1) El Bronco by Rochelle Feinstein
2) photo of the reception for Rochelle Feinstein
3) Olive+Oil by Guy Goodwin
Following posting on Rochelle Feinstein at Momenta I wanted to post this recognition of two studio shows David Reed opened his working studio to host. The first was for Guy Goodwin in 2006, following on the High Times Hard Times exhibition with two older works of Guy's and then one from a series of his latest work, and the second in 2008 was for Rochelle Feinstein especially featuring a painting David had thought about for a long time - El Bronco.
Both receptions were remarkable for their warmth and the engagement of the onlookers with the art being shown, as would not be surprising given it was hosted through the hospitality of a fellow working painter rather than a commercial gallery. I should perhaps disclose that I was at Skowhegan in 1993 with Guy Goodwin and saw his slides there but not this older work in person until High Times Hard Times where his C-Swing was the first painting on the right as one came into the exhibition, at the National Academy of Art in the architecture of much earlier times. I had seen Guy's exhibition at Bill Maynes and was looking forward to this one - Guy was an important teacher for me at Skowhegan that summer.
Following are the interview with Rochelle and the invite for Guy's show, from Reedstudio - thank you for providing the images and attachments.
David Reed: I must have seen “El Bronco” in your studio fairly soon after it was painted in 1997. When during the Simpson saga did you start thinking about “El Bronco”?
Rochelle Feinstein: That’s easy. I thought of it during the slo-mo chase.
The freeways are so different from our roads – that aerial view on which there was only one car moving forward and across 4 lanes. It struck me that this was a grid: Simpson was moving along the grid. For me all the ripe areas were there as well: domestic violence, racial politics, civic policy, and celebrity. Then what it came down, ultimately, was how would I make this a painting? That’s my obsession: to maintain myself as a painter who’s observing and respecting the whole inheritance of painting, and at the same time experimenting and filtering added subject matters through that canonical language. That for me is the issue: to keep it a painting always and to keep the other things going. The paintings have a double read.
DR: The other things going… You make it sound easier than it is.
RF: I worked on “El Bronco” for about a year and a half. Picking it up, putting it down. I knew what the first part was, but it took a while, juggling, to figure out the second part. Each of the canvases is quite different in its material aspects. The first canvas, on the left, was painted using traditional mediums and various blacks: glazed and layered. The second canvas was made with synthetic materials: flash, tape, and acrylic. I made a stamp and used it repeatedly to make the tire treads; the language addition, in this canvas, was antithetical to Barnet Newman’s practice. I wanted the two canvases to have friction between them - materially, as well as the frictions represented in the event.
DR: Have you done other paintings referring to Simpson?
RF: One of my main preoccupations is also celebrity. The spectacle of celebrity has replaced so many other spectacles. I’m connected to TMZ.com four times a day, both fascinated and repelled. I love it. So Simpson led to Michael Jackson, led to Barry White, in more recent related projects.
Conversation May 9, 2008
Dear friends,
When Guy Goodwin re-stretched his painting C-Swing (1974) at my studio
earlier this year it looked so good, that we decided to have a little show of
his work. In the office, to keep his paintings company, Ulrike Müller has
installed my collection of question mark paintings, and Dean Daderko has
selected an illustrious group of lunch guests.
Please join us for an opening reception on Friday, June 16 2006, from
6–9pm.
We hope you can come, and please bring your friends!
David Reed
In the front studio:
Guy Goodwin: C-Swing (1974), Spine (1978), and Olive Oil (2006)
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