(An Appropriate Distance)

FROM THE MAYOR'S DOORSTEP

Report from the Front
Art criticism, sometimes with context, occasional politics. New shows: "events;" how to support the online edition: "works."

3 TIMES & PLACES

November 30, 2013

Tags: Joan Miro, Andre Masson, Roy Lerner, Peter G Ray, Jules Olitski

Peter G. Ray. "The Garden of Earthly Delights" 2013. Acrylic and oil on canvas, 72" x 102".

Three worthwhile gallery shows I’ve seen recently present art from three times & places. The earliest takes us back to the 1920s in Paris. The latest presents art as it is now, in exurban New York and Canada. The middle focuses on a painter who worked during the five decades in between, all the way from Florida to New Hampshire. Read More

4 Comments

Comments

Dec 09, 2013 1:05 PM EST

Regarding the Lerner/Ray exhibit- you are much, much too kind.

- jerald webster

Jan 03, 2014 9:31 AM EST

Re my first comment, I want to add that I too feel Roy's best work remained in his studio-to his detriment. His "range" of novel activity is irrelevant - his level of quality is what matters. It is not what gets you into the studio to paint, its what you come out with when you are done. He has far better paintings than what was shown and I wonder if he was happy with the selection. I know shows are hard to come by but....this was detrimental.

I have already taken flack for my first posting so I may as well get some more.Two things have shaped my thinking in the past ten years. I almost died from a heart attack at 52 in 2005. I no longer suffer fools and suck ups, its a waste of my time. I also have been a boss where I worked and have found that honey only works with some people but others will keep feeding on it until you take it away. A foot in the ass always gets results. The problem with that is it inevitably is met with whining and resistance and the back stabbing repercussions can cost you your job and in the end, for me, it did. That is what B.B.King was getting at - "Payin the Cost of Being the Boss". I have found that even though I have taken a lot of sh#t for speaking my mind, it gets results. I don't back down.

- jerald webster

Jan 03, 2014 10:03 AM EST

Actually, with the exceptions of "Clear as a Bell" and "Gravity," I too felt that I'd seen better Lerners in other situations (exhibitions as well as in his studio). However, I also suspect that the reason Moffett chose to exhibit those other, less successful experiments was because he wanted to encourage Lerner to experiment more, or at least to stay with his experiments until they've developed into something more. I myself have observed over the years how now & again, Lerner will try something different, and then, if it doesn't pan out immediately as he wanted it to, he goes back to painting the same kind of picture he's been painting since the 90s. They're lovely paintings, but after 20 years, I am running out of things to say about them, so I can sort of sympathize with Moffett on this one.

- Piri Halasz

Jan 03, 2014 10:11 AM EST

PS. Although you say you've taken flack for your first posting, I found it a most refreshing change of pace . When there are disagreements, it's always stimulating (as long as they're politely phrased). I might add, I am aware that you're not the only one who thought I'd been too kind (just the only one to commit such views to print).

- Piri Halasz