the pulse

went to the hunter mfa/bfa/whatev show which in my own humble opinion has its finger on the pulse of whats going on in the bigger picture of fine art nyc style (albeit unintentionally perhaps?!)

there is a movement in the works that is in regression from video and 3-d installation art- and im proud of those part of this- also moving away from hyper concept and photoshop as well- and back towards pure painting. though pure painting just might not got it anymore, i am glad to have affirmed my own predictions, and happy that young people are responding to the terribly contrived and misunderstood state of fine art that had been happening until this point now.

it is exciting to see students embrace just that again. the admission of lack of mastery brings a sense of refreshment that this scene needs, a starting over. and all the members of this period (or age bracket) who wish to climb on - will hopefully climb together. in a funny way, a community has unintentionally been formed in the wane of conceptual art. haahaaa !

as for pure painting however, a hope exists within it that im not sure will flower into anything else. At the show tonight, for example, the 2d works were unable to transcend that flatness which they are embodied within, unable to make themselves any more important than anything else weve seen in the last 3 generations. ...and the 3d work lost its sense of self-importance (against its will- its just a hard thing to understand at a young age!). Young and important art is in limbo and is waiting for the next train to come rumbling by, undoubtedly hoping to get a good seat.

there is no 4d- its just that a decision has to made, or at least the decision not to decide!

how exciting it is to be in the train car at all.

Andrew Birk
April 3rd, 2009