Narangkar Glover

"Shangri-La Girls School: Nalwa House Dorm", 2010, 60 x 80 inches, oil on canvas

"Shangri-La Girls School: A Thousand Stairs", 2010, 60 x 60 inches, oil on canvas

"Shangri-La Girls School: Garhwali Himalayas", 2010, 60 x 60 inches, oil on canvas

 "Shangri-La Girls School: Field Hockey", 2010, 60 x 80 inches, oil on canvas

Shangri-La Girls School: attari house plotting domination, 2010, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches

In her ongoing series, "Shangri-La Girls School" Narangkar Glover paints memories that transform themselves into myth. The roots of these images, we are told, lie in a biographical past, a religious upbringing and a girls' boarding school in India. But they are paintings after all. Not memories. Her use of simplified forms and a conscious naive approach to drawing, help to guide us away from seeing them as representations of a reality. They take on a symbolic resonance, so that they are capable of carrying meaning. This is how mythmaking is always done. No one confuses myth with verisimilitude. The latter can easily impress but the former is much harder to accomplish. So brava to Narangkar Glover for taking a unique experience and giving us myths by which to touch that experience with our own.
Her work was featured in last years New American Paintings (#93) and is currently include in a group show at Andrea Schwartz Gallery in San Francisco.
To see more of her work online go to her website: www.narangkar.com

Maysey Craddock

"Sanctuary"  gouache and thread on found paper  38" x 50.5"  2011

"Ninth ward (after Friedrich)"  gouache and thread on found paper  38" x 69.5"  2010

"Held (orchard and rail)"  gouache and thread on found paper  50" x 38"  2011

"Rupture (ashes and light)"  gouache and thread on found paper  38.5" 51.5"  2011

"The Back of Beyond"  gouache and thread on found paper  69.5" x 89"  2009

A friend of mine was recently in New York and saw this work by Memphis artist, Maysey Craddock at Nancy Margolis Gallery (the show will be up until Oct. 15, if you happen to be out that way). Her work depicts the nether world that exists in the wake of human industry, where vines and shrubs establish themselves among discarded and decaying structures and old fences divide empty space form empty space. Her studio is set in such a place, in an old medicine factory, last in a row of empty warehouses at the end of a dead-end street. She works on found paper, mostly old paper grocery bags sewn together with silk thread, giving the work a textural quality that echoes the content. The images are derived from photographic references and painted in simplified graphic forms with gouache. One can imagine these paintings rattling quietly, stuck by a breeze against some old chain link fence. The message of course, is that these forgotten spaces hold their own kind of beauty for those who look, because they are in transition, actively changing from one kind of place into another.
You can see more of her work at www.mayseycraddock.com

(thanks Devon.)

Josh Dorman

"The Big Picture"  Ink, acrylic, graphite, collage on panel  33" x 34"  2011

"Tower of Babel"  Ink, acrylic, oil, antique paper on 32 adjoining panels  96" x 48"  2008

"A Cautionary Tale"  Ink, acrylic, collage on panels  36" x 68"  2008

"Night Fishing II"  Ink, acrylic, collage on panel  34" x 36"  2008

"A Mighty Rain"  ink, acrylic, collage on panel  33" x 34"  2011

Josh dorman is an obsessive collector of old paper, especially pre-photography printed materials. He hordes outdated topographic maps and textbooks, technical illustrations and the like. Then, in a combination of collage and painting, he builds images rife with subtle and often random associations that nonetheless come together with compelling completeness.  Because of the nature of his material, his work is rife with images of natural history and technology. The two themes square off against each other in the eternal conflict that defines mankind's unique condition; both creator and creature, master and manipulator of the environment while at the same time as dependent upon it as any other living thing. But there is far too much room in his work to get stuck on general themes like this. Part of the fun (and yes, there is a definitely an element of fun here for all the riffs on human hubris), is to take the time and look through the details. Some of the images here can be viewed larger, but I recommend going to his website where you can view the images really large and spend a little time poring over his meticulous presentation of a fine collection indeed.
www.joshdorman.net
 (better yet, if you happen to be in NYC between now and Oct. 22 swing by Mary Ryan Gallery over in Chelsea to see work in person.)

Daniel Dove

"Kells"  34" x 54"  oil on canvas  2010

"Exploded View"  oil on canvas  50" x 68"  2009

"Volcano"  oil on canvas  48" x 96"  2007

"Wireherd"  oil on canvas  72" x 96"  2007

"Vanishing Point"  oil on canvas  66" x 96"  2010

Daniel Dove's work recently received a special spotlight and review in New American Paintings #95. It's a well deserved honor for an enormously impressive painter. These monumentally sized canvases capture both the grandeur and decay of the modern urban landscape. And somehow implied in this, there seems to be a metaphor for the grandeur and decay of painting itself. His work is clearly rooted in the representational but embraces abstraction. And while the work is refreshingly (to me) narrative, the images work as simple visual constructs. I apologize if my language sounds more like pretentious art-babble than usual but I'm really at a loss for words.  And so I guess I really don't have much more to say, other than I highly recommend looking through the rest of the work on his website: danieldove.com

Adam Friedman

"The Elemental and Fundamental"

Acylic, Screen Print, Gel Transfers, and Collage on Panel  18"x14"  2010

"Endurance of the Farallons"

Screen Print, Acrylic, Gel Transfers, and Collage on Panel  14"x20"  2009

"An Icelandic Orogeny"

Acrylic, Screen Print, Gel Transfers, and Collage on Panel  17"x31"  2010

"No Vestige of a Beginning, No Prospect of and End"

Screen Print, Acrylic, Gel Transfers, and Collage on Panel  16"x16"  2010

"Reclaiming Everest

Acrylic, Screen Print, Gel Transfers, and Collage on Panel  26"x15"  2010

The artist in my previous post (Robert Minervini) wrote me to recommend another artist in my own town of Portland, Oregon, Adam Friedman. So here's his work. He employs an interesting combination of media but as is typical with me, I tend to hone in on content. One notices very quickly repeated references to landscape, environment and especially geology. One of the most fascinating and difficult aspects of geology is it's dilated time scale. In geologic time, the human presence on earth is a barely perceivable blip and in geologic terms our impact upon the earth is negligible. The gradual processes of the earth's crust, it's formation, it's folding and unfolding, it's slow parade of eons has gone on long before we existed and will continue long after. This is his central theme. His occasional forays into anthrocentric environmental concerns is almost a shrug. Will we destroy ourselves? Possibly. Are we bringing about a mass extinction of unique lifeforms? Almost certainly. Ultimately the earth, and life as a whole, will barely notice we were ever here. For some, including Adam Friedman, this thought is a source of deep and abiding comfort. We are not the center of creation. We are merely witnesses to it's vast scale and scope.
To see more, go to his website: artbyadamfriedman.com

Robert Minervini - 2

"Automatic Model"  2011  acrylic and oil on canvas  60" x 120"

"A Gardened Earth"  2011  acrylic and oil on canvas  60" x 96"

"Room With A View"  2011  acrylic on canvas over panel  18" x 18"

"Ultra-Modern"  2011  acrylic on canvas  50" x 70"

I posted some of Robert Minervini's work earlier this year (March 24, 2011). I won't add much in the way of commentary here except to note that these new pieces show less urban decay. But everything is in state of semi-construction and uncertainty is still an essential element here. Also I'd like to point out the scale of these paintings. These are big. I'd love to see them in person. If you happen to live in or near Santa Fe you might want to. He'll be showing at least some of these very pieces in a show at Eggman & Walrus Art Emporium. The show opens Friday Sept. 16 and runs through October 29.

I apologize for the recent dearth of posts. I've been on vacation and will get back to at least twice a week. Cheers.

Nick Sheehy (aka Showchicken)

"The Map and The Message"  pencil on paper, cyber colour (i.e. digital color)  2010

"Songs"  acrylic, ink and pencil on paper  2010

"Stocks"  acrylic, ink and pencil on bristol board  2010

"Tall Bird" Pencil on paper, electric rainbow paint (i.e. digital color)  2010

Moleskine Frog  2011

I feel like a dope for not having posted this work a long time ago. I guess I thought I had. Anyway I came across Nick Sheehy's work on Flickr some time early in 2010 and have been a fan ever since. His unique surrealist narrative vision begs the viewer's mind for a rich tapestry of story and myth. It's as if the mythology, the gods and heroes and queer characters that inhabit his work have always existed, we just forgot about them until Mr. Sheehy came along with the illustrations to remind us of this elaborate heritage.

After an apparent creative block he recently began doodling in his sketchbook a series of tentacle infested animal portraits that are just as engaging and promise a rich new vein of material to come.
To see more of his work go to the aforementioned Flickr page or his website: www.showchicken.com

Robert Sato

"Unearthing" 2011

"Mass Gathering" 2011

"Metal After Math" 2010

"No Touching" 2011

"Giant Down" 2011

Robert Sato is part of a new popular surrealist movement, but his work does not reflect much of what others are doing in this field. Landscape or landscape-like constructions seem to figure prominently and there is definitely an element of natural and man-made mash-ups going on. But beyond that I'm fairly at a loss for words. No matter. It's about looking and especially here, looking closely. He creates elaborate if cryptic worlds and the level of detail is an essential element. Go to his website (www.robsato.com), look at some of the detail images. You might have no idea what is going on or what you're even looking at, and you will not likely know what any of it is supposed to mean (the search for meaning in art is mostly overrated nonsense) but it's a fascinating exploration nonetheless.

thanks to the folks at www.booooooom.com for posting his work.