alexander, ruscha & condo: reviews

8/3/2019 Alexander, Ruscha & Condo: Reviews

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Jason Shawn Alexander

Featured work:

http://www.jasonshawnalexander.com/jasonshawnalexander/paintings_I.ht ml

Mr. Alexander is an artist whom manages to synthesise interest for thepop culture, comic world as well as maintaining his intrigue for linealrepresentations of humans. Hailing from Tennessee but currentlyoperating in Los Angeles, Alexander's website categorises him as anexpressionist yet figurative artist, whose idea of a copacetic work is onethat creolises the elements of abstract gestures, "unfinished" segments of the painting to be visible and present. The latter of these elementsallegedly nurtures a psychedelic, complex, cognitive theme that can befound in many of his innumerable works.

Alexander, however, doesn't solely care for the prestigious, glitterati-aspect of the aesthetic world, however. His career launched itself afterAlexander began submitting his work to various renownedcomic/magazine publishers, including Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse.

A particular painting of dithyrambic interest to myself was a worktitled "Any Day Now" by Alexander. The main subject of this painting is arather elderly African-American man with his somewhat delineated legsspread apart, and a form of blanched branch which he holds pensively. The eyes, often labelled as the windows to the soul, are deliberately shut,

disabling us from verifying the mood this man is in. He does not seem tohail from the incumbent aeon (his attire indicates this). If the viewer is todelve into the man's surroundings, they seem tarnished-the wall to hisright is abruptly blotched by a black shade-in, while iotas or orangesurround him from each side. Indeed, Alexander must've meant for thesecolourful additions to be deliberate, but what does it signify? Could it byany chance be symbolic of the injustice, of how the otherwise white,peace-fostering surroundings could be stained with the residue of prejudice's wrath? Tis indeed a mystery, though a part of me declares thatAlexander meant to perplex the reader with these unfounded colorplacements.

Ed Ruscha

Featured Work: http://www.artnet.com/artwork/426139498/ghost-station.html

Ed Ruscha, in my opinion, can be accredited with truly capturing theAmerican denizen's perspective of the "Wild West" through the eyes of highway venturers. Yet, Ruscha hasn't restricted himself to a soledimension of art. Some of his notable pieces include the usage of text,

either in relation to the subject the text is portrayed on or not. Ruscha is arenowned painter, photographer, and drawer, and more often that not



he'll have a tendency to combine all three elements.I was fortunate enough to catch sight of Ruscha's mastery at the

Hayward Gallery approximately two years ago, in an exhibition titled "EdRuscha: Fifty Years of Painting". Ruscha's most popular and valuable workis inarguably those of the "Station" series, which have been praised with

capturing the California car-culture, highway mentality of the past half-century.

A particular piece that immediately "had" me as a fan was titled"Ghost Station". It essentially is a rendition of the station, but simplywithout color or any texturing. The piece is assorted into the "prints onhandmade paper" genre. The most astounding feature is invariably theusage of linear perspective. At the first glance, the viewer is enticed bythe grand scale of the petrol station; perhaps they shall be able to makeout the "STANDARD" spelling that adorns the left flank. Sooner or later,however, your pupils shall progressively be dragged down towards thebottom left corner.

What, exactly, is the meaning that underlies "Ghost Station"? IsRuscha perhaps implying that the culture that was so glamourised andimmortalised by films and literature is soon spiralling into oblivion? Hasthe station been deserted, or abandoned? An eerie, spooky sentimentmight overwhelm the viewer if he or she agonisingly speculates over themeaning too much.

George Condo

http://artobserved.com/artists/george-condo/- Smiling Sea Captain

Though Ruscha and Alexander are infamous in the indefinite spectrumstrum of art pioneers, Condo can fairly be regarded as the most famous of the three at this current moment. Condo, whom hails from New York butwas educated in the aesthetic wonderland of Paris, has establishedhimself as a figure of zealous joy and bizarre, yet wondrous, horrors. Though it is not Condo's objective to "horrify" the viewer, one could viewhim as a comedian's Goya- his subjects more often that not encompasswhat I deem as the signature "Condo face", a clownish caricature of thesubject. (Condo has produced these for both the Queen of England and

Kanye West, the latter of which requested for him to design an albumcover [My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, 2010,]).

In the Smiling Sea Captain, Condo, with facile, drapes another one of his signature faces upon who we assume to be the nautical figure in thispainting. His face is diabolical, but the adjectives of "creepy", stealthy,guileful, and just blandly hilarious could also be attributed to the Captain.A spear (or a third of a trident, on the note of the sea) is impaled throughthe captain-alas, this is not a folly mistake of Condo's, as two target's areemblazoned on the Captain's shirt.

Bizarrely, the Captain dons "furry" pants, which are most unusual for

any grown man to wear, let alone a ship-member. An inkling of bait alsoseems to be hanging from the spear; could this perhaps symbolise greed



of some sort, or how the incentive for pirate's booty may lead to theirdownfall?

Another aspect I'm a great fan of what the bluish background(indicative of the ocean), and how it becomes darker/more obscure as theviewer pans from right to left. If the Captain is indeed murdered, the

darkness that emerges on the left could be a portent of death, or how theCaptain is going to perish soon at the hands of this spear. So, why is hegleeful then?(An exhibition of Condo's shall be coming to the Hayward Gallery soon,http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/george-condo-the-comedy-of-horror-2360835.html)

alexander, ruscha & condo: reviews

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