Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava
Dana Schutz, right, at her opening on January 10th.
When I last saw work by Dana Schutz it was in the 2017 Whitney Biennial, where her Painting, Open Casket, was met with controversy, a boycott, and calls that the work a) be taken down, even b) destroyed.
Painting in an Earthquake, 2019, 94 x 88 inches, seen in the Atrium gallery visible from 18th Street. It sets the stage while standing apart from the rest of the show. Though it’s seen 10 days into the New Year, it’s dated 2019. Every other work is dated 2018. (I thought I could detect the smell of drying paint in the galleries.)
Neither happened, and after the show ended, the Artist found refuge from the controversy by returning to Painting.
Installation view of the Sculpture in the first gallery.
On January 10th, 2019, she opened Dana Schutz: Imagine Me and You, at Petzel Gallery, 456 West 18th Street, her first NYC solo show since the ’17 Biennial, and surprised me by including 5 Sculptures for the first time. While I immediately thought of the late, great Jack Whitten and his “second career” as a Sculptor that almost no one knew about during his lifetime, these are all dated 2018, and there was no indication if she had made any before. The Sculptures, which were molded in clay and then cast in bronze (per the press release), are shown in the first gallery, which means they are definitely not an “afterthought.”
Washing Monsters, 2018, All Paintings are Oil on canvas, 94 x 87 inches.
With the 2019 Whitney Biennial scheduled to open on May 17th, the show provides an opportunity to see what an alumnus has been up to since 2017.
Mountain Group, 2018, Oil on canvas, 120 x 156 inches.
On the one hand, there’s much in her new Paintings that would seem to come right out of late Philip Guston, but overall, it seems to me, in the end, she moves past it to achieve a fresh daring of her own, particularly in Washing Monsters, shown above, Beat Out The Sun and Treadmill, shown further on.
Strangers, 2018, 88×84. Almost everything about this screams “late Philip Guston,” though the longer I looked at it, I moved past it.
Almost nothing feels still. Everything’s in motion.
Treadmill, 2018, 90 x 96 inches One thing I particularly like about these Paintings is her palette.
Even the Sculpture.
Head in the Wind, 2018, Bronze, 22x14x22 inches.
The paint is often applied thickly,
Here, the paint even casts its own shadows on the lower part. Touched, 2018, 30 x 26 inches.
which makes the inclusion of Sculpture in the show even more appropriate.
The Visible World, 2018, 108 x 140 inches.
The Sculpture both compliments and echoes the Paintings and the two combine for a show that is not overly large, in terms of the number of works, but feels unified.
Presenter, 2018, 88 x 88 inches
It’s hard not to look at this work for signs of the effect of the controversy on it, and there are a number of passages that would seem to lend themselves to such an interpretation. But, overall, these works reward extended, and repeat, looking. In the brand new day of 2019, Dana Schutz’ Art is alive and well.
Beat Out the Sun, 2018, 94 x 87 inches
While this show runs through February 23rd, I’ll be curious to hear who has been chosen to be in this year’s Biennial– particularly among Painters and Photographers. Stay tuned.
*- Soundtrack for this Post is “Brand New Day,” by Van Morrison from Moondance, 1970.
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Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited.
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