I saw this small painting of James Siena's at the Pace Wildenstein booth at Art Basel Miami Beach. I thought of it again when Laura Moriarty, an who lives upstate, sent me some images of her new work, visceral sculptures made with textured sheets of pigmented wax that had been rolled and sliced, sort of like jelly rolls. I liked the visual connection. Then I mentally related them to a painting of Sharon Horvath's, which I'd seen in her show in November at Lori Bookstein Fine Art in Chelsea.
Next week I'll post installation images from Horvath's exhibition, but for now let me make a convoluted connection between and among these three works.
Joanne, I await further images/analysis from the Siena show. In the meantime, I find this particular painting of his strangely compelling. I love the boldness of the forms and color palette, and can't escape the feeling that I'm looking at a slice of blown up brain tissue... Ut-oh, abstractionists always in trouble when viewers start "reading" specific figural elements into their work. Maybe the other anthropomorphically-inspired images here influenced my reading of the Siena work.
In any case, awaiting further info.
Yes, Liz, there is that sense of brain tissue in Siena's work. But I also get a sense of energy, electricity. It lives!
Moriarty's and Horvath's work have a more visceral quality. As kid I remember the first time I saw tripe cooking on my grandmother's stove. It was smelly but kind of beautiful with its fluted, almost transparent layers. In Moriarty's and Horvath's work there's a tantalizing intertwine of creepy and beautiful--an interesting convolution of its own.