http://www.forumgallery.com/adetail.php?id=207
Steven Assael, the New York artist hailed by The Art Newspaper as “the foremost figurative painter of his generation”, will exhibit his latest paintings and drawings at Forum Gallery, New York, from March 19 to May 2, 2009. The exhibition, Assaels seventh since joining the Gallery in 1998, focuses on public and private aspects of urban life and explores issues of intimacy, gender and personal identity. The portraits and narratives the artist paints touch on contact, isolation, sexuality and the journey through life.
In the paintings, Steven Assael employs his unique, characteristic sense of light and shadow to illuminate the characters and lives of his subjects. A featured painting, Crowd #1, 2009, oil on canvas, 72″ x 96″, was exhibited by Forum Gallery at The Armory Show Modern (New York, March 5-9) to preview the forthcoming exhibition. In this major work, Assael leaves specific location and narrative to the viewer. He shows a crowd of infinite number and depth, people to whom we relate but who do not relate to each other, no matter how close the gathering.
The drawings are striking in their detail and accuracy, always used in the interest and exploration of intimate moments of introspection. All of the drawings and paintings in the exhibition have been created since 2006.
Steven Assaels work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at museums from Chattanooga to Seattle and at galleries throughout the United States. Works have been chosen for curated group exhibitions at the Naples Museum of Art, FL; the Arkansas Art Center, the Evansville Museum, IN; and the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; among many. Paintings and drawings can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art & Design, Kansas City; The Columbus Museum, GA; and many other museum and distinguished private collections.
An opening reception with the artist will take place on Thursday, March 19, 2009 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at Forum Gallery, 745 Fifth Avenue at 57th Street, Fifth Floor. The exhibition continues through Saturday, May 2, 2009. A full color catalogue, with essay by Anna F. Burgess, is available, $25.00 ppd. The entire exhibition may be viewed online at www.forumgallery.com/currentseason. For more information please contact Forum Gallery: www.forumgallery.com/contactinfo.php
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Forum Gallery, New York and Los Angeles, is a leader in the field of modern and contemporary figurative art. Founded in 1961, Forum Gallery today represents thirty contemporary artists, including Odd Nerdrum, William Beckman and Robert Cottingham; and the estates of Raphael Soyer, Chaim Gross and Bernard Karfiol. International in scope, Forum Gallery is the American representative of Xenia Hausner, Michael Leonard, David Mach, Charles Matton and Peter Krausz.
Forum Gallery maintains an important inventory of American modernist and social realist art, European modernism and figurative art from 1900 to the present day. Over more than four decades in the fine art field, Forum Gallery has placed works in every major American museum and in private collections throughout the world. Forum Gallery is a founding member of the Art Dealers Association of America.
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No need to be sorry …
No need to be sorry for Mr. Kuspit, he is our Clement Greenburg, a fearless voice for figuration and naritive painting. Curators have jobs, critics are freelance, most of them are academics, poets and sometimes even artists themselves.
I feel sorry for …
I feel sorry for Donald Kuspit and other such critics. If they don’t fall all over themselves with rave reviews, they will soon be out of work.
i think konzwambii …
i think konzwambii was being sarcastic. or it was opposite day when posted.
agreed on the …
agreed on the glowing.
saw a painting and 2 drawings. they pull you across the floor to them.
I’m a sculptor but …
I’m a sculptor but this is my favorite painter. In person Assael’s paintings have no equal. His observation and use of light and form are both Glowing and sculptural. His paintings are a must see in person, the vids and reproductions do not capture the depth and luminosity.
Sorry konzwambii …
Sorry konzwambii but I think you have an axe to grind. I was a student of Mr. Assael’s and know that he is not only a remarkable talent but a most thoughtful and insightful artist. All you have to do is listen to the video.
this is amazing.I …
this is amazing.I love it.Its real art.
Art aspires to a …
Art aspires to a full integration of form and content, the idea is in the medium, it is not about the assimilation of art issues, it is the assimilation of art issues and more. Assael is one of the few artist’s who’s paintings integrate a formal and conceptual response to the ” Death of Art” predicament of our time. While so much of todays figurative works are ironic illustrations, Assael has revitalized painting with serious and meaningful content.
Kuspit cont… …
Kuspit cont…Perhaps Assaels most convincing marriage of modernist abstraction and traditionalist imagery are in his extraordinary drawings — pure perceptual, esthetic and psychodramatic epiphanies. The pencil and paper drawing of the Big Dress (2008) is a tour de force of technical brilliance, from the intricate ornamental line — a lightning stroke of pure modernist gesture — that rims the dress to its complication of folds.
Kuspit cont. There …
Kuspit cont. There is also great attention to esthetic detail, esthetic intensifying of sensuous detail, quite visible in the clothing and skin of the sleeping passengers, and above all the subtle relationship of light and shadow, suggestive of muted tenebrism. Then there is the “human condition” of the sleeping passengers, that is, the unconsciousness which unites them even as it suggests they are tragically dead -
Realists whose …
Realists whose works successfully integrate esthetics, existentialism and humanism, with no loss of observational acumen — respect for the material facts — are “ultimate realists. Painting titled ,Passengers (2008).
Note the picture window behind the principal figures, ambiguously an Old Master painting of an Italianate landscape, indicating Assaels awareness of historical precedent, that is, the implicit presence of tradition or historical constants. Donald Kuspit writes.
Painting involves …
Painting involves not only the physical act of painting, but also the full range of content brought by the artist: his background, status, influences, relation to prior art, assimilation of art issues, and hopefully personality and probative depth, insight,and analysis. So, yes, it IS about ideas. Without ideas, a painter churns out schlock $5 tourist “art”. These paintings are repetitive frontal formula works, without larger purpose, compositional interest, or content. He needs ideas.
My favorite …
My favorite figurative painter. His images are as complex as we are human. Just listen to him, a great American artist. I love the theatrical devises that allows us a way in. We never tire looking , total absorbtion, images that recoil to the eye. So many of his contemporaries use photos to paint from and we are left with pictorial one liners, but these images make us come back over and over. Thank You
Painting is the …
Painting is the idea, this artist is emersed in the act of painting.
Once painting is “about” anything it becomes illustrative.
Here is great ICONIC image making.
Despite the …
Despite the facility, I find the works rather empty and vacuous. One asks: why does it exist, why was it made? There is no context, no relationship between adjacent figures, no real purpose other than to display the painter’s ability to depict a face, or hair. The empty backgrounds are a sign of pictorial weakness. I would suggest going back to the Met, to think about what makes a painting worth doing. Painting is about ideas, not just an excuse to illustrate. Sorry, but I did not like them.
What a great ” …
What a great “answer” to the Lucian Freud’s video, I’m so glad I clicked the link!
Uplifting…
Brilliant figuratif …
Brilliant figuratif , colourfull , composition , everything spot on… Makes me feel like I better up grade my painting, as I am an artist but I’ll be honest he is technically superior then me ! Then again maybe that is what’s great about art is every artist has his potential , his or her style. However , this guy aint handicapped to put it mildly !
… all I can say …
… all I can say is WOW!
Fantastic
Fantastic
I went to Assael’s …
I went to Assael’s 1999 one-person show at Seattle’s Frye Art Musem many times during its 3-month run. This artist, whose work is not even included in recent “coffe-table books” surveying art history up to the Post-Modern era and beyond, is so much better than the artists who are included. Assael is my favorite living artist.
Thanks for uploading this recent video!
i sure wish i could …
i sure wish i could see them in person.He is a great artist..like photography its all to do with light…dan ny
Steven, thank you – …
Steven, thank you – it is a privilege to be your friend. Beautiful work.
Beautiful work, …
Beautiful work, exceptional artist. Thank you.
Beautifully crafted …
Beautifully crafted video and incredible artist you have presented here. What hope this artist projects. We need many such souls to remind us of our potential and keep us anchored in our depths. Thank you for bring him to my eye and thoughts.