Facts, Fecundity and Figuration- The Humanist Tradition in Realism-

A review of Three shows -    in Binghamton- Brian Keeler

  At the Roberson Museum in Binghamton-

To view two retrospectives that focus on the human form and the portrait at the Roberson and another show of figurative paintings at the Brunelli Gallery on State Street in Binghamton was an immersion in wonderful and serious examples of figurative art.   It was an inspiring evening to view some  work of artists who have devoted their careers to this ancient and venerable tradition of creating expressions of their fellows (and sometimes themselves.) The fecundity and inventiveness in portraying the human figure is the takeaway here. These artists honor history while at the same time relating to the present.

Joshua Lasky-  Reveling in the Study of the Masters-

Let's start with Joshua Lasky, the photographer from Binghamton. His direction caught my attention as having a parallel interest to some of my own work- which is to study the work of masters, learn from them and recreate their ideas. His recreation of masterworks are in fact the very same artists whom  I have venerated over the years- namely Vermeer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt and others.  These painters of the figure and the portrait all brought the portrayal of light into the fore.  The light is the medium, the message and the subject.  But not to undermine the human aspect, as these are not impersonal and bloodless academic exercises, for they convey the personal and even the dignity of the individual. The religious and spiritual aspects are part of the endeavor as well.

Above- This photo of Lasky''s is a recreation of the famous painting by Caravaggio of Saint Jerome in the act of translating the Bible from Greek to Latin. The Roberson Museum curators have nicely displayed a small copy of the original of all the pieces next to the photos by Lasky.

The Study of the Baroque Light on the Human Form

Lasky does his study of the masters as a photographer.  The painterly sensibilities and the interest in design all bring the work to a higher level than mere reportage. 

One quote is included in script on a paper held by Lasky's Saint Jerome. It is written in Latin script to connect with the lingua franca of the 17th century.

"Aui Caluminiatur pauperem, exprobrat Factori eius; honorat autem Deum, qui misertur egeni."

"Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God."

These words were included in Lasky's wall text describing the photo interpretation of a painting by Caravaggio of Saint Jerome translating the Bible from Greek to Latin.  But the message has unmistakable relevance to all of us today.  As we have viewed mass deportations, cruelty and brutality of innocents, the xenophobia and rampant racism of the Trump era - we can only regard it aghast with disgust and revulsion. Thus, art of the past becomes pertinent. 

I have loved Caravaggio's depiction as well as those by other painters who portrayed the Saint Jerome theme. There is a painting by the French artist, Simon Vouet in the NGA in DC of the saint with an angel that uses the same chiaroscuro that became the adopted method of a generation of artists following Caravaggio's lead.

Lasky's photo that recreated the famous "Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban," also thought to be a self- portrait is a captivating study. The original is by the 15th century Flemish artist Jan Van Eyck and was done in 1433, well before the Italian Baroque or the Renaissance kicked in. Lasky's photo shows the Pennsylvania photographer Kirk Van Zandbergen looking out at us with an arresting stare.  His clear blue eyes are a marked difference from the softer brown eyes of Van Eyck himself.  I viewed the original Van Eyck painting at the NGA in London several years ago as the entree piece into a show of Pre-Raphaelite paintings. The small canvas is about the same size as Lasky's photo which is not the case for the others, as most of the historical paintings are large canvases.

Above- The reinterpretation of the famous Van Eyck portrait. The exhibit includes a copy of the original alongside each painting that pays homage to an old master.

The lighting in the Van Eyck re-creation is the same as the original- a soft warm light that brings out the form of the head.  The deep saturation of the red in the turban and in other objects of the various photos is in keeping with the selective and limited use of hue and high chroma in the master works. The chroma is not splashed everywhere equally as in some impressionist paintings but is reserved selectively. We think of the deep backgrounds of Rembrandt or Georges de LaTour and the theatricality of the method with intense hues and light orchestrated.

As we peruse the work, noticing friend's portraits like Orazio Salati, Rich Henry and members of Lasky's family, we see how the everyday offers fodder for the creation of art.  For example, the black and white photo, titled "My Second Masterpiece" shows Lasky holding his son Elijah with the boy's arm hanging down. This pose recalls both Caravaggio's painting of the Entombment and Michelangelo's sculpture of the Pieta.  The Entombment painting is in the Vatican collection and it shows the Christ with his arm hanging down in a similar fashion. The Pieta reference changes  the order, instead of a mother with her son it is a father with his son.

Above- Lasky's photo of himself holding his son Elijah.

Lasky  says that he stages these re-enactments in his living room. There is one photo of his wife also holding their son that is the only image to use natural light. 

I must say that the visage of Lasky is even similar to that of Caravaggio.  A man in his late 30's with longish hair and mustache is how Caravaggio comes across to us as he included himself as an actor in the background of several of his major paintings. There is also a charcoal portrait of Caravaggio that was used on the Italian lire bill years ago.  Just last year, I was fortunate enough to view the Caravaggio retrospective at the Barberini in Rome.  I have always taken his paintings in when visiting Rome and often sketch from them in the museums.  And the recent biography by Andrew Graham Dixon "Caravaggio- A Life Sacred and Profane" was an excellent read while there. The self portrait of Lasky with a beer stein could be taken out of a painting by another Caravaggisti whose work was featured in a major show at the Met in NYC- that being Valentin de Boulogne. 

Lasky's show is titled, "Unexpected Passion" and it is an apt title.  In his commentary he explains that he came to photography by accident and we can view the passion and seriousness of his exploration of the masters, of himself and of his subjects.

The closing for this show is Saturday, October 10th.  But if you can't make that event or have not seen this show at the Roberson, Lasky has another exhibit coming up in December at the gallery at Broome Community College in Binghamton.

 Don DeMauro. - The Poetic Visual - sutres of the human

The retrospective of Don DeMauro is a fitting tribute to this painter who has held the respect and interest of the art community in Binghamton and beyond for decades.  As a major exponent of the figurative tradition we can view his accomplished works and influence in this museum survey.

DeMauro's work is sometimes more problematic or of onerous imagery- than Lasky's.  I am a fan and appreciate the accomplished works of this painter of portraits.  

Above- a large 3/4 length DeMauro portrait in the show. The artist's mahl stick is placed casually on the wall behind the model.

That said- his work does plumb the figure at times with bizarre and weird conflations that border on imagery that is akin to Hieronymus Bosch's imaginings.  For example there is a head study (shown below) that has the odd title of "American Dream." It is an ironic twist on the ideal of any patriotic vision.  It shows a shaven-head man in a 3/4 view portrait with some type of animal skull and front fangs, nose and teeth protruding.  One can speculate about an outwardly aggressive visage.  The painting also shows a head of some type of primate-like creature below.  These works  offer us more questions than finalities.

Above- DeMauro's imaginative painting "American Dream."

The figurative and portraiture here are works that I greatly admire.  The large oil portrait of a woman titled "Elizabeth" is a very accomplished painting.  To me it is reminiscent of another major exponent of figurative and realistic tradition, that being the Bay Area painter Wayne Thiebaud.  Both artists revel in color and somehow manage to convey an interest in paint for its own sake. This painting appears to have been done from a sitting; it shows splotches of white paint to the left that underscore the flatness of the canvas, although they are probably white swatches on the actual wall.  Yet the modeling of the head is done with skill. The articulation is accomplished and we can admire the painterly brushwork and the draftsmanship.   The lighting uses that Rembrandt-esque triangle of light on the shadow side of the model's face.  The hue of the shadow shows a rather mauve color that is not in the Rembrandt palette.

Other than this woman's portrait, most of the other works use the nude male figure.   This did make me wonder about the Roberson's policy of showing the nude. When I had my retrospective there a several years ago, I was told that nudes were not to be shown there.  Hmm, so be it.

There is a sculptural torso of a female figure presented within an antique wooden and arched window frame.  This work, like others, offers nothing of the prurient nor do the male figures. Lust can get no traction here.  Nearby is another sculptural piece, a marble of a single arm reaching down to a lightbulb on a ledge and a single stick on the platform.   This piece titled "To Touch this Melancholy Light" is an equally thought-provoking creation.  The piece includes a wall text with the word, melancholia repeated continuously. We may think of Albrecht Durer's etching of the same title.  To confront the melancholy and unacknowledged or underspoken parts of ourselves is part of the business and benefits of art.  This title and concept are unexpected as we don't usually think of light as being sad.  But like poems by Emily Dickenson that confront the unexpected and expresses the personal, so we can enjoy and find affinity. 

I first became acquainted with DeMauro's work back in the late 1980's.  His paintings were featured in a since shuttered gallery in a second floor space on Cayuga Street, near the Handwork Gallery in Ithaca.  This gallery, The Sears Gallery, was run by Joan Sears and had the makings of what seemed like a really fine gallery.  The show of his figurative art included a self portrait that was also in the Roberson show,  titled, "Nothing Lasts Forever."  This painting, like many others, includes collage- where photos are pasted on at various places.  This one includes black and white photos of the male nude from  the 19th century British photographer, Eadweard Muybrige. This inclusion shows a connection to that tradition of representing the male figure and the similar work of Thomas Eakins of a group of young men swimming and diving at a swimming hole. The expression of DeMauro's portrait, with mouth agape, is decidedly non-picturesque - yet we admire the honesty and unvarnished study with no effort to present an idealized or Raphael-like purity. The pose with mouth open also suggests another device of portraiture- the speaking likeness- as if caught in mid-sentence, used by Bernini and others.

Above- The DeMauro self portrait in oil also uses collage elements- reproductions of Muybridge photos of the male nude.

The male figures in large formats present us with two extremes, one being the brushy and bravura, the

other, the modeled and meticulous.   The former approach is presented in several works of the male figure painted on large sheets of heavy paper.  The pronounced brushwork of one of these, titled, "Blue Axis"  uses an extreme lighting in a chiaroscuro not unlike Rembrandt.  The poses are dramatic, perhaps angstful in twist and contortion. The tighter technique is presented in two pendant pieces showing four full-length male nudes from behind.  These paintings have the clinical look of anatomical studies with skeletal and muscular aspects as if Leonardo could have related to them or created them - if the conditions in Florence in the 15th and early 16th centuries would have allowed for this - instead of his work being done surreptitiously.  These works also recall that show of touring cadavers that was in many of the museums of the world about a decade ago. It raised hackles and moral and ethical questions about using corpses for reapplied showmanship.

Above- De Mauro's painting- "Blue Axis" is a large oil on paper depicting the male figure in a contorted standing pose in a near grisaille technique- meaning done in value with no color.

The DeMauro show is titled. " Spools/Loops- Suturing Time". And we can see the relevance of this exhibit theme as well.  We learn that he created a contemporary art space in nearby Johnson CIty that served as a platform for exhibits  and cultural events.  As a suture is also a thread that can heal and mend sundered flesh we can see the way the artist's life had a continuous thread that relates to the personal and community.   DeMauro's accomplishments are many, purusing painting, printmaking and sculpture over the years including his teaching at SUNY Binghamton from 1970 to 2008.

The exhibit shows us what a career and the serious pursuit of art can be. A commentary from and exhibit at the Spool Art Space written by DeMauro's former student, Zach Seeger is worth sharing here.

"He revolts against the stale connivances of academia, and steers away from the windblown whimsy of style and fad.  He is committed to the visual truth with sincerity and without apology.  Through circumstances and poetic mind, De Mauro transcends mere convention of place and time; romantic, but skeptical and sincere."

So what makes these shows humanistic as the title to this essay suggests? The term humanism is often used in regards to the Renaissance and the return to realistic representation and the attention to individuality rather than types or stylized representation. And I think both of these artists have work that qualifies with that description.  The first place I encountered this term was from Nelson Shanks, the late portrait painter. I took two workshops in Nelson's Studio Incamminati and his teaching and work show similar interest in the portrayal of the individual.

In town-  The featured show of Na Chainkua Reindorf and others- at Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts-

The contemporary figurative exploration continues- as our evening took in the First Friday events on State Street in downtown Binghamton.   The First Friday events have become part of many towns and cities across America for many years.  Binghamton's event is really a fine example of the community outreach. It was a mild October evening and a beautiful pink sky with wonderful clouds was on display over the Chemung River before we dined at the Lost Dog.  Then on to some galleries - some with live music.

However, regarding First Friday's, they are a mixed bag.  Many galleries stopped doing them out of frustration.  For example, in Philadelphia where I showed for several years at the FAN Gallery and Rodger La Pelle Gallery, others in the gallery district refused to participate. It became a mob scene with little real interest in the art and no serious buyers.  At the Laura Craig Gallery in Scranton, it was similar and then to add insult to injury one petulant visitor only complained about the wine.

Above- A large acrylic and mixed media canvas titled "Sting."

Our first stop in Binghamton was at the Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts Gallery. We were greeted by John, the co-owner with his brother.  The gallery is really a world class venue and Na Chainkua Reindorf, the current artist featured, proves the point as she has been selected for the Venice Biennale. Born in 1991, she is the youngest of the three artists featured here. She has an impressive resume, with her training here at Cornell University. Which seems somewhat surprising, as I was not aware of instruction there in the realistic tradition of figurative art. 

Hailing from Ghana in West Africa, her imagery, color and mythology provide the pretext and foundation of her art. It also sets her apart from the other two artists. She articulates her interest in plumbing the cosmology of her native land and finds herself fortunate that she has been able to avail herself of this native tradition.  It was nearly lost under the preponderance of western religions.

The large canvases that are on display offer the viewer a panoply of high chroma silhouetted figures brought out through effective contrast of value.  The visual ideas are engaging and intriguing.  One can see how her work would appeal to the Venice Biennale selection committee. I've visited that event once- which is held every other September in Venice, Italy. It is an avant XXX extravaganza of cuttingedge work.  Not for everyone, as it seems like the pursuit of novelty often eclipses the quieter pursuit of craft.  Still it is an exciting event held near the Giardino in that ancient city- and home of such venerable Renaissance figurative artists as Bellini, Titian, Giorgoni, Tiepolo and Veronese.

Above- an acrylic and mixed media painting by Reindorf titled "Spathe."

Her subjects are all female figures- perhaps self portraits?  And the works often combine various elements and materials.  They are done in acrylic on canvas and they do seem to have that quality that acrylic imparts. There is no interest in paint quality per se and the color, although brilliant and saturated, shows minimal brushwork or process. The show is titled, "Lore" which means God is a woman in the mythology of her native Ghana. This begs the question of deity- is God really gender specific? Is it possible for the infinite to be incarnated in the limited vehicle of man or woman?

To underscore part of these paintings of the Roberson and at the Brunelli being related to sexual orientation- there is a series of black and white gouache prints (at the Brunelli by Reindorf) that blatantly proclaim the subject as "Maw." They are easily dismissed as just blobs of black, then they evolve to show a white line or crack- with the pudendal likeness and associations unmistakably there. Some of us may think of that small oil in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris by Courbet titled "Origin of the World."

Whereas the paintings and photos of the other two artists in this review use a more traditional palette of colors, Reindorf's paintings have the high chroma of the unbridled- perhaps we could call them even Dayglo in nature. We appreciate the coloration and even arbitrary usage. And rather than paying homage to the old masters this color sensibility seems more akin to the psychedelic era and recalls the work of Peter Max. We can appreciate the inventiveness of her ideas and visual playfulness.

The catalog produced for this show by the Brunelli Gallery offers passages of text where the artist describes her motivations and inspirations.  Here is the artist in her own words.

“My work is informed and inspired by the visual language of West African textiles and the custom of using these textiles as a means of communication. I am equally fascinated by our widespread relationship with textiles almost exclusively as objects with specific functions. The work I make aims to alter our experience with, and reliance on, these materials as utilitarian by rendering them as meaningful aesthetic objects to be encountered.

As a cosmopolitan citizen, I have become acutely aware of the many nuanced differences between Ghana and the United States; both of which I consider to be home. I have found that by commonplace materials in multiple manifestations, I can propose comparisons between aspects of the socio-political and cultural spheres of these two spaces."

The upstairs of the Brunelli Galleries brings some of the stable of artists to the public. And there is a lot to admire here. The market scenes by the Chinese artist are marvelous and fit the figurative realist tradition. These works are in the photo realist tradition that the Brunelli Gallery has featured over its many years in Binghamton.

Denouement 

The confluence of three shows of contemporary figurative artists was a treat to view.  And to see the Roberson Museum actively showing quality regional art and being a part of the art scene is appreciated too.  We think of the similar events in other cities and see the Binghamton art scene to be quite vibrant.  Comparing it to Ithaca, we do have an active art scene with an art trail.  Still we've wondered for years why the Johnson Museum has not taken a more active roll as does the Roberson and Phelps Mansion Museums in Binghamton or the Arnot in Elmira or the Everson Museum in Scranton.