Picture is Dan McCarthy’s painting of a mythical beach scene. Click to see it bigger.
Over the course of two days our trek of two piers and one historic armory gave me the sense that artists are reaching out to channel ghosts of the past or spirits of a parallel universe. Maybe we’re all running away from the present because it’s too …present.
In any case, here’s a list of the art “mediums” whose work reminded me that art right now is often not just P.T.Barnum but Barnum and El Magnifico the conjurer. It’s all about the hallucination and not the real.
Omer Fast, drawing of a baby with webbed appendages. There’s no conversation but then the baby is pre-verbal.
Omer Fast‘s conversations with colonials;
Patricia Piccinini’s eco-warrior from the “Mother’s Helper” series
Patricia Piccinini‘s larger-than-life eco-warrior totems
Martin and Munoz, photo of a set up like what appears in their snow globes
Martin and Munoz‘s pretty escapist snow globes
Duke Riley’s faux scrimshaw from his Ward’s Island fantasy
Duke Riley‘s invented history of Ward island
Ronald Moran, painting of soft tank
Ronald Moran‘s soft and fuzzy universe
Chris Gilmore, detail of Ford A roadster, cardboard
Tom Burkhardt cardboard box with cardboard books
Cardboard universes by Tom Burkhardt and Chris Gilmore
Chester Arnold, detail of 3-panel painting of a battle taking place around a shack in the middle of nowhere. It’s called “Last man standing.”
Chester Arnold‘s painted battles
Anthony Goicolea’s staged ritual photograph
Anthony Goicolea‘s set up photos of rituals in the woods
Dan McCarthy‘s painted vacation snapshots (top image)
I’ll have links in a bit.
