ is popular now, and there is a figurative push that has been going on for a few decades now. But, I do feel a pulse on abstract art.
GDD: What has been your most touching or amazing moment you've experienced as an artist? EM: I can say the best moments for me are when I'm getting ready to release a large amount of paint onto a surface. I spend time preparing a color story, a narrative, that releases along with my gesture that happens very quickly…There is a certain adrenaline rush that runs through me. After that, the looking and investigating the incident brings me into a deeper state of mind. Something in me gets activated, it beats any roller coaster. It's the unknown that I’m drawn into. GDD: What subjects inspire you? EM: Futurism, blockchain technology, economics, and mindful exercises are among a few subjects that I enjoy learning about… Mostly, it's learning, and the practice of art making...It’s such a personal, subjective space…It doesn’t really have any relation to anything else that’s going on in the world. I think that is cool that there is an interest in wanting to talk and look at art. GDD: How do you define success? EM: I think one must simply gauge success from feeling joy in what they're doing… When you find that, and really experience it, it becomes a kind of addiction-Getting up every day and thinking about creating or doing it all over again.
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“...There is a certain adrena me. After that, the looking a brings me into a deeper stat gets activated, it beat
Erik Minter Studio, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
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aline rush that runs through and investigating the incident te of mind. Something in me ts any roller coaster.�
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GDD: What’s your workday like? EM: If I haven't worked late into the previous evening, I'll usually get up around 7am…Make breakfast and take a 40-minute walk with my dog. This gets my blood flowing, and I try to focus on my breathing. Then I'll head into the studio, usually do some emails and admin work. Then around ‘noonish’ is when I like to silence the phone. I start working on a surface or getting into mixing my paints. GDD: What inspires you to paint? EM: It's one of the only things I don't get bored of doing or looking at. I can sometimes just stare at a painting for a good few hours before I make another mark.
The wURLs LURking at U, 60 x 48 inches, mixed media on canvas, Erik Minter, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
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The push and pull of simultaneity in color brings out a good energy in me that keeps me coming back and wanting to know and do more.
“Painting is a nexus of decisions made both subconsciously and consciously, that arrive at a kind of expression that embodies taking in everything.�
_031920 eternal moonboi, acrylic and spray paint on metal, Erik Minter, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
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Detail, Churn, 72 x 60 inches, Erik Minter, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
In closing, I am sincerely moved by one of Erik Minter’s new paintings, “more zhuzhh plz”, a 32” x 30” inch mixed media painting that was created right before and on the cusp of the pandemic strike. A central form, with half of its being heavily laden in black, rises up to produce a violent bolt of hue-rrific fury. Blends of pink and yellow are crowned by an explosive headdress- an array of bold colors. Here is where the ephemeral application of paint by the artist, a fleeting action painting technique of Jackson Pollock inspiration, matures beyond the means of normalcy. Yes, the S.O.P. of our times has died. The standards at which we previously lived does not exist in this turbulent time. It seemed Minter sensed that. “more zhuzhh plz” is a metaphorical prophecy. We witness the Phoenix reborn. The existence of form, of standards, of principles that have existed for hundreds of years – the constitutions of global capitalisms brought to a halt. Visual realities emerge, projected forward and upward, propelled by force, by change, by unforeseen circumstances that create change. The florescent wings wisp the canvas, fleeting moments in time, flapping frantically to thrust its voice to the atmospheric unknown. The crest or crown of our undying, shape-shifter banshee of change is lit and aflame with flickering varieties of colors splattered and volatile. Burning blazes from the ruins of previous lives, lives lost and those of the unborn light the halo of hope. “more zhuzhh plz” carries with it a message clutched in the darkened and gothic staunches of unseen painterly grips…a hope of a new beginning…or for some… just HOPE…an undefined hope - the daily or hourly shifts of what hope means for each and every one of us. ###
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“We witness the Phoenix reborn. The existence of form, of standards, of principles that have existed for hundreds of years.”
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More zhuzhh plz, Erik Minter, 2020, Image courtesy of the artist
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Convoluted Color Cacophony Written by Gabriel Diego Delgado Installation image Image courtesy of the author
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“Convoluted Color Cacophony”, is an exhibition of a dozen “blob” paintings by international artist, Mike Hammer at Rosenbaum Contemporary gallery, 150 Yamato Road in Boca Raton, Florida during the month of March 2020 – April 2020. A survey of process paintings, “Convoluted Color Cacophony” walks the line of art historical lineages and good-humored nonsensicalness. The very notion of “Process Painting” is a relatively newer concept in the overall chronology of Art History– especially in relation to Post War Contemporary, nonrepresentational art. An artistic model where the production and means to the creation of artwork is as important or sometimes more imperative than the final executed product. Often discussed in academic circles for the Second and Third Generation Abstract Expressionists, the process painting methods dealt initially with artistic delivery – splatters, drips, automaticisms, and conceptual executions. Abstract Expressionist painter, Jackson Pollock, discussed his paintings existing in space and time, floating in the air, almost alive before they hit the canvas – slamming onto the canvas and shattering the visual levitation and three-dimensional exceptionality. Mike Hammer, an artist known for his “blob” paintings, is a selfproclaimed Process Painter from Canada. His artwork is a textbook case for the notion that artists, who are working in a variety of media, technique, process and intention, can arrive at a similar visual aesthetic. However, the individual’s personal experiences, preferences, and preferred habits of creation guide the process.
Installation image Image courtesy of the author
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Hammer, evoking inspiration from Contemporary Artist, Holton Rower, seems to purposefully educate himself on the swaths of contemporary artists who are producing blob paintings in an effort to pride himself on his own individualized production methods. One early pioneer of this pouring-based blob genre, Italian artist, Davide Nido glued down and stacked his pre-hardened and poured paint circles, while Hammer pours directly on the wood panels, allowing layers of acrylic to cure before adding additional layers. He builds layer upon layer, a visual fine art
Installation image Image courtesy of the author
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Small Town, Mike Hammer, 20 x 48 inches, Image courtesy of the artist
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stalactite. This sculptural sensibility becomes more evocative and propels the paintings into sculptural elements on the wall which intrude on the viewers space, budging into their personal proximity, but in a playful and whimsical meddle. “It’s Smashing, Darling!” is a 72” x 84” inch painting that demands attention. With over 6,000 square inches of blobs, Hammer accentuates each and every circle of paint with its own white halo. In viewing “It’s Smashing, Darling!”, I am reminded of a passage written by former Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, John Elderfeld. In “Morris Louis: The Museum of Modern Art New York” exhibition catalog, printed 1986, Elderfeld states: “…Midway through the century, that “great labor” insofar as painting was concerned, came to involve reimagining what constitutes the art of painting– not simply producing new paintings, but new paintings whose very method of creation reformulated what the very act of making a painting comprised.” Elderfeld was of course was describing Morris Louis’s pouring technique for his stain paintings of the 1950’s. But, these sentiments can also be applied 70 + years later to the innovative ways in which Mike Hammer creates his artworks; a type of pouring from customized squeeze-bottles onto the flat canvas/panels. The notion of working flat also harkens back to Jackson Pollock’s mentality where the artist was – “breaking open painting by experimenting with the materials of painting itself… having chosen to work on the floor, it made the canvas more material, more a real surface and not an ideal picture plane.”
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Installation images Image courtesy of the author
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Installation image Image courtesy of the author
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“While each blob in each painting is essentially a visual element on its own, the collective “civil society” of these blobs portrays a “third sector” or visual perception of compositional awareness distinct from the usual compositional features of traditional art; an independent aesthetic that ventures beyond foreground and background.” 44 /
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Hammer’s process painting even propels Clement Greenberg’s ideas in his signature essay, “The Crisis of the Easel Picture”, expanding on contents pertaining to “flatness and frontality.” Hammer is neither flat nor frontal – but, dimensional breaking through a 2-D painting appearance while understandably eliminating and dismissing the crux of easel painting techniques. As far as the bold and bright color palette, Hammer declares: “…blobs are composed of various color schemes, from analogous or complementary colors to shades of a single hue to alternating colors that create a Dr. Suess effect. Staying true to my spirit of experimentation, I often include garish or obviously mismatched colors.” While each blob in each painting is essentially a visual element on its own, the collective “civil society” of these blobs portrays a “third sector” or visual perception of compositional awareness distinct from the usual compositional features of traditional art; an independent aesthetic that ventures beyond foreground and background.
This new visual experience is the juddering of circular entities, atoms pulsating together, and generating a kind of molecular vibration– a harmonic motion. “Pressure Zone”, a 20 x 20 inch square painting evokes dispositions of Kenneth Noland color field, circle paintings and Jasper Johns’ targets. Varying size blobs and circles create three dimensional mischievous ogles and playful foci that distract us and hypnotize our thoughts and ambitions. With a stark, black background, the blobs float in an ambiguous cosmic space. Mike Hammer’s blob paintings are sophisticated, like the Aboriginal Dot symbology paintings, but non-educational with an infusion of Kindergarten googly-eye playfulness. ### Installation image Image courtesy of the author
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James Little 2019 in his Brooklyn Studio photo Sophia Little
Black on Black on Black New Paintings by James Little Written by Gabriel Diego Delgado
James Little expresses great vigor for his new painting series– monumental and large-scale all black paintings. Described as works that capitalized on various tones and depths of “black”, Little chose to move away from his more recognizable color palettes and dive into the divine notion of absolutes. James Little, by removing color and dealing directly with the tones and values of “black”, stripped down his use of hues to expose his inner identity that adequately began to mirror his outer “veracity”. Void of his signature bold color choices, and rhythmic consolidations, the black pigments appeared richer than previous alchemic pigment and beeswax blends and poignantly alluded to an undefined sensibility of infinite depth and complexity. Little’s constricted and uncluttered compositions became a volley of Minimalist ideals that drove the viewer, if they were willing, to experience a euphoric divinity.
Black Star, 2015, 72 x 72 inches, James Little photo courtesy of the artist and Sophia Little
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James Little 2019 in his Brooklyn Studio photo Sophia Little
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His new black paintings are a real catalyst for a quasi-religious experience put forth through non-color mannerisms. Aside from the apparent and obvious absence of color, a more theoretical or abstract postulation became clearer. By eliminating color, would act as a distraction to the viewers’ experience, Little advances toward a sublime and metaphysical space. Conceptually, he intentionally or unintentionally created an undetermined or abstract sense of spatial relations. This occurrence in his respective work was not quite fleeting or ephemeral with an evanescent and brief moment, but vaster and ever expanding – infinitely interstellar. The rhythmic arrangements of structure, of line, of piece and form drove the composition, but as we know, definitions of composition are visual-– and the viewing experience is now adequately transcending these seemingly archaic terminologies; allowing us as the viewer to arrive at another place and time.
Cubist Rendezvous, 2019, 72 x 72 inches, James Little photo courtesy of the artist and
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James Little 2019 in his Brooklyn Studio photo Sophia Little
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This however is not a new and groundbreaking concept. It can be seen in the insightful writings of Art Critic, Clement Greenberg. “In his essay. “Towards a Newer Laocoon”, published in 1940, he states: “The destruction of realistic pictorial space, and with it that of the object, was accomplished by means of the travesty that was cubism. The cubist painter eliminated color because, consciously or unconsciously, he was parodying, in order to destroy, the academic methods of achieving volume and depth, which are shading and perspective, and as such have little to do with color in the common sense of the word. The cubist used…. recessive planes, which seem to shift and fade into infinite depths…” Now fast forward over a century of Art History to see James Little is inherently moving beyond the physical definitions of space and are circumnavigating discernable concepts of pictorial depth through a less linguistically definable practice. It is also hard to ignore the historical lineages belonging to twenty-three-year-old Frank Stella and his debut of four black paintings at the Museum of Modern Art in 1959. Curator, Kate Nesin wrote of his works, that these black paintings were “at once stark, deadpan, rigorous, imposing, velvety – diagrammatic but also tactile.” The insightful capture of aesthetic by Nesin on Stella from his work in 1959 can be honestly applied to Little’s new black paintings in 2019. There are times in artists’ careers that are considered defining moments. These moments are celebrated. In Little’s prestigious career, the new black painting series exceedingly catapults his significance in today’s contemporary art world – not only an artists’ artist, but an artist still defining his generation in a post-KAWS art consumerist economy. Craft, Dedication, Vigor, and half a century of theory-based production cement him in the lineage of Art History as an artist of worth and prestigious.
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“Decoy”, 2019, is a black, oil and wax on linen painting measuring 72” by 72” by James Little that culminates perfectly the antiesoteric minimalistic qualities Little covets. Evidences of the painter’s hand, the process, and the dynamism of where ‘Artist is Shaman’ reveals more about Joseph Beuys than Frank Stella’s signature minimalistic motto of: “What You See Is What You See”. Little’s imperfect line qualities channel the Navajo Nation’s deliberate mistakes in their woven rugs – a symbol of imperfection, and a methodical flaw where the spirit moves in and out, perceiving only the “Creator” is perfect. Alternating angular arrangements create a quasi-herringbone composition of multi-tones “black” lines. Hyper-hypnotic, the rhythms of the artist composition resonate universal themes already existing in every facet of our existence, surrounding us at every moment. These painterly pulses traverse foundations of everything from musical notes, chords and nomenclatures to Nature’s own chirping crickets and birds. We are no longer tied to conceptual understandings of art history and academic terminology. Little shows us life, in a philosophical suggestion via a painting. The painting is a vehicle, an instrument that seems to validate Quantum Physics' String Theory where Little’s strokes emanate vibrational states that propagate through space and time, interacting with everything simultaneously. ###
Gorilla, 2019, 72 x 72 inches, James Little photo courtesy of the artist and Sophia Little
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