James Nares

James Nares at Paul Kasmin Gallery
January 15 2009 - Feburary 21, 2009


Survival of the Luckiest, 2008. Oil and wax on linen, 96" x 60"

In the early eighties, James Nares reinvented the brush, the surface, and paint. He also reduced his artistic practice solely to exploration of these three elements' expressive potential. For more than twenty years since, Nares has actively investigated the nature of the brushstroke--its size, proportion, materiality, shape, and movement--with invention of his own brushes and stroke-making methods. "Brushes are like characters in a way." Nares says. "Each one does a different dance."

If Nares' brushstrokes can dance, they do so with seductive luminescence under the lights of Paul Kasmin Gallery. Each work therein serves solely to animate and glorify the mark as it squirms and writhes, lurching itself across painted surface with vitality and stamina. Untitled (2007), a royal blue gesture in oil on paper, immediately brings to mind Yves Klein's Anthropométries, wherein the enigmatic Nouveau Réaliste experimented in mark-making with his own "living brushes"--nude women drenched in fresh blue paint. While the proportions and gestural nuances of Nares' paintings draw strong anthropomorphic connections, the prominent anatomy of the painted stroke ultimately calls for a purely formal analysis.

Each of Nares' strokes is a living entity that has made it past the hit-or-miss selection of his critical eye. On some occasions, Nares strokes out hundreds of times--a horizontal tango over a single canvas--while a vigilant, squeegee-wielding assistant waits in the wings, successively wiping the surface clean of each repudiated attempt. Nares says about ninety percent of his brushstrokes are unsuccessful. Those that are allowed to dry and consequentially to be hung upright, serve as formidably candid emblems of abstract activism and the staying power of art as art.

1. Untitled, 2007. Oil on paper.

Everything Imagined is Real (After Dante)

Robert Taplin at Winston Wächter Fine Art
January 7-February 9, 2009


Across the Dark Waters (The River Acheron) (2007) 84" x 94" x 50"

Upon encountering Robert Taplin's Everything Imagined is Real (After Dante) at Winston Wächter Fine Arts, one is made to feel quite self-consciously large. Nine dramatic tableaux vivants fill the space, each occupied by pallid, resin-cast figures in miniature environments. Seven of these vignettes take the shape of large, black wooden cabinets, which house interior scenes reminiscent of Italian presepe. Two others engage in table-top theatrics-- in Thus My Soul which Was Still In Flight (The Dark Wood) (2008), a middle-aged man rises from his bed, presumably after a nocturnal disturbance; a brawl erupts as a muscular figure struggles to mount the bow of small wooden boat in Get Back! (The River Styx) (2008). Foregoing the wall text, it is apparent that some somber, grand narrative is transpiring in our midst.

As show's title suggests, this nine-part series is Taplin's semi-autobiographical descent into Hell, and we, the viewers, are given an elevated seat. One recurring figure, assumed to be Taplin himself--the only actor rendered in full color--navigates contemporary settings of still despondence--a dining room, a den--that evoke a Hopper-esque vernacular of desolate realism.

O, you who are led through this hell, recognize me if you can.
You were made before I was made.
(The Inferno, v. 40-42)

Direct quotations from Dante's Inferno, like the one above from Recognize Me If You Can (The Third Circle) (2008), append each work, enhancing Taplin's compositional poetics and reiterating the only vaguely-accessible inner turmoil of the statuesque artist as he makes his descent. As the narrative progresses, color drains, and the viewer assumes an increasingly voyeuristic role. Scenes become epic in scope and cataclysmic in magnitude. Perspective shifts, supporting figures fluctuate in size and number, premonitions are sensed, cities are burned and razed to the ground.

Versed in medieval studies and theatre design, Taplin employs innovative use of materials in his sculptural works, which thoroughly heighten their visual tenor as engaging objects of spectacle. Across the Dark Waters (The River Acheron) transpires on the electric blue banks of a harrowingly tenebrous river that, upon closer inspection, reveals itself as no more than a literally gaping chasm that cuts through the dioramic scenery. In We Went In Without a Fight (Through the Gates of Dis), Taplin constructs a deep view down the street of a devastated city, shrouding buildings in gossamer screens to create a hazy atmospheric perspective.

Throughout his work, Taplin continually explores the idea that "the real real world is the one that goes on in your head." Interpreting Dante's Inferno through diorama constructions of his own intimate visions, Robert Taplin successfully crafts a distinctive, coeval narrative that, if not personally relatable, is at least compelling for its technical intrigue.

Everything Imagined is Real (After Dante) is on view at Winston Wächter Fine Arts , 530 W. 25th St., New York City, from January 7 - February 9, 2009. Further information is available at www.winstonwachter.com.

1. Thus My Soul Which Was Still in Flight (The Dark Wood), 2008.
2. Get Back! (The River Styx), 2008.
3. Recognize Me If You Can (The Third Circle), (2008).
4. We Went In Without a Fight (Through the Gates of Dis), 2008.