About Men, closing July 13th at Castelli Art Space, offers the perfect balance to the #metoo era. Evocative, beautifully wrought works created about and by men offer a perceptive look at the masculine half of the species.
Curator Dale Youngman stresses that the group exhibit was created in honor of Fathers Day. “There is no deep intellectual backstory, but rather a look at how today’s society impacts the modern man. What it is like to be a man today? What do men think about, what drives them, interests them, worries them? What inspires them to select a particular subject, or is important enough to form the basis for their body of work? On a personal level – as a woman – I often scratch my head and ask myself ‘What was he THINKING??'”
The exhibition includes works by 7 artists creating in a wide range of mediums.
Above and below, incredibly rich work from Tom Garner. Both hyper-realistic and dream-like, a reflection of California culture and a slice of life, the oil on denim “Muscle Car” is visceral and immersive, a literal and figurative window into a world.
Above and below, Luis Sanchez offers mixed media sculptures that dazzle with detail; a boy’s toybox of imagination that shapes creatures filled with motion and infused with a playful sense of fun. Cat imagry: major bonus. To Forte’s right: a collection of his paintings, which like the sculptures are powerfully frought with motion, and evoke mythological figures, Greek gods.
Above, “The Judge, The Spy, and The Buck Take A Tea.” Perfectly, minutely crafted, the calculated golden paint drips are indicative of a melting mask. Each of these elements, each personality perhaps, makes up a man. Strip off the artifice and you have disparate, even conflicting, sometimes merging, aspects that shape one soul.
Above and below, Joe Forte. His mixed media works are vibrant with bright colors, and offer a poignant collage of insight into what makes a man tick – a passion for sports and beautiful women, sure, but also the fairytale they represent.
Above and below, Stuart Kusher’s mixed media “Sketch Book” is just that: a sketch of what’s in the artist’s mind and soul. From woman and dog to money and a dark and shadowy, dimensional masked figure, it’s a rich conglomeration of images that depict the jumble and profundity of an artist’s craft. Below, Kusher stands beside this piece and a lustrous gold sculptural work, revealing some of the depths and differences in his artwork.
Above and below, Patrick Donovan with his touching portraits of men. Infused with surrealist elements, these graceful works also riff on Renaissance style. The works are created using classical images that are beautifully detailed. Each image has a haunted quality, filled with an intrinsic sense of loss. Is any one man enough?
Above and below , Bert-Esenherz’ with his large scale, monochrome “Len’s Men’s Club” is awash in noir mystery. His shadowy, faceless figures are both every man, and man in transition. What face do men – and does mankind – embrace?
Below, Jack Avetisyan, “The Go Getter.” A wonderful mix of the surreal and representatitive, this painting gives us the working world, the chaotic mind, the white collar job, all skewered and revealed as one big cartoon. Avetisyan’s use of line is terrific, filled with power, humor, and the opposite: inaction, hidden fears. Only the cheerful white dog seems immune.
Fresh, insightful, and lovely, About Men is also about people, what it means to be human, and what it means to dream.
The gallery will host a closing event July 13th from 6 to 9 p.m. Castelli Art Space is located at 5428 Washington Blvd. in mid-city.
- Genie Davis; photos: Dale Youngman