Marc Quinn, Irises, Uptown; Eric Fischl, Corrida in Ronda, Chelsea
Mary Boone's Galleries to December 19
By: Charles Giuliano - 12/10/2009
Click to Enlarge
A view of the Fischl installation.
The moment of truth in a painting by Eric Fischl.
Last gasp of the stricken bull.
Waltz of the Toreadors.
Duende.
Surrounded.
The tondo paintings by Marc Quinn are about six feet in circumference.
A blue eye.
Another variation.
The bravura style of slathering on broad swaths of paint by Fischl has been popular with the public and snapped up by collectors. But critics have often commented on his flaccid stroke, gimmicky subject matter, and glitchy style over substance.
Early on, he was eager for attention with adolescent porn such as an enigmatic painting of a boy hunched over masturbating in a back yard wading pool. Or couples hooking up illuminated by the soft romantic light of a television screen. Then there were his travel paintings from the Caribbean (scenes of some kind of mayhem) to his Passage to Indian series. When in doubt paint something erotic or exotic.
Now it seems that Fischl has taken up the theme of bullfights. Posters of which adorn the walls of many a college student returning from junior year abroad. Ole. There is legitimacy in the subject well explored by Ernest Hemingway at his best., or Goya during the 19th century.
While hardly an aficionado of the pasodoble the series of large paintings at Mary Boone convey the heat and passion of the bull ring. He has exploited the vivid color of the suit of lights of the brave toreadors. The compositions are bold and powerful with matadors starkly rendered in a fight to the death with the specially bred bulls.
Mostly Fischl, who worked with his own photographs, concentrates on the moment of truth. The action which is staged and drawn out with traditional ritual and accompanying music is here cut to the chase. Attending an actual bull fight is an afternoon long affair rather like sitting through a baseball game. Indeed, for Spaniards, it is the national sport. They see subtle differences in the style of individual toreros and the quality and fight of the bull. The most massive and ferocious bulls are reserved for the most famous matadors.
On any given day the bull may win. Stepping into the ring the torero puts his life on the line.
Not that I imagine Fischl knows much or really cares about all this. Rather, he seems to be looking for a juicy, gutsy, and popular subject to paint. In that sense, the series is successful as it certainly holds and sustains our attention. Looking carefully at individual works there is evidence that, finally, he is becoming an at least competent painter. The forms and masses seem refreshingly solid. Often his figures in the past seemed glib and fudged when examined closely. To Fischl we award one ear and a rose. Ole.
Visiting Boones uptown gallery there was an initial sense of wonder and surprise. Wait a minute, whats this? Can this be the same Marc Quinn, the Young British Artist, of the Charles Saatchi exhibition Sensation at the Brooklyn Museum?
The artist, born 1964, is best known for Self (1991) a small work of the artists own blood sculpted into a portrait head and kept frozen. It was widely reported as lost when Saatchis apartment was renovated and workers unplugged the refrigerator. It took ten pints of the artists blood collected over five months. The story may be apocryphal as Saatchi later sold the work to an American collector for 1. 5 million pounds.
Several years ago I saw an installation of Quinns fascinating marble sculptures of amputees and individuals with birth defects embedded in the collection of vintage works and plaster casts at Londons Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington. He is also known for a sculpture of Allison Lapper Pregnant on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square. The plinth is used for an ongoing display of sculptures by contemporary British artists.
The surprise here were paintings, tondos of large colorful eyes, rather than sculptures. Had it not been for Quinns name and reputation this might be an interesting but hardly exceptional exhibition. It is a clever idea given the scale and subject but hardly another Sensation.
It is good to see that Quinn is keeping himself busy and coming up with new ideas. What a Boone for us all.
Reader Comments
From "Michel Michaeljohn"
03-16-2011, 03:33 am
Mary Boone's Galleries,
It is beyond "deeply disturbing" that through the "exhibition and sale" of so-called "artworks" you would "promote; market and support" the HORRIFYING "institutionalized cruelty" of the sadistic abuse; "torture and mutilation" of bulls (and horses) in the ritualized public slaughter of severely disabled innocent animals for sick; perverted "entertainment."
... GODLESS; DISGRACEFUL and SHAMEFUL.
From "Michel Michaeljohn"
03-15-2011, 06:41 am
Bullfighting: The most ‘indefensible’ type of ‘animal abuse.’
Bullfighting is not a ‘fight’ at all, but a systematic ‘torture-killing’ that pits a gang of armed thugs wielding ‘razor-sharp’ barbed spikes, spears, swords and daggers (these weapons are designed to ‘inflict intense pain and cause blood loss’ to weaken the animal) against a lone, terrified; confused; ‘fatally’ disabled and wounded animal.
It’s a ‘sickening’ economic industry based on HORRIFYING victimization; sadistic abuse; extreme cruelty and ‘mutilation and torture’ of bulls (and horses) during the cruel exhibitions of ‘bullfights’ (which are ‘blood’ fiestas).
Handlers weaken the bull for days before the bullfight. They put laxatives in his food and heavy sandbags on his back. They file his horns down to the tender quick; they blind and drug him; they stuff his ears so that he cannot ‘hear’; they stuff his nostrils so that he cannot ‘breath’. In the ring, they drive ‘razor-sharp’ lances into his back and neck muscles so he can’t lift his head. By the time the matador appears, the bull is weak from blood loss and dizzy from being chased in circles.
The horses used in bullfights are old and drugged. Wet newspaper is stuffed in their ears and their vocal cords are cut so the audience will not hear their cries. They wear long blankets to hide their entrails, which spill out when they are ‘gored and disemboweled’ by the ‘deceived; tortured; agonizing’ bull.
It’s no fun to see an innocent, crazed animal ‘tortured’ before a screaming crowd of people, who should be hanging their heads in shame. Even if you leave after 15 to 20 minutes, the damage has been done – your money has gone to support this ‘hellish business,’ which ‘decent people’ are working to ‘end.’
The continuation of bullfighting depends on ‘government subsidies’ and the ‘tourist industry.’
Don’t be an accomplice to this ‘savagery’ by supporting it with your ‘tourist dollars.’
Please help these 'suffering' animals – ‘STAY AWAY FROM BULLFIGHTS; speak out against them and DEMAND that they be “ABOLISHED.”
Michel Michaeljohn; California; United States.