american society of contemporary artists NUMBER 50 SPRING-2013

By David Flaherty

R aymond Weinstein passed away on Saturday March 23

th in a

peaceful manner from complications due to heart failure. He was 93 years old and just a few days short of his 63

rd wedding anniversary. His wife

Helene and his two daughters, Anne Simpson and Ellen Weinstein, survive him. Raymond’s last show was at the Highline Gallery earlier in 2013. Although he wanted to attend the opening, his ill health prevented his doing so. Raymond worked as a machinist for the MTA repairing subway cars. The loud work environment contributed to his partial loss of hearing. Upon retirement from the MTA Raymond threw himself into making sculpture with his hands. He joined the Educational Alliance and used its nearby sculpture studio to craft his artwork. He became the Membership Director of ASCA and remained an ac-tive member until his death. Working in wood, marble and clay Raymond crafted scores of sculptures. Styles ranged from the abstract to the representational and every stage in between. The closing of the sculpture studio at the Educational Alliance was a blow to him, taking away his number one activity. (Closed due to renovation) Even in his last month Ray was working on a sculpture, which remains unfinished. As a father, Raymond built two country homes outside of New York and took his family on long-ranging road trips to America’s state parks. In later years, Helene and Raymond took many trips to Europe with Nice being one of their favorite locations. I’m sure Raymond is as disappointed as everyone else in not being able to participate in future shows. A Memorial event and celebration of his life will be orga-nized in the coming months. Raymond was buried in Beth Israel cemetery in Woodbridge, NJ in a simple private ceremony.

IN MEMORIAM OF RAYMOND WEINSTEIN

Unfinished Work in progress

MEMORIAL FOR RAY MAY 4, 2013 1:00-4:00PM.

AT RAY WEINSTEIN’S APARTMENT. 453 FDR DRIVE #1805 NYC 10002

2

By Ed McCormick ( Gallery and Studio)

P erhaps the most telling wall-relief construction in Harriet FeBland’s 55th solo exhibition is one of the

least typical. Entitled "Biography," its composition takes the form of the grid of 36 squares con-taining a variety of abstract forms inter-spersed here and there with picto-graphic images of starkly stylized fac-es. The grid and the geometric shapes of FeBland’s oeuvre, which has been re-markably consistent over a long and dis-tinguished career. But the phases are relatively rare addi-tion to her visual vocabulary, alt-hough anticipated in the figurative imagery of her Hanga woodcuts, the tradi-tional Japanese technique dating back 1000 years to which this consummately modern artist has made her own unique contribution. Overall, however, FeBland has made formal concerns the primary preoccupation, and even the faces in "Biography" are masklike, as hermetically sealed and free from anecdotal allusions as the more geometrical shapes in the adjoining squares, which suggests all man-ner of things, from urban architecture to stylized anatomi-cal details to cosmic symbols and remnants of ancient cultures to the streamlined curves of Art Nouveau, with-out spelling them out. Despite this title, which promises more personal dis-closure than one normally expects from FeBland, per-haps what the artist is making clear in this piece is the absolute beauty of form and colors are what her work – and by extension the life – above, all else, has always been about. It within the boundaries that she has set for herself, FeBland’s great achievement has been to dis-cover in these two basic elements a subjective expres-siveness that inspired Paul Mosanyi, former director of the New School Art Center, to call her "The Poet of Ge-ometry." Indeed, Mosanyi’s capsule analysis of her art is so succinctly definitive as to bear repeating in any serious discussion of it: "Seeing a vigor and vitality in geometry Harriet FeBland made her subject. ‘It is a universal im-agery understood by everyone,’ she states. But hers is (See FeBland )

W e need volunteers to help continue the survival of our ASCA Newsletter. We welcome art-related articles, reviews of exhibitions and your upcom-

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(FeBland ) not a cool reasoned geometry of Mondrian, the result of analytical thinking. It is exceeded of woman's intuitive vision of the vital essence… The color of her prints is exalted; her sculptures hint at a hidden meaning akin to the mystery divulged by the prehistoric taboos of submerged, magic civilizations. Harriet FeBland hu-manized geometry and revealed its mystery and beauty." Well-known for her monumental sculptures and con-structions in galleries, museums, and outdoors in public spaces, FeBland's present solo show features 25 small wall-relief constructions, created over the past two years, that reveal a more intimate aspect of the work. Entitled "Homage" and dedicated to the memory of two beloved mentors, supporters, and friends – the collector Margaret Radoff and Rose Shar, framer to major New York City Museums – this exhibition makes clear why FeBland has been included in exhibitions with him intimists such as Joseph Cornell, as well as other artist best known for works on larger scales, including Hans Van de Bovenkamp, Marisol, and Louise Nevelson. For the monumental qualities that distinguish FeBland’s work, re-gardless of the actual dimensions of any par-ticular piece, have al-ways sprung from her unerring grasp of sig-nificant form, rather than from the gratui-tous gigantism with which far too many lesser artists routinely attempt to grab atten-tion. Consider for example the truly miniature (6”x5”x3”) wall-relief construction called "ASK. "On one level, this circular-shaped piece – primarily in black, white, gray and red, with 3-D rectangular relief elements grouped around its outer rim and protruding from its center (the circle within the circle), suggests the sub-genre of sci ence fiction known as "Steampunk," with its celebration of anachronistic technologies and retro-futuristic details, such as steam-driven antique airships with primitive (See FeBland )

HARRIET FeBLAND PAYS AN INTIMATE TRIBUTE

“Ask” Miniature wall relief

Construction Acrylic on wood

“Biography” Wall-relief

construction/panting acrylic on wood

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By Lea Weinberg artist, sculptor

M y current project “Mother - Survivor” a

Woman’s Personal Story in-tertwined with the tragedy of Human History, is mother’s Holocaust journey expressed through a contemporary three dimensional installation (six series of works).As Second Generation of Holocaust Sur-vivors and an artist, I feel it is my obligation to present a visual message preserving the stories I have personally heard. The idea was in my heart, but since my mother passed away it became my goal.

My childhood fairy tales were my mother’s sto-ries about her past. When I grew up I understood that all my mother’s family members didn’t survive. Even though, I felt I knew them from her vivid stories that brought them to life.

My work highlights personal and general aspects of the Holocaust, expressing past events that need to be remembered forever. The goal of my art project is to evoke public awareness of the Holocaust. It is very im-portant for a society that still has Holocaust denials and

genocide in the world Mother-Survivor is about my mother’s personal journey from the Ghetto to a one year term as a prisoner in Auschwitz. The work is in-spired by the story of how my mother at 18 years old, found eight photos of her family while working as a Victims’ Clothes Sorter in Auschwitz-Birkenau. She succeeded in keeping the photos hidden inside a mar-garine sandwich until Liber-ation Day. On May, 2011 my mother gave her eight pho-

tographs to “Yad -Vashem”, Jerusalem, Israel The exhibition will include three-dimensional

original works, both free standing and wall hanging as well as short documents, personal stories and repetition of visual elements with associative interpretations. My semi-abstract wire mesh with mixed-media sculptures and reliefs portray a motif of Togetherness. Figures en-twined together swirling like wisps of smoke, express (See Weinberg page 4)

((FeBland ) riveted portholes, as imagined by 19th-century fantasy authors, such as Jules Verne and HG Wells. There is also in this resonant little gem of a work of a bow to the Russian Constructivists; not only to the relief constructions of FeBland’s spiritual ancestor, Vladimir Tatlin; but to the Bauhaus elevation of typography to high art status (reflected here in her inclusion of printed letters and numerals), And Also to the Constructivists’ early 20th century belief, shared with the Futurists, in machin-ery as a liberating force for humankind (revived, at least nostalgically, by today's steampunk enthusiasts). At the same time, FeBland’s "ASK" also evokes all the more primal associations of organic orifices – most particularly the womb – and, despite its diminutive pro-portions, encourages one to consider the infinite mystery of unlimited form contained within every circle, from the primal source of life itself to the symbolic zeroes of the immortal Zen Buddhist Inc. painters of ancient China and Japan. (Far be it from FeBland to be predictable, however: Another painted wall relief that she actually titles "Zen" consists of red, white, and blue stripes arranged in a square and set transcendently afloat on a solid blue ground.)

A somewhat larger work in wood and canvas that FeBland calls "Time Out with Red" could be seen as her own "Homage to the Square," after Josef Al-bers – albeit in depth and exploring a more complex range of chromatic interac-tions. Here, the square canvases cen-tered within a larger square panel serving as a painted frame, within overlapping precisely painted crisscrossing areas of various red hues and blue bracket a small blue-bordered square. Within the indent-ed center of this third and smallest square, regularly spaced steps receipt in a purple.. Here, too, FeBland employees a textural pointillistic painting technique remi-niscent of Seurat, that only for its optical effect of "color as light," to quote JMW Turner's felicitous phrase, but to lend the composition of the sensuous tactility detonates its different levels together and harmonious unity.

Also included is an especially poetic box assem-blage entitled "Four Days in May," it for panels containing rings, brackets, and semiabstract shapes suggesting a skeletal chassis and wheels of the miniature automobile, a single cigarette, and other evocative props in a person-al narrative. The solo show is yet another crowning achievement in the career of the widely exhibited artist who coined the now commonly used term "construction" and whose work exemplifies its most sublime possibili-ties.

THE HOLOCAUST: EXPRESSED THROUGH WIRE MESH SCULPTURE INSTALLATION

“Turning” Miniature wall-relief

Construction Acrylic on

wood

“Memories in the Air One”

“Memories in the Air Two”

4

W e need volunteers to help continue the survival of our ASCA Newsletter. We welcome art-related articles, reviews of exhibitions and your upcom-

ing shows. Send your material to:

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or email it to artist@hankrondina.com

(Weinberg Continued from page 3)

close connections of inseparable people who found themselves in a space they could not escape from. Sur-vivors holding onto present life hoping for a better future alongside unforgettable memories from the past are also expressed in the works. For example: Memories in the Air six semi-transparent wire mesh reliefs describing semi abstract human shells. Silver, white and grey fig-ures, accompanied by their shadows are giving a feeling of lightness, clouds, smoke or spirits appearing and disap-pearing in the air. We are sur-rounded by unforgettable memories from the past. We will never forget!

I chose the use of humble materials such as wire mesh, rusty metal, used and found objects, to express the beauty of imperfection and the idea that everyone can con-tribute to life. Torn wire mesh is a symbol to “Kriah” (tearing in Hebrew-the act of tearing one’s clothes as an expression of grief usually done at the funeral home. The number six that is repeated in my work is a symbol of my mother’s six family members who perished: her mother, father, two brothers, and two sis-ters; and the six millions Jews who lost their lives during the Second World War.

The exhibition is a tribute to all Holocaust survi-vors and their power to build a new life, in memory of those who didn’t survive and in memory of my mother who passed away on January 2012. I hope that learning from the past will help prevent this kind of evil in the future- Never Again! This exhibit appeared 44 DEGREES, an online magazine dedicated to promoting Israeli artists. The magazine deals with contemporary art. The Apr 7, 2013 – Dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust, and displays an impressive collection of works of contemporary art in different techniques. http://art-magazine.wix.com/44degrees#

By Hedy O’Beil

R ecently, I was look-ing at 8 x 10” photo-

graphs of my work that covered over fifty years of painting. I was pleased to see how good the work was. The pic-tures reminded me of where I was at the time and what my life was about. There was the As-semblage period when Rauschenberg was tear-ing up paper, newspaper headlines, bits and piec-es from life, plus the un-forgettable painted pillow and mattress—the most ordinary things. Later, Surrealism and Giorgio de Chirico came into my radar. Again and again, I returned to the gallery at MOMA devoted to his paintings. I can’t tell you why I was so enchanted, but the empty streets, the reclining sculp-ture of a Greek Goddess--and suddenly on the bottom right of the painting, a bunch of ordinary yellow bananas entered the scene. Fantastic!...eerie!...and wonderfully unsettling. One day, I came upon a stash of fashion mannequins in front of A & S Department store. There were about

eight disconnected fig-ures, one on top of the other: an arm here, legs there, torsos on top, plus hands with bright red nail polish. It was early In the morning, the streets were empty. Quickly I took every single one of the piec-es, piling them into my station wagon. Off I sped, home with my treasures. These won-derful “found objects” kept me painting and

drawing for over ten years.

Another time, I could not disregard an icebox from the early Twenties that I saw in a dark corner of the Salva-tion Army store. It was a diminutive thing with compart

(See Hedy O’Beil, Statement page 5)

“Universal Chimney” upper part

“STATEMENT”

Rauschenberg “Currents”

1970

Giorgio de Chirico “Song of Love”

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By Andrew Reinbach Huffington Post February 13, 2011

H oney Kassoy turns 94 this week. She's the most successful artist I know.

Not everybody's heard of Honey, or of her late husband, Bernie. Like many truly excellent artists -- she's most importantly a sculptor, he was a painter -- the mar-ketplace largely passed them by and never gave either of them the recognition their work deserved.

A crime? If anything, that snub by the Soho mob was probably the best thing that could have happened to either Honey or Bernie, because it freed them to bring their visions to the world without compromise. And that, my friends, is true success in art.

People bamboozled by market success in our celebrity-soaked world may imagine otherwise, of course. To them, success in the arts is all about money, sparkling parties in sparkling lofts, and glowing reviews in the New Yorker.

As any real artist, critic, or collector will tell you, though, that means nothing. In fact it's the opposite of artistic success, because the market forces every human to meet its demands, or else. That compels artists to pro-duce what sells -- this week.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with mak-ing money by making art. If anything, that's a great suc-cess all by itself. And we all deserve to be paid for our work. But life is short and art is long, and if creating art is about immortality, then artists who produce only for the market are selling their birthright for a mess of pottage.

In the early 19th Century, for instance, Jacques-Louis David made a fortune celebrat-ing the French Revolu-tion and Napoleon. But who is David today com-pared with J.M.W. Turner? David set the tone for a century's worth of French painters, sure; but it's not much of a stretch to argue that Turner was art's passageway from the Renaissance to Modernism. Yet in their day, David was the superstar. I'm not arguing that Honey is Turner. If nothing else, that's history's call. But Honey, respected by her peers but given a pass by the galleries, spent her life creating art according to her own lights. Shakespeare put it best: Her eyes "...glance from heaven to earth/ from earth to heaven/ and, as imagination bodies forth the forms of things unknown, / give to airy nothing a local habitation and a name." And the same goes for Bernie.

(See Honey page 7)

(Hedy O’Beil, Statement) ments inside. I placed some of the mannequin parts there then closed the doors so they wouldn’t come out. My coming to the city in 1976, coincided with the Feminist movement, a fantastic time espe-cially for women artists. While other women painted Goddesses and talked about Merlin Stone’s book, “When God Was A Woman,” I gravitated towards ob-jects found in the street or junk shops, combining them with an overall connection to women and home. After a while, color took over. Abstract, organic shapes displaced the bowls, pitchers and masks in my paintings. De Kooning was on my mind, as well as Guston. What a shock to the art world when Philip Gus-ton, one of the top Abstract Expressionist artists, totally retired his early abstract work. This was an amazing turn-about to the cartoon figures he began to draw, rather

ugly, but powerfully painted statements that were autobiographical. There was a fat hand holding an equally fat cigar while one huge grotesque eye continued to study the paintings lined up against the wall. What courage Gus-ton had! While the New York school was going madly into huge abstract paintings, he followed his heart, continuing to

paint the outrageous in luscious pinks, reds and blacks. Nothing could stop him. To paint from your inner spirit is not easy. If I have any statement after lo these many years of painting, it would be -- focus on yourself. Don’t look out there, or you will drown in the multitude of styles that are going on. And yes, let your light shine! “The things I felt... about certain painters of the past that... inspired me, like Cezanne and Manet... that com-plete losing of oneself in the work to such an extent that the work itself... felt as if a living organism was posited there on the canvas, on this surface... That's truly... the act of creation.” (Philip Guston)

De Kooning “Woman V “

Philip Guston “To Fellini “

HONEY KASSOY: HUFFINGTON POST FEBRUARY 13, 2011

6

Linda Butti “Cherry Tree”

María de Echevarría "Dancing Trees #4"

Rose Sigal-Ibsen

ASCA GALLERY

T he ASCA ART GALLERY presents examples of art by ASCA members selected from the Gallery Al-bum. Please send photos of your recent work,

and if space permits, they may be included in upcoming editions of the Newsletter. Remember to include your name, the title of your work, the medium, and an arrow showing which side is UP.

Mail your photos to —Hank Rondina, 209 Lincoln Place, Eastchester, New York 10709, or

e-mail your jpegs to artist@hankrondina.com

Gil Passarella “Red Waters”

oil 36x18

Ester Berman “Happiness ” Mixed media

collage

7

(Honey Continued from page 5)

The result is art that can hold its own against any work I know. Look, for instance, at this sculpture by Honey called "The Women", and this untitled oil stick drawing by Bernie.

Do you see any-thing here that's unequal to what you'd see at the Metropolitan? I don't think so. If we're on Earth for anything, it's to perfect our selves and to give shape to what's in us. Certainly, that's the entire idea for artists. Honey and Bernie, freed from the distortions of the marketplace, gave birth to an entire body of work pure as they could make it, and a life built on creating it. It's up to the art world to recognize that, or not. But their work is there for anybody to see, and no one -- and nothing -- can take that away from them. Happy birthday, Honey

PIAZZA MICHELANGELO, PIETRASANTA Across the square a golden palace glows, the past etched in its glorious facade. Lost memories so secretly repose in wooden doors, so intricately carved. In Michelangelo's cafe I doze and dream of marble from the distant hills. I wait there while my inspiration flows, to take up tools and utilize my skills. For he slept here so many years ago and waited for his marble to descend, pure marble cut from Mt. Altissimmo. Took several months before his stay would end. Nine men set my marble up for me. And now to carve , and set my image free. Honey Kassoy

Hedy O'Beil “Temple Spirit ”

Margo Mead

Mihai Caranica

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ASCA OFFICERS President Barbara Schiller President-Emeritus Harriet FeBland Vice-President Raymond Weinstein Vice-President Raymond Shanfeld Vice-President Frank Mann Treasurer Recording Secretary Imelda Cajipe Endaya Corresponding Secretary Lisa Robbins Social Secretary Olga Kitt Historian Frank Mann Board of Directors: Hank Rondina, Fred Terna

ASCA NEWSLETTER

Publication Director Hank Rondina

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS David Flaherty, ,Ed McCormick Gallery and Studio

Hedy O'Beil, Andrew Reinbach Huffington Post, Hank Rondina, Lea Weinberg

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Hank Rondina,

COPY DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT ISSUE JUNE 30, 2013

Send your material to: Hank Rondina, 209 Lincoln Place,

Eastchester, New York 10709; Telephone (914) 793-1376; or email it to artist@hankrondina.com

ASCA Newsletter is published 4 times a year.

Copyright ©2013 by ASCA Permission is required to reprint any portion of this newsletter.

MEMBERSHIP NEWS

W e need volunteers to help continue the survival of our ASCA Newsletter. We welcome art-related articles, reviews of exhibitions and your upcom-

ing shows. Send your material to: Hank Rondina

209 Lincoln Place, Eastchester, New York 10709;

Telephone (914) 793-1376; or email it to artist@hankrondina.com

Elaine Alibrandi— "Little Treasures 2013," Galleria de' Marchi, Bologna, Italy, March 23—April 4, 2013—ALSO—"Morphogenesis," 310 Art, Asheville, North Carolina, April 1-30, 2013—ALSO—"Petroleum Paradox: For Better or For Worse?" Narrows Center for the Arts,Fall River, Massachusetts, April 6-May 18, 2013 —ALSO— "Between Continuity and Innovation," Palazzo della Bella, Vico del Gargano, Italy, February 14-17, 2013—ALSO—""Growl," Karl Drerup Art Gallery, Plymouth, New Hampshire, February 1-March 15, 2013

Marcia Bernstein—has had an anti-war piece accepted as a donation to the permanent collec-tion of the Peace Museum Dayton, OH.

Linda Butti—Solo exhibit (OPENING Copy url to web browserhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vhqMjtYxUrg“Leaf and Light Trees ”Work from a Private Place April 4- April 30, 2013 The Berkeley Gallery Berkeley, 3 E. 43rd Street NYC (See Gallery) —ALSO– Curated “Island of Art” at St. John’s University, Staten Island,, Loretto Me-morial Library Gallery, Mar. 23rd-May 11th

Yanka Cantor— “Art of the 5: Queens Represents,” 2nd in a series of annual exhibitions highlighting select-ed artists from NYC's 5 boroughs at The Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, NY May 9th -Jul. 5th, Reception Thur., May 16, 2013

María de Echevarría—Participating in the Eldorado

Studio Tour on May 18 and 19. is near Santa Fe, New Mexico. this event there will be 71 studios open and Ma-ría will show some 40 acrylic and oil paintings in her stu-dio. (See Gallery)

Harriet FeBland— "Homage" The N.A.W.A. Gallery, Fifth Ave, Suite 1405, NY, NY 10011, March 6- 29, 2013 Reception: March 13, 5-7 PM

Janet Indick—Exhibited at the National Association of Women Artists’ “Morphogenesis” 310 Art Gallery River Station, Asheville, NC Apr.1st-30th

Rose Sigal Ibsen—Exhibiting in Special Exhibit And Celebration Of Asian Heritage Month, at Berkeley Gallery II, Berkeley College, 12 E. 41st St., New York, NY, Demonstration And Reception Friday, May 10 530-7:30 PM Marilyn Weiss—Solo show at the Graphic Eye Gal-lery,402 Main St., Port Washington, NY.11050 May 2 - 26, 2013 Reception: Sunday, May 5, 2 - 4 PM ALSO- Exhibited " Artist Invite Artists, January 31 - March 24 Eye Gallery

Leslie Shaw Zadoian— “Art of the 5: Queens Repre-sents,” 2nd in a series of annual exhibitions highlighting selected artists from NYC's 5 boroughs at The Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, NY May 9th -Jul. 5th, Reception Thur., May 16, 2013

Mark Rothko “The progression of a painter's work as it travels in time from point to point, will be toward clarity.. toward the elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea.. and the idea and the observer.. To achieve this clarity is inevitably to be understood” “One does not paint for design students or historians but for human beings, and the reaction in human terms is the only thing that is really satisfactory to the artist.”

MEMORIAL FOR RAY MAY 4, 2013 1:00-4:00PM.

AT RAY WEINSTEIN’S APARTMENT. 453 FDR DRIVE #1805 NYC 10002