The Times Quotidian

Alice Neel: Paintings, LA Louver Gallery, Venice, California, May 20-June 26, 2010
by Tom Wudl

Alice Neel’s biography confirms what all true artists know. There will be pain at either end of the equation that attempts to reconcile creativity with survival. For all true artists it is create or die. The difficult negotiation between the need to create and the longing for the promise of domestic stability and companionship has been a source of pain for both artists and their families always. Even the stoics who tough it out by themselves don’t escape loneliness. And for Neel there too existed a marginalization by the declared professionals of the day; the same sycophants who now cannot find praise enough, ignored her work within the confines of her own generation. An unkind adversity many an artist is condemned to suffer.

When standing in front of her paintings I get the sense that everyone who posed for her is implicated in her suffering. When you sat in the chair you enlisted to have your fortune told by a diabolical mind reader who could and would penetrate every barrier unconditionally. When you got up you could not possibly have the same pretensions about yourself that you had before the sitting (Linus Pauling excluded; still deluded by his own insipid smile). And as viewers we too are implicated in this seance of truth and see a particular part of ourselves clearly in the faces on the canvas. With the exception of a few sympathetic children and other chosen innocents, no one is given a pass.

Last but not least is technique: To the uninitiated the paintings may look like the casual improvisations of a well meaning yet untutored primitive. But to those who are in possession of a visual syntax, Alice Neel’s virtuosity is striking and it makes me think of shorthand; shorthand as used to encode quantities of information into a symbolic economy that when deciphered discloses every word and every letter representing the contents of the subject, in its completeness. That’s exactly what she did. She invented a shorthand that permitted her to record every detail of her clinical analysis of what is visible and invisible to the eye and that in turn in the fullness of time unfolds itself in the eye of the viewer.

Specimens from the Flowerbank World

These paintings and drawings were inspired by the Avatamsaka Sutra. The English translation of its title—Flower Ornament Sutra—discloses the obvious relation between text and image. It would however be inaccurate to view these works as illustrations of the book, since they do not coincide with any specific descriptions of imagery in the sutra. It might be more appropriate to say that the images reflect the very rich content of the book.

Inexhaustible Benefit, 2009, Oil on linen, 4 3/8″ x 4 3/4″

For instance, the proliferation of the tiny club motif is representative of the elaborate descriptions of phenomena so characteristic of the book’s literary style. “The finest jewels appeared spontaneously, raining inexhaustible quantities of gems and beautiful flowers all over the earth.” And in another sampling of the sutra’s visionary cosmology, we read “There were great enlightening beings numerous as the atoms in ten Buddha worlds.” Or “Each of his hair tips was able to contain all worlds without interference.”

One could say that the sutra in its 1,500 plus pages is an epic exhortation to meditation practice. Meditation is simply another word for concentration or attention. A common but not exclusive meditation practice involves repetition. The repetition of mantras. Counting the breath. Or simply the act of bringing awareness back to the breath should it forget itself in daydreaming. Although not specifically a meditation practice, the attention directed to the consistent repetition of the miniature details parallels the voluntary attention of meditation. It also ironically yet respectfully parallels the art of the insane that often exhibits urgent reflexive repetition and obsession with minutiae.

— Tom Wudl, October 2009

Specimens from the Flowerbank World will be shown at LA Louver Gallery, Venice California
November 12 – December 31, 2009
Reception for the artist: Thursday, 12 November 2009, 6 – 8 p.m.

Please click image to enlarge.

Liberation, Oil on Linen, 2009, 7 1/8″ x  10 1/8″

Now, Oil on Linen, 2009, 4 1/4″ x 4 3/4″

Equanimity, Oil on Linen, 2009, 13″ x 9″

Boundless Oceans of Concentrations, Graphite on Paper, 2009, 9 3/8″ x 13″

Inexhaustible Oceans of Desire, Pencil on Paper, 2008, 9 3/8 x 13″

Study for Specimens from the Flowerbank World 1, Pencil on Rag Paper, 2008, 7 1/4″ x 5 1/8″

Study for Specimens from the Flowerbank World 2, Pencil on Rag Paper, 2008, 7 1/4″ x 5 1/8″

A preview of artist Tom Wudl’s work for his upcoming solo exhibition opening November 12th at LA Louver Gallery, Venice CA.

“My current interest is not the universal application of symbols, but the language of art itself. Where paint and image with their infinite malleability, their capacity for nuance, their challenge to mastery, beckon, beguile, and seduce into a labyrinth of mystery where I find refuge from the savagery of the world and where my inclination towards the sacredness of life is confirmed.” — Tom Wudl

Study for Flower Ornament Sutra 5, 2009
Oil on Paper
Image: 4 1/2″ x 5 1/8″, Paper: 7 1/2″x 8 1/8″

Study for Flower Ornament Sutra 4, 2009
Graphite on Paper
Size: 9 1/4″ x 13″

Study for Flower Ornament Sutra 3, 2008
Graphite on Paper
Size: 9 1/4″ x 13″