Nicole Eisenman, newly minted genius

[jesse_the_k]

The MacArthur Fellows (aka "the genius grants") were announced today. Seems like the MacArthur Foundation continues to seek out folks with creative minds operating at oblique angles to the mainstream.

Of particular interest was the artist Nicole Eisenman. You can see many of their paintings at the Anton Kern Gallery site. I found this one, titled "It is so," compelling:

A brightly-colored, head-on view of a twin bed with two figures on top. Working from the white sheet up, one sees a charcoal gray cat, a pillow heavily squished by the weight of brown-hair head, then four hands (two on each side from each person) grasped tightly together, then two white-skinned legs spread wide, then no facial features topped by long light-brown hair. On the red milk-crate beside the table, a stack of ten books topped by a two roses in a vase. On the deep blue wall, a yellow poster with black type repeating "Is it so," at least six times vertically.

Comments

Awesome Sauce!

[capri0mni]

I love the near photo realism of the books and milk crate, in contrast to the highly stylized nature and saturated colors of the painting around them. I noticed that one of the books is Homer's Iliad.

Re: Awesome Sauce!

[jesse_the_k]

Indeed!

It's probably the resolution of the photograph: I can read some but not all of the titles.

The entwined couple was so stylized I couldn't even recognize it at first. The image boldly smacked me between the eyes: couldn't decode, couldn't look away.

Re: Awesome Sauce!

[capri0mni]

Is that part of the picture a photograph, or is it "simply" painted with trompe l'oiel level realism?

Re: Awesome Sauce!

[jesse_the_k]

Oh, the photo in question is the capturing of the entire painting. I bet if I was F2F with the original, every publisher's logo would be recognizable.

Re: Awesome Sauce!

[capri0mni]

Oh... right. :-)