newsletter 42 spring 2011

8/6/2019 Newsletter 42 SPRING 2011

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american society of contemporary artistsNUMBER 42 SPRING-2011

By Estelle Levy

Camille Claudel(18641943) ---was a young,recognized sculpture talent.She intensely explored thepossibilities of sculpture andof love. Her childhood fasci-

nation with modeling clay nur-tured her quest to become atrained artist. It is said shewas both a recognized talentand a physical beauty. Sculp-ture was her focus at theAcademy of Colarossi-- one

of the few art centers to women then. She shared an in-dependent studio where Alfred Boucher taught. Boucherasked Auguste Rodin to serve as an advisor to Claudeland her colleagues when he was awarded a Prix deRome and moving to Italy. After being Claudels advisorfor two years, Rodin asked Claudel to become one of his

studio assistants. This was a rare opportunity for awoman during the 19th Century. Claudel thereby had theunique and profound chance to learn and express thenuances of anatomy. The hands and feet for RodinsBURGHERS of CALAIS were modeled by Claudel; shealso posed for GATES OF HELL figures; she had a loveaffair with Rodin and was deeply in love with this mar-ried, famous sculptor. He was willing to have and con-tinue the affair and benefit from her talent. He was, ofcourse, unwilling to leave his wife. In an effort to breakaway from Rodin and establish herself as a sculptor inher own right, Claudel secluded herself in her studio; shestruggled to break from him--from her love for him. Shewanted to establish her own identity as a sculptor. She

created portrayals of the human form, which were thendeemed too sensual and inappropriate for public show-ing; her work was panned by State the art press of thatera.

Claudel realized she would never succeed in oustingRodins wife to become his. Their affair of ten yearscame to an end in 1898; Claudel never recovered fromtheir separation though her work began to reflect herown identity. Claudels deeply original work was donenear the turn of the century:

See Claudel, page 2

CAMILLE CLAUDEL 1864 1943GERDA ROZES LONG-TERM ENGAGE-

MENT WITH A TIMELESS SUBJECT

By Ed McCormack, Gallery and Studio

An Important Exhibition at theInterchurch Center

The Tondo, or painting in a circular shape (tondo be-ing Italian for "round"), was especially popular inFlorence in the 15th century, particularly four paintings ofthe Virgin and Child, it is perfect geometrical form per-haps intended to suggest the moral perfection of Christand St. Mary, as seen in Michelangelo's Taddei Tondo.In modern times, it was also used occasionally by Or-phist painters suchas Robert and SoniaDelaunay, since itscontours write indi-vidually with aroundforms that early 20thcentury movementfavored.

But, for whateverreasons, aside froman occasional experi-ment and around bypainters here andthere, over the yearsthe format has be-come sufficiently rarethat only one contem-porary artists-at least,to this writer's knowledge-can be considered its principalexponent: Gerda Roze.

Born in Riga, Latvia, in 1925, Roze fled her homelandwith her mother in 1944 to escape the second Soviet

invasion, and ordeal she recalled in her affecting Baileysocial realist painting "Into Exile." Arriving in the US in1950, after spending years in international refugeecamps in war-torn Europe, she studied for a bachelor'sdegree at Columbia and enrolled in studio classes at theArt Students League, in New York.

Over the years, Roze has worked for a variety ofstyles, ranging from meticulous magic realism in the mat-ter of Andrew Wyeth, to a flirtation with post-Impressionist painter handling, to a neo-Cubist phase, to

See Roze page 2

"Homage to the Circle, Opus IV(Circle in the Square),"


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pulses of her nervous system, rather than adhering to apredetermined structure.

Also among the smallest yet most intriguing works inthe show are a series of darker and more thickly paintedworks in ink wash and acrylic, which marry a similarbrevity to mass rather than line. Broad strokes of opaquewhite brushed vigorously overshadowing areas of greateight, enlivened here and there by the muted blow of

metallic pigments. Although equally intimate, these gem-like compositions play off as polar opposite O'Beil'sephemeral Asian inflected ink, as if to flesh out theirephemeral forms with bravura western heft and depth.

In another, somewhat busier and more fleshed-outgroup of drawings in charcoal and wash by O'Beil onrelatively large sheets of paper, structure, and rhythmoccur by sheer force of gesture. The lively ecriture dis-play something of the funky insouciance of graffiti, as thewhiplash charcoal line ranges boldly over the entire pic-ture plane, offering what once referred to in a lovely turnof phrase as "slippery glimpses" of phantom forms thatcould suggest anatomical fragments were figments of

landscape. Interwoven with equally bold inclined thatfunction like underlying shadows, and further enlivenedby elegant vertical skeins and trips of the payload graywash beneath, these works handsomely bridge the gapbetween drawing and painting with this somewhat fre-netic figure-to-ground ambiguity

Full-bodiedpaintingpushes to theforefront andprevailed, how-ever, in a se-ries of acrylicson paper

where pastelpinks and softblues predomi-nate. The tan-talizing ambi-guity of these

works arises from the contradiction between a shimmer-ing, unabashed chromatic beauty that can almost sug-gest Impressionist floral bouquets and a brash bluntnessof execution that view is clear of merely "pretty." One isreminded of an early phase of O'Beil's work in which,somewhat perversely playing into the then prevailingidea among the macho man of the New York school that

women were "flower painters," she painted rugged rosesin steely hues.

It seems a sign of her presence mature mastery thatO'Beil cannot give free rein to her most lyrical coloristictendencies, space even while retaining the hard-onevigor space and toughness has finally gained her thegrudging respect of her male peers. (And without benefitof having married into that boy's club like Lee Krasner orElaine de Kooning, mind you!)

Yet another series featured in the show, O'BeilSee OBeil page 4


That HedyO'Beil wasrecently awardeda Pollock-KrasnerGrant seems alto-gether apropos,since this veteranpainter as exem-plified quite faith-fully over a longcareer the idealsof pure painterlyendeavor ad-vanced by Jack-son Pollock andLee Krasner, the Abstract Expressionist namesakes of

that foundation.O'Beil's new exhibition, however, is made up of works

on paper, most small in size but hardly an ambitions,they give us a more intimate view of an artist whoseworks on canvas have generally partaken of the expan-sive spirit of classic New York school painting withoutbeing overblown. Which is to say, even at easel size oronly slightly larger, her paintings have invariably pos-sessed a compositional boldness and gestural freedomsuggesting a scale beyond the actual dimensions.

Like a generation of artists who came of age in thevital postwar. When New York City was f looded withavant-garde refugees from Europe, O'Beil has a fling

with Surrealism. Yet even when she was engaged withmysterious still-lifes involving incongruous objects andhad a flirtation with feminist subject matter in the 1970s,the formal thrust of her compositions was essentially ab-stract. This was as true in her case as that of de Kooningor Guston during the prolonged figurative forays.

These qualities carry over into O'Beil's new works onpaper as well, some of the smallest since Paris of which,executed in diluted Higgins India Ink, privilege the calli-graphic element which has played six an important rolein the larger compositions in acrylic on canvas. Isolatedhere against the white field of the paper, however, thelinear forms appear every bit as beholden to Asian influ-

ences as do those of Henri Michaux or Julius Bissier. butwhile both Michaux and Bissier were essentially miniatur-ists whose forms oh more crabbed, O'Beil's brush leapsand pounces with Swift, splashy decisiveness akin tothose primordial "action painters," of the Zen literati art-ists of ancient China and Japan. Indeed, although simi-larly smitten with Eastern aesthetics, she is more in thetrue literati spirit than Brice Marden in his "Cold MountainSeries," leading outlined flow freely and dance poignantlyover the white field of the paper into with the subtle im-

Pink Sonata

The Dance

A MORE INTIMATE SIDE OF

HEDY OBEILS VARIED OEUVRE


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OBeil from page 3

combines various colors of oil stick with diluted mono-chromatic ink washes, the combination of oil and watercreating subtle "resist" textures in considerably morepainterly composition. Here, the pice de rsistance is ause of white oil stick to create a continuous, cursivelyscrawled swirling linear network that acts as a kind ofweb which simultaneously calls to mind Mark Tobey's

"white writing" and the rhythmic skeins of tossed pigmentthat Jackson Pollock employed in some of his moredensely worked paintings, such as "Full Fathom Five."Yet, characteristically, the movement in O'Beil's composi-tions comes across as more lyrical than violent.

This distinction aside, what O'Beil and Pollock have incommon is that, as Frank O'Hara once put it in relation tothe latter painter, "the artist's action is significant purelyand simply of itself." In other words, the meaning of thegesture derives from its own autonomousness and thusrequires no references or functions beyond its own ex-hilarating existence in the context of the composition. Atthe same time, it takes nothing away from the purely ab-stract appeal of O'Beil's densely convoluted linear net-works to add that, in the most general and obviousterms, they can also suggest a sense of the complexityof life-its twists, turns and constantly changing permuta-tions.

Overall what Hedy O' Beil's drawings reveal that thehand of the painter thinking for itself; they are charts ofprocess as much as fully recognized images, showingthe split-second decisions, hesitations, turnabout, andthrilling resolutions: artist who clearly sees the act of artmaking as an endeavor fraught with existential risk. Oneliterally lays one's self bare on the canvas-or the paper,as the case may be-and not even the most sophisticatedaesthetic coming can prevent the final result from being

as nakedly revealing of the artist's psyche as any Ror-schach test.

That kind of daring seems precious rare in the calcu-lating, often careerist, climate of today's art scene. Itharks back to an earlier and more idealistic time in thebohemian precincts of Lower Manhattan, went to paintwas also an act of faith, a leap into the unknown-especially for a woman. Far from having settled into acomfortable style in her mature years, Hedy O'Beil is stilltaking more chances than many artists half her age.Thus, her work remains forever fresh and vital.

Roze, continued from page 2

Interlayer acrylic triptych "Moonlight Sonata II," forexample, the circular shape in the central panel is clearlylunar, while the horizontal blue gestural forms flowingrhythmically across all three panels obviously representthe ocean waves was tied to respond to the moon' sgravitational pull.

The mood takes on a more abstract planetary aspect

in Roze's tondo "Homage to the Circle (Lunar Orbit),"with the orb within the orb is set afloat within swirling lin-ear forms and vibrant areas of green, blue, and orange.And in another tondo, titles "Homage to the Circle, OpusV,"where clearly defined hard edge elements, both cir-cular and rectangular, are juxtaposed with figures ges-tural strokes.

For all her apparent engagement with cosmic myster-ies, Gerda Roze has not been known to make mysticalclaims for her work. Yet her approach to abstractionharks back to the very origins of nonobjective painting asan exploration of the unknown, rather than a calculatedformal strategy. One places are very much in the tradi-tion of such early 20th century avant-garde pioneers asKandinsky, Malevich, and Mondrian, who, influenced byesoteric belief systems such as Theosophy and Rosicru-cianism, sought not to empty art of content but, quite thecontrary, to conceive a new language for the unseen.

For while the spiritual systems that inspired thoseearly masters may have fallen out of favor with the dawn-ing of our scientific age, the human urge to apprehendthe unknowable has hardly abated. And it is this thatmakes the circle, the universal symbol still so pregnantwith mystery for every existing culture on the orb that wecan call the earth, such a rich source of inspiration andinnovation for the greatly gifted painter, printmaker, andconstructionist Gerda Roze.

Circles in a Square

In the Beginning III


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CENSORSHIP AT THE SMITHSONIAN

By Marcia Bernstein and Leslie Shaw Zadoian

On October 30, 2010, Hide/Seek: Difference and De-sire in American Portraiture opened at the NationalPortrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Wash-ington D.C., to run through February 13, 2011. Statedpurpose of this exhibit was to focus on sexual differ-ences in the making of American and show our "societyreflected" changing ideas about sexuality were in itsart.of many well-known artists were, including a 13-minute version of "A Fire in My Belly," an unfinished filmby David Wojnarowicz.

The film, which was transferred to video, was in-cluded in the section about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Wo-

jnarowicz shot the film in Mexico in1986 and 1987, be-fore he had been diagnosed HIV positive and subse-quently died of AIDS in 1992. Although there is no indi-cation that he meant the film to respond to the HIV/AIDS

epidemic specifically, it does work in that context. Theseconds-long clip of ants crawling over a crucifix worksas a cry from the heart, perhaps for the suffering of thoseafflicted with AIDS and certainly for suffering humanity.

The video was shown for ten days with no protests.Then the Catholic Leagues president William Donohuebegan to protest the content of the entire show, engi-neered a letter-writing blitz from the League membershipdirected at the Smithsonian and at Congress, and spe-cifically demanded the removal of this video as hatespeech and anti-Christian. Rep. John A. Boehner (nowSpeaker of the House) and several other members ofCongress also demanded its removal. There are allega-

tions that some Congressional members threatened towork toward cutting off funds for the Smithsonian unlessthe video was removed.

Yielding to the pressure, Martin E. Sullivan, the mu-seums director, deleted the video from the exhibit onNovember 30, 2010 (ironically, the day before WorldAIDS Day), allowing the remainder of the show to con-tinue. The decision wasnt caving in, Sullivan said. Wedont want to shy away from anything that is"controversial," but we want to focus on the museum'sand this shows strengths. The Association of Art Mu-seum Directors and many artists criticized this removalas censorship of art.

Since then, MOMA bought the video, went on exhibitSee Smithsonian, page 8

We need volunteers to help continue the survival ofour ASCA Newsletter. We welcome art-relatedarticles, reviews of exhibitions and your upcom-

ing shows.Send your material to:

Hank Rondina209 Lincoln Place,

Eastchester, New York 10709;Telephone (914) 793-1376;

or email it to [email protected]


A lthough the Romanian-born New York artist RoseSigal-Ibsen bears astriking resemblance toShirley McClain, one istold that she is so oftenmistaken for an Asianperson. This would beperfectly understandableif one were only familiarwith her work and hadnever laid eyes on theartist herself. For Sigal-Ibsen is the sole non-Asian member of theNorth American ChineseCalligraphy Association,

inducted as such afterone of its officials saw herwork in an exhibition, andafter visiting her studio tosee more of it, was so astounded by her grasp of ahighly specialized foreign aesthetic that he extended aninvitation for her to join the organization.

Even more remarkable, however, is no more than oneAsian person who attended one of her demonstrations ofChinese calligraphy and Japanese Sumi brush painting,as reportedly assumed, despite all the external evidenceto the contrary, that she simply had to be Asian herself.

Such cases of mistaken identity are a source of pride

to the artist, but she is even prouder that she has beenembraced as appear by contemporary masters of Chi-nese brush painting like C. C. Wang and Wang Fangyu.Sigal-Ibsen grins broadly when she speaks of her en-counters with these great men, something she couldnever have imagined when she enrolled the first classand Asian painting several years ago, prior to studyingfor nine years with the esteemed Japanese painter andsensei Koho Yamamoto.

Since then, Sigal-Ibsen has had several exhibitionshere and abroad, appeared on Chinese television, andwon numerous awards for both her painting and calligra-phy. However, for those of us all familiar with the work,

the new exhibition at Berkeley College in Midtown Man-hattan represents a major departure. For while in thepath that has been her practice to paint in the traditionalmanner on paper, the new series is in ink and Chinesepigments on raw cotton supported by bamboo scrolls ofour own making.

While such a change of media might not seem signifi-cant for another painter, for one so bound by tradition asSigal-Ibsen it is in has been for her entire artistic career,it is quite a big deal indeed. For one thing, according to

See Sigal-Ibsen page 8

ROSE SIGAL-IBSEN TRANSCENDSCULTURAL CATEGORIES

"Lotus Flowers"
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Elaine AlibrandiLaden

Oil mixed media

Leslie Shaw ZadoianHokusais Garden

Mixed media

Isabel ShawStanding Figure

Bronze

Gil PassarellaUnfinished

Oil 48x60

Barbara Browner SchillerGimme Scheltrer

Bronze

Linda ButtiLone Tree IIMixed media


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Smithsonian, continued from page 5

Sunday, February 6, 2011, in Contemporary Art from theCollection.

The PPOW Gallery, which represents Wojnarowiczsestate, is presenting Spirituality: An Exhibition of Se-lected Work by David Wojnarowicz, March 3-April 9,2011, and

"A Fire in My Belly"will be shown. You can also ac-cess three versions of the film through a link on theirWeb site: http://www.ppowgallery.com. The gallery islocated at 535 West 22 Street, 3rd floor.

Sigal-Ibsen continued from page 5

the artist, painting on cotton is much slower going thanpainting on paper or even on silk, the much smootherfabric sometimes substituted for paper in Chinese paint-ing since the rougher weaveof the material preventsthe brush from gliding over the surface so smoothly.Thus there is a loss of spontaneity that makes it neces-sary to deliberately calculate each move, no small matter

for an artist so used to working with swift, sure strokes.On the plus side, however, at least for those of uswho appreciate departures from traditional and value

improvisation and innovationfor their own sake, Sigal-Ibsen's new series as awhole new look, somewherebetween Eastern and West-ern art. The thought proc-ess, particularly in the paint-ings as opposed to thepurely calligraphic works,result in a new formal solid-ity that is especially strikingin "Lotus Flowers," where asmaller, as yet unopenedbud, placed next to one an-other of the lovely pink flow-ers in full bloom, resemblesa Sumi brush. Thuswhether it is intended as

such or not, the receptive viewer familiar with Sigal-Ibsen's career trajectory, cannot help but see this paint-ing as a metaphor for the artist's own artistic blossoming.

Equally impressive in another manner is the diptychof dual scrolls hung side by side called "Bamboo," withthe most traditional of subjects in Asian art, painted with

an authoritativeness that is nothing short of amazing for-eign artist born in the West, takes on a new dimensionby virtue of its untraditional presentation. Even moreforeign to the Western sensibility, normally, not least ofall because its message cannot be appreciated by thosewith no knowledge of Chinese, is calligraphy, which isregarded as an art form on a par with painting in Asia.Sigal-Ibsen, however, makes it accessible by includingan English translation in a handwriting every bit asgraceful as a calligraphy in the original language.

Another calligraphic work called "Become a Person ofLove," is a particularly multicultural example, since it wasinspired by a proverb that the artist discovered in the

book of African Proverbs: "Become a person of lovenot one who seeks love but one who gives love." Aftercopying out the saying exquisite Chinese calligraphy, theartist translates it into English at the bottom of the com-position. But and aesthetically attuned viewer with noknowledge of the language can still appreciate the workvisually, given the way the artist has employed several ofthe chops (the traditional red seal used for signing Asianpaintings) as integral elements of the composition. In-deed, the chops appear to move the eye around the

Sigal-Ibsen next column

Sigal-Ibsen

intricate lines bordering the calligraphy like fireflies flittingaround foliage. One suspects it is these subtle touchesThat make Rose Sigal-Ibsen's work appealing to theEastern as well as the westernized. For here is an artistwithout only emulates the style of the culture that in-spires her what makes her own unique and lasting contri-bution to it. Thus her approach to Chinese calligraphy

and Japanese Sumi in painting literally offers us the bestof three worlds.

"Become a Person of Love"Bamboo

We need volunteers to help continue the survival of

our ASCA Newsletter. We welcome art-relatedarticles, reviews of exhibitions and your upcom-

ing shows.

Send your material to:Hank Rondina

209 Lincoln Place,Eastchester, New York 10709;

Telephone (914) 793-1376;or email it to [email protected]


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Helen Levin, ASCA member, and her son, GolanLevin will be exhibiting their work at the Staten Is-land Museum July 7, 2011 through January 12 th, 2012.

The exhibit entitled"The Gesture in Paintand Software: HelenLevin and Golan Levinan IntergenerationalExhibit of Paintingsand Installations" forviewers to have hands-on interactive art ex-periences. An exhibitunites the paintbrushand computer.

Helen, who is beenthe recipient of nu-merous awards,grants, scholarshipsand residencies,states that her work"I improvise on arepresentational imageusually from nature. I am simply enamored with the ex-citement of the visual world...but I never wish to simplycopy it. Instead, I seek the essence of an image in itsabstract qualities, and I use my own "automatic" gestureto re-create both the structure and the emotion that the

image invokes.I paint on can-

vas or paperand focus onspontaneityand composi-tional integrity.The flat rectan-gle is my for-mat and in it Ican improvisefreely."

Golan Levindevelops arti-facts and

events, whichexplore supple

new modes ofreactive expres-

sion. His work focuses on the design of systems for thecreation, manipulation, and performance of simultaneousimage and sound, as part of a more general inquiry intothe formal language of interactivity, and of nonverbalcommunications protocols in cybernetic systems.Through performances, digital artifacts, and virtual envi-ronments, often created with a variety of collaborators,

Levin applies creative twists to digital technologies thathighlight our relationship with machines, make visible ourways of interacting with each other, and explore the in-tersection of abstract communication and interactivity.Levin has exhibited widely in Europe, America, and Asia.

Levin's work has been presented in the Whitney Bien-nial, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Kitchen,and the Neuberger Museum, all in New York; the Ars

Electronica Center in Linz, Austria; The Museum of Con-temporary Art in Taipei, Taiwan; the NTT InterCommuni-cation Center (ICC) in Tokyo, Japan; and the Zentrum frKunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Ger-many, among other venues. His funding credits includegrants from Creative Capital, The New York State Coun-cil on the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, theRockefeller MAP Fund, The Greenwall Foundation, theLanglois Foundation, and the Arts Council of England.

The Staten Island Museum is located at 75 Stuyve-sant Pl., Staten Island, NY and is three blocks from theStaten Island ferry terminal. The exhibit opens July 7,2011

Arch-Homage iiAcrylic on canvass

Arch-Homage VIIAcrylic on canvass

MeshyIs an interactive drawing environment in which the usersstrokes scaffold a gauzy mesh of animated elements.The mesh continually bridges the users two most re-cent movements;by making new marks, users cantease and torque the mesh in real-time

HELEN LEVIN AND GOLAN LEVINAN INTERGENERATIONAL EXHIBIT



ing shows.





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-story loft apartment on the Bowery. A photograph takenby her friend Mel Bochner shows many items occupyinga table made for her by her friend, the artist Sol LeWitt.She used the table in different ways: to arrange her ownwork and other objects that might be handled, and todisplay the ordinary, everyday ephemera of exhibitionreviews and gallery announcements. In this exhibition,the work is displayed on table-like plinths that allude to

how the works may have been encountered in Hessesown living space, temporarily arranged in groups on theworktable, always subject to change.Eva Hesse: Studiowork features works made from adiverse range of materials, such as plaster and latex,painted wood, metal, sculp-metal (a vinyl and resin sus-pension ofaluminumpowder thatcould be ap-plied over ob-

jects), fiber-glass, rubber,

plasterboard,cardboard,cotton, polyes-ter resin,cheesecloth,wire, string,paper, andnets. This exhibition also includes a series of largelypapier mch works never before shown in public.Hesses interest in using unconventional materials and inpushing the materials to their limitsin an attempt toachieve thinness and translucency, or formlessness anddensitymeant that she produced works that are bothfragile and subject to deterioration. These transient ma-

terials make clear the temporal dimension of art: theyhave time built into them. Hesses focused and intricateactions and hand gestures can be imagined from theevidence of their production: folding, pinning, piercing,cutting, stapling, layering, threading, wrapping, molding,and casting. Her arrangements and rearrangements ofthe works were also important to the making of the work.

Like any artist, Hesse made work in a particular con-textin her case, New York in the 1960s. New materialswere important to fellow artists such as Robert Morris,

Hesse, nex page

Submitted By Estelle Levy

Curated by Briony Fer and Barry Rosen

The German-born, American artist Eva Hesse (1936

1970) played a central role in the radical transforma-tion of sculptural practice in the 1960s. Hesse belongedto a generationof artists, includ-ing BruceNauman andAndy Warhol,who expandedthe conceptualand technicalpossibilities forart. BAM/PFA isextremely privi-

leged to presenta group of rarelyseen sculpturesthat show theinner workingsof Hesses stu-dio practice.The objects,both small andlarge, rangefrom raw material experiments to works in their own right,all of them revealing process and the moments betweenthinking and making. Organized by The Fruitmarket Gal-lery in Edinburgh, this unprecedented presentation ofHesses small-scale experimental works has traveled toLondon, Barcelona, and Toronto before its appearancein Berkeley. The exhibition contains many works fromBAM/PFAs own collection, part of a major gift made in1979 by Hesses sister, Helen Charash; the Berkeleypresentation includes a special selection of works fromthe collection that are too fragile to travel.

Over the course of her career, Hesse produced arange of experimental works that until now have notbeen recognized as an important subject of research. Inthe past they have been referred to as test pieces or pro-totypes, and valued as models or studies for large-scaleworks. In this exhibition, the art historian Briony Fer re-

evaluates these works, renaming them studiowork. Sheconsiders them as thought-experiments, works thatcapture moments of experimentation, where Hesse istrying out ideas and techniques and discovering newpossibilities for her sculptural practice. Neither simplypreparatory nor necessarily finished works, many of thestudioworks exist slightly beneath the threshold of sculp-turebut also question what we think sculpture is. Theydramatize and draw attention to the open-ended natureof Hesses work as a whole.

Hesse lived and worked in her New York studio, a two



ing shows.




EVA HESSE: STUDIOWORK

Eva Hesse: Studiowork, 1968; fiber-glass, polyester resin, and plastic (clear)

tubing; 3 7/8 x 5 3/4 x 5 3/8 in.; gift ofMrs. Helen Charash, 1979.

Eva Hesse: Studiowork, 1967; cheeseclothover metal screen; 3 x 19 x 7 in. (variable);
mailto:[email protected]://artcards.cc/review/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Eva_hesse_Studiowork.jpgmailto:[email protected]


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A short time ago I received a note from ASCAmember Marion Oken. In it she talked aboutEmily Dickinson and how in some of the poetry, shepainted with words. The following poems were se-

lected by Marion, and are presented to you for yourenjoyment.

NatureXXXINature rarer uses yellowNature rarer uses yellowThan another hue;Saves she all of that for sunsets,Prodigal of blue,

Spending scarlet like a woman,Yellow she affordsOnly scantly and selectly,Like a lover's words.

XLII

Where Ships of Purple -- gently toss --On Seas of Daffodil --Fantastic Sailors -- mingle --And then -- the Wharf is still

She sweeps with many-colored broomsShe sweeps with many-colored brooms,And leaves the shreds behind;Oh, housewife in the evening west,Come back, and dust the pond!

You dropped a purple ravelling in,You dropped an amber thread;And now you've littered all the EastWith duds of emerald!

And still she plies her spotted brooms,And still the aprons fly,Till brooms fade softly into stars --And then I come away.

See Dickenson, page 12

EMILY DICKENSON: POETRYEXPRESSED IN COLOR


ing shows.




Emily Dickenson1830-1886

Eva Hesse continued

Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra, and Robert Smithson, whowere also using materials that were originally soft and flexi-ble, including aluminum, latex rubber, plastic, lead, poly-thene, copper, felt, chicken wire, dirt, and glue. Hesse wasaware that she was producing works that were ephemeral,

but this problemwas of less con-

cern to her thanthe fact that shesimply wantedto work withmaterials thathad a temporaldimension. Asshe stated in aninterview withCindy Nemserin 1970, Lifedoesnt last; artdoesnt last.For Briony Fer,the value inthese works isthat they arenot universaland timeless,

but leave us with a sense of a first encounter with things,the kind of encounter we had before we knew how to makesense of them.

Eva Hesse's "Studiowork,"cheesecloth and papier-mache

(1969), clockwise from top; unti-tled enamel, papier-mache andrubber (1966) and fiberglass,

resin and plastic tubing (1968).

I have abandoned sculpture engraving and painting to

dedicate myself entirely to song. Picasso to Jaime Sabarts April 1936

It was in early 1935 that Picasso (then fifty-four years old)began to write poetry until the summer of 1959. In the nowstandard Picasso myth, the onset of the poetry is said tohave coincided with a devastating marital crisis (a finan-cially risky divorce, to be more exact), because of which hisoutput as a painter halted for the first time in his life.

Throughout 1935 and 1936, Picasso largely ignoredpaint and canvas and immersed himself in written expres-sion

the morning of the worldi have a face cut from icea heart pierced in a thousand placesso to rememberalways the same voicethe same gesturesand my laughter heavyas a wallbetween you and methe ones who are most aliveseem the most stillbehind the milky waya shadow dancesour gaze climbs toward the stars

DID YOU KNOW PICASSO WAS A POET?


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ing shows.




ASCA OFFICERSPresident Barbara Schiller

President-Emeritus Harriet FeBlandVice-President Raymond WeinsteinVice-President Raymond ShanfeldVice-President Frank Mann

Treasurer Allan Simpson

Recording Secretary Imelda Cajipe EndayaCorresponding Secretary Lisa RobbinsSocial Secretary Olga Kitt

Historian Frank MannBoard of Directors: Elinore Bucholtz,

Hank Rondina, Fred Terna

ASCA NEWSLETTERPublication Director Hank Rondina

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSMarcia Bernstein, Estelle Levy, Ed McCormack, Gallery andStudio, Marion Oken, Hank Rondina, Leslie Shaw Zadoian

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Hank RondinaCOPY DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT ISSUE

JUNE 15, 2011

Send your material to:Hank Rondina, 209 Lincoln Place,

Eastchester, New York 10709; Telephone (914) 793-1376;or email it to [email protected]

ASCA Newsletter is published 4 times a year.Copyright 2009 by ASCA Permission is required to reprint any por-

tion of this newsletter.

MEMBERSHIP NEWS

Georgiana Cray BartInvited to exhibit at LuzerneCounty Women in Pastel Invitational, Misericordia Uni-versity, Dallas, PA, Mar.13th -Apr. 20th. -ALSO- She willbe giving a two day color workshop in pastel painting theChristina Debarry Studio, 10 Harvale Drive, Florham

Park, NJ, May 7th and 8th, 2011. For information, contactChristina at [email protected] Levin-Golan Levin"The Gesture in Paint andSoftware, Staten Island Museum July 7, 2011 throughJanuary 12th, 2012.Rose Sigal Ibsen-Exhibited at the GNA Art Exhibition atthe National Arts Club--ALSO-Demonstrated Calligraphyat the Lunar New Year Folk Arts Festival in Feb. at theAsian American Arts Centre, 111 Norfolk St., NYC-ALSO-was the guest speaker at the US China Peoples Friend-ship Assoc., NYC in March.Basha MaryanskaExhibiting in "Eccentricity" at theNew Century Artists Gallery Suite 406, 530 W. 25th St.,

NYC, May 2nd-May 28th, Reception Sat., May 7th 3:00-6:00pm. -ALSO-Exhibiting in Together at the New Cen-tury Artists Gallery, Mar.1stMar.19thHedy O' BeilExhibiting at gallery 307, 7th Ave., NYCApril 7th-April 28th.Gerda Roze-Solo exhibit "Homage to the Circle,"at theGallery's of The 475 Riverside Dr., NYC Apr. 7--May 13th,Reception Apr. 14th, 4-7pm. Gallery hrs. 9-5pm Mon.-Fri.Julie Joy Saypoff--Exhibiting in Together at the NewCentury Artists Gallery, Mar.1stMar.19th

Isabel Shaw Exhibited at "Counterpoints" The NewYork Society of Women Artists Feb. 22nd March 13th,Broome Street Gallery, 498 Broome St. NYC

Lea WeinbergExhibited at "Counterpoints" The NewYork Society of Women Artists Feb. 22nd March 13th,Broome Street Gallery, 498 Broome St. NYC ALSOExhibited at New Century Artists Gallery, Chelsea, NYC(530W. 25th Street, Suite 401New York, NY 10001,Mar.1stMar.19th.Leslie Shaw ZadoianAssemblage Paintings "Rights ofSpring"Apr. 7th-May 13th 2011, (see gallery pages)Interchurch Center, Corridor Gallery, 475 Riverside Dr.,NYC.

Dickenson, continued from page 11

Summer ShowerA drop fell on the apple treeAnother on the roof;A half a dozen kissed the eaves,And made the gables laugh.

A few went out to help the brook,That went to help the sea.Myself conjectured, Were they pearls,What necklaces could be!

The dust replaced in hoisted roadsThe birds jocoser sung;The sunshine threw his hat away,The orchards spangles hung.

The breezes brought dejected lutesAnd bathed them in the glee;The East put out a single flag,And signed the fete away.

newsletter 42 spring 2011

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