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In a recent New York Times article (The Terrible Toll of Art Anxiety, February 28, 2008), a collector referred to our site as a place to buy 'edgy' art, as an alternative to galleries. So what is edgy art, and is edgy art an aspiration for collectors and artists alike? We asked some of our artists what they think about contemporary trends in the art world today, and how their work is influenced by these trends... if at all. Here's what they had to say:
This exhibition includes the following artists:
Jane Calvin, Elizabeth Castagna, Peter Illig, Helen Levin, Roxa Smith.
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Jane Calvin
Trends in contemporary art today seem to change rapidly, making them difficult to pinpoint. But I am interested in the way that contemporary art is breaking down boundaries among the various disciplines of painting, sculpture, photography, film, etc., and opening up exciting opportunities for new forms and ideas. I see much installation work, video, performance, and less traditional painting and sculpture. As to the ideas in contemporary art, the concepts vary widely from political to personal, but much work is issue or idea-based commentary on current issues.
The contemporary trend of cross-disciplinary work has inspired me to experiment in combining photography with other mediums. While my medium is photography, my work combines forms and ideas from theater and literature to painting and sculpture. It is as related to sculpture and installation as to photography, as I make room-size installations in my studio and then photograph them. Contemporary trends also have freed me to draw on an eclectic range of sources for my images: down-market materials, found or recycled stuff; text from newspapers, trashy or pulp novels, poetry, and children's' books. My work is based on my view of a world containing ambiguity, spatial and temporal fragmentation and discontinuity. The concepts are important.
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Girls
(1996)
Jane Calvin
Indigo Girl
(1995)
Jane Calvin
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Elizabeth Castagna
I can't say there is one contemporary trend that stands out to me as more meaningful than another. I see trends in art as significant pauses which reflect the flow and evolution of our expression as humans during a particular point in time; a reflection of maybe a certain gesture or vision or question that has been attractive enough to inspire many people to wonder about it. To see what it would be like for their bodies to create that same gesture, to explore that medium. How would it come out through them? A trend in art presents us with many ways of reaching a similar way of seeing. I always am excited when I find another artist doing what I am doing. I feel energized and supported in my connection with them and in their embrace of "not knowing".
The use of color in contemporary art has inspired me, made me wonder about how would I use color in such a way that would be bright, flat, pure bold, juxtaposed with texture or a figurative element. What would it feel like for me to paint with a new color palate? Would that change my process, my tools or my materials? I am so inspired by nature that my earthy palate comes from wanting the color in my paintings to feel like they just happened, that it was not a color that was made or mixed, but found and used as is.
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Untitled 8
(1998)
Elizabeth Castagna
Untitled 46
(1998)
Elizabeth Castagna
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Peter Illig
To me, the most meaningful art questions everything we believe about art. Really, everything has been done with art in its current state. The only truly "new" art will be seen when new technology comes along. That's why video technology in art is cutting-edge right now. But in traditional visual art, the most innovative art calls into question what we once saw as important in art. Categories such as abstract, representation, photography, film, avant-garde, classical, "High art" and "low" or commercial art, are all fluid and interchangeable. There aren't clear distinctions about styles or subjects. What matters is quality, and that, too, becomes harder to define. We really are at an "end times" point in the history of art; some of the best art "recycles" past art in new and visually exciting ways. Another of the important trends is art that affects or changes our social or moral outlook. While I respect artists who try to get across a political message, the work itself can lose artistic merit, become propagandistic or didactic. On the other hand, "the personal IS political" -- there is always a political dimension to important or controversial work, including my own.
My interest lies in taking traditional painting forms: oil on canvas, realistic illustration styles, the human figure, and making them subversive and ironic. I want my work to be accessible to all, but I realize only a few will 'get' what I am trying to do. I might combine realism and cubism, writing, photography, comic book illustration, and social messages that are distinctly American, in a painting, using layers -- how we think of several things at once, and free-associate. I try to make artwork that operates on the edge of what's acceptable and recognized as art (paint, gallery setting, and recognizable subject matter) but the message should ask questions about being human, about our liberal-humanist technological society, and call art itself into question.
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Window
(2000)
Peter Illig
For England, Ladies
(2004)
Peter Illig
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Helen Levin
I am influenced by the great artists of the abstract movement in the twentieth century. All the greats from Kandinsky, Cezanne, Matisse, Gorky, Picasso, and DeKooning all synthesized what was germane to great art of the prior centuries and cultures,...what Mondriaan called 'plasticity,' a deep understanding and resolution of pictorial forces. The new kids with the MFA s doing shit never understood this because their profs didn't have the background for the most part. As the French say, "tant pis" (roughly translated as "So much the worse.")
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Zenscape III
(2006)
Helen Levin
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Roxa Smith
The contemporary art world today in this era of globalization and Internet technology is completely pluralistic: anything and everything goes. In my opinion, there are no meaningful trends in art because everything has already been done. What might appear "new" is a recycled idea that has been re-packaged and made to appear new. These pieces will be tagged trendy and will be shown in the booths of the many international art fairs. But these fairs are like season fashion shows, with styles changing quickly. I am not interested in artists who are trying to be "trendy", or who are trying to second-guess the market by making art for the sole purpose of selling. I admire artists who spend time on their work, take chances and make work that is truthful and visually powerful regardless of its commercial viability. I'm not influenced by trend setters; I've always worked in traditional mediums. My paintings are slow to create and require a lot of patience time, which is in sharp contrast to this fast paced world of instant imagery. The faster the world becomes, the more I cherish the slowness of my process.
In my own art, I have explored various subject matters or themes in a variety of series: self-portraits, landscapes, interiors, toys, animals in interiors and surrealistic imagery. Some of my pieces are more political in nature, some are playful and funny and others are more nostalgic. The subject matter of my work reflects my thoughts and preoccupations at a particular time. For example, my series of self-portraits in costume was done at a time when I needed to explore and question issues of self-identity and women's role in society. I don't look outside for inspiration for my work. The dialogue is within me. The challenge for an artist today is to find a voice in spite of the barrage of images, words, sounds and recycled imagery and to pursue this voice with conviction and fearlessness.
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42nd Street
(1995)
Roxa Smith
El Jardin Prohibido
(1997)
Roxa Smith
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