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May 29, 2007

Comments

djemar

Haven't seen the others, but I somewhat disagree about Murakami. I felt he went in some interesting new directions with this show, and there were one or two pieces, that were really exciting. It's a given that his work is all about polish, but I feel that he expressed more personal inspiration than I'd seen from him in a while.

harold hollingsworth

I hear you Erik, it was good to chat a bit about this when I was visiting you last week at the gallery, and I like the band comparison!

Art Brute

I find that review lacking in any real depth but full of snarky comments. Doesn't sound like Saltz really tried to look into any of the meaning of any individual works except for the Boxenstopp's which felt like he was looking for something negative to say.

I find it particularly odd that Saltz for some unknown reason kept harping about 9/11 and yet failed to mention the Irony of Gursky's image, Kuwait Stock Exchange, 2007 to contrast the 90s Chicago Board of Trade. It is pretty obvious.

Nor did he mention much about the images from Pyongyang. Am I the only one that got a creepy buzz from the spectacles in Pyongang? Enormous gun on the banner in the background? Our Axis of Evil enemy? Hello? I immediately saw the connection to the old movies of Nazi Armies being paraded through Berlin with deft synchronicity as well as the Cold War precision of Soviet Tanks rolling through Moscow often seen in propoganda films. But I found this to be a subtle wry commentary on it. Disturbing without being overt. Showing the ease at which people can be trained and the pressure of group mentality.

I also do get that sense that his most recent work is more polished but I don't hold that against him. To go with the "band" analogy it reminds more of fans not "getting" the Sophmore album because they lost some of their edge after they've finally hit it big and gotten a budget to polish their sound. But usually that stuff will eventually grown on a person.

http://www.spruethmagers.com/artists.php?e=&sub=w-a&Artist_ID=49


As for Murakami, I like his departure a bit away from the cartoony pop art feel. But it is polished. Hasn't his work always been really polished? I get more bothered by his repetition of imagery. Or in more fine art terms, his use of "serial" imagery. I guess that's the pop art thing in him? Turns it more into a commercial product or commodity than something unique and esoteric. Still bugs me though - seeing the same thing manipulated in a million ways.

Art Brute

no likey the comments?

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