Kristi Engle recently sent me a letter/email that she had misplaced. "I am sitting in one of the galleries at the Arshile Gorky show at MOCA and thinking of you and your work."
Arshile Gorky,
The Leaf of the Artichoke Is an Owl, 1944
Oil on canvas, 28 x 35 7/8"
MoMA's gallery label text:
André Breton, the leader of the Surrealist group, assigned this work its title based on a meal he shared with Gorky, during which Breton associated an artichoke leaf with an owl. Both artists were members of the European artistic avant-garde living in exile in New York during World War II. Gorky's interest in unpremeditated or automatic gestures was aided by his use of thin, liquid paint, which he poured onto the canvas, allowing it to seep freely into the support. The shapes in this painting, while vaguely recognizable, never fully describe any one thing and therefore encourage free association— a mainstay of Surrealist intellectual activities.
Before attending the exhibition, I had spoken on the phone with Kristi about the subtle change in direction I wanted to take with my painting. Kristi then was able to connect some dots at the Gorky show. Well. . . connect some dots and cross some wires (to see if there was a spark). I had never really given Arshile much thought. Maybe his palette was too dingy? Maybe there is something too angular or even sinister in his paintings and so I didn't want to look at them. But now I see more, or at the least, I am willing to accept what I see. The kinship is unmistakable, even our methods share a rapport. I suppose however, that the kernel is ancient.
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Click here for the Los Angeles Times review of the Gorky retrospective. Thanks Kristi.
Beatrice Caracciolo, Water Mark 11, 2006![[the+remusem.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6ljwZdBUjIo/RrllkkQjnJI/AAAAAAAAB34/W-lovIUDysE/s1600/the%2Bremusem.jpg)
Shirley Kaneda, Affirmative Discord, 2007
Rezi van Lankveld, Listen, 2007
Részeg Halhatalan, Immortal in Splashed Ink
