Morandi in New York

I was in New York a week or so ago and found some time to visit the MET and a few galleries. The Voulliard collection at the MET was impressive, the show included many Cezannes I haven't seen before, an amazing Gaughan, Van Gogh, etc. The Sean Scully show was up but I found it frustrating that Scully's work doesn't grow or change much. I also visited the Gagosian Gallery and saw a large collection of drawings and stinky insect work by Damien Hirst. The Thiebaud Gallery was showing Morandi which was the highlight of the day. Morandi is one of my favorite painters, his work is very sensitive to light and space. The paintings are abstract for still life work. The Morandi paintings are loose but nurtured with precise earth colors. The colors aren't as subtle viewed in person, the color was suprisingly rich.

Going On Tour

I am going away for a while, i'll post new stuff whenever get an opportunity. The Paybacks are going out for the "forty days and forty nights of rock" tour. If we are coming to your town please come visit us. We have a hot new record called "Love Not Reason."

Sep 1 2006 10:00P The Lager House, Detroit, MI
Sep 5 2006 9:00P Way Out Club, St. Louis, MO
Sep 6 2006 9:00P Mike's Tavern, Kansas City, MO
Sep 8 2006 6:00P South Park Music Fest-Fairplay Hotel, CO
Sep 9 2006 9:00P Bender's Tavern, Denver, CO
Sep 12 2006 9:30P Casbah, San Diego, CA
Sep 13 2006 9:00P Safari Sam's, Hollywood, CA
Sep 14 2006 9:00P Moe's Alley, Santa Cruz , CA
Sep 15 2006 9:00P Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
Sep 16 2006 9:00P Great Basin Brewery, Sparks, NV
Sep 17 2006 8:00P Great Basin Brewery, Sparks , NV
Sep 20 2006 8:00P Rhythm Room, Phoenix, AZ
Sep 21 2006 9:00P Plush, Tucson, AZ
Sep 24 2006 8:00P Aquarium, Fargo, ND
Sep 26 2006 8:00P 400 Bar, Minneapolis, MN
Sep 27 2006 8:00P Knickerbocker's, Lincoln, NE
Sep 28 2006 9:00P Mad Planet, Milwaukee, WI
Sep 29 2006 8:00P High Noon Saloon, Madison , WI
Sep 30 2006 8:00P Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, IA
Oct 10 2006 8:00P Fineline Music Cafe, Minneapolis, MN
Oct 11 2006 8:00P Double Door, Chicago, IL
Oct 12 2006 8:00P St. Andrew's Hall, Detroit, MI
Oct 13 2006 8:00P Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
Oct 14 2006 8:00P Towne Ballroom, Buffalo, NY
Oct 15 2006 9:00P Lime Spider Akron, OH
Oct 17 2006 8:00P Mercury Lounge New York, NY
Oct 18 2006 8:00P Maxwell's Hoboken , NJ
Oct 19 2006 8:00P Middle East Underground Cambridge, MA
Oct 21 2006 8:00P Gooski's Pittsburgh, PA

Breaking the Symmetry

My work is evolving into symmetrical patterns that break in the center. This collision in the center of the canvas is a glimpse at the beginning of a new idea.

Roni Horn

Roni Horn is showing a mixed collection of the work at the James Kelly Contemporary. Displaying a great variety of media from rectangular bar sculptures with text to cone forms, photography, and painting. The experience is difficult like good art tends to be. There must be a story behind most of the work but some work is purely simple formalist compositions.

Jordan West at CCA

The Center for Contemporary Arts current show entitled Senic Overlook features art work relating to highways and the aestetics of highway engineers. Jordan West's work in the show is a series of paintings that look familiar. Im sure I have been to a couple of these places in different parts of the country. It goes to show that abandoned gas stations and boarded up restaurants can look the same no matter where they are. I feel a sense of nostalgia about these places and I swear that I have been there before.

POEH Center Opening

The Pueblo of Pojoaque, POEH Cultural Center and Museum had an exciting opening last Friday. The event included traditional Native American dancing, music, food, and the art of Roxanne Swentzell and Marcellus Medina. Nah Poeh Meng, "The Continuous Path" by Roxanne Swentzell is an impressive installation divided into six rooms. Each room is based on a seasonal theme describing aincent Pueblo life. The sculpture was great but I was really impressed by the murals in the installation. Swentzell's work, also on display in the gallery/tower building includes stone work, masks, and many clay figures with narrative themes. The band Chocolate Hellocopter (led by Swentzell's daughter) played, they mixed poetry with rock music.

Tasha Ostrander

Tasha Ostrander's show,“Deer Self I Hurt the Urth” is the currently on view at the Linda Durham Gallery. The large scale digital prints of plants and animals explores a psychological portrait of the self. This show is a little confusing but that may be the artist's intent. The strongest image in the show is of a deer's head mounted on a green and white wall. The image is seperated into four quarters. The scale of the piece really demands attention. I think that the deer represents the artist's self disconnected with nature. The digital media of plant forms seem to reflect an abstracted understanding of nature. The Linda Durham Gallery is always presenting shows that challenge the viewer. I may not always understand but I will keep going back to satisfy my curiosity.

Monks of Doom, "What's Left for Kicks?"

It's 2006, the Monks of Doom from California just released their first album since 1992, and it's all cover songs. The new album entitled "What's Left for Kicks?" is a representation of the groups biggest influences. The album contains sixteen covers from bands like Soft Machine, Red Crayola, the Kinks, Peter Green, Steve Hillage(from Gong), Richard Thompson, Syd Barrett and it gets more obscure from there. The finest moments are in"La Dolce Vita Suite"which you can listen to here under recent news, "What's Left for Kicks?". The record is all over the place and like all Monks of Doom records, if you listen to hard you might get sick. The guitar work of Lisher is precise and Immergluck's guitar is all emotion creating a marriage of guitar styles to blow one's mind, while the drummer Chris Peterson (one of my all time favorites) is directing the group through the often complicated musical journey. "What's Left For Kicks" is as good any other Monks record but they had their true climax with the "Meridian" record about sixteen years ago. Don't hold your breath for any original material, the drummer lives in Australia and they can't do it without him, I wouldn't want them to anyway. This album will continue to creep up with continuous listens becoming very atmospheric. Well done Monks, thanks for the new record!

Variations on 14

Here are some recent study's for a current series of work, variations on fourteen. The dimensions are 13"x 10", oil on canvas, $200 each.

Ellsworth Kelly- Collages in Black and White 1973 to 1991

James Kelly Contemporary in Santa Fe is showing Ellsworth Kelly's black and white collage work. Ellsworth Kelly's shapes are simple, remarks on positive and negative space. Removing the color element in his work, Kelly focuses on composition with one black shape of paper on white paper. Accompanying the black shape is pencil drawing. Line is used to create borders where the shapes fit completing the composition. I always look for the artists hand in hard edged work like this, finding satisfaction in any imperfections of the drawn edges. Kelly's intent may not have been for these imperfections to be a part of his conversation but irregularity is visually satisfying in these situations. Kelly was surely aware that with odd or irregular shapes, there is more potential for the composition. This show which at first appears to be colorless, and possibly less interesting work by Ellsworth Kelly finds its way into the core of his art making practice, becoming an important, unified body of work for one's interest in post painterly abstraction.

Paintings on Paper

Here are some of this weeks paintings. They appear a little more struggled over because I didn't use a brush very much. I mostly pushed the paint across with a stick. If you see one that you like send an email to haferwd@aol.com and I'll send you a painting for forty bucks. The dimensions are 8"x 6" each, oil on paper.