Exploring the world opened up by a work of art
This week’s showcase:
Chris Blum
“Fake News”
Mixed Media Diorama Framed in Box – 13.5″ x 13.5″ x 4.25″
Art is work. It doesn’t just somehow happen to us. It provides new material, new places, new paradigms with which to think — And the rest is up to us.
Chris Blum’s dioramas tease us with a furtive wink and a “gotcha” nod, so as to make us think, and more specifically, to think differently.
Freedom of thought is most often characterized by thinking “outside the box” — but for Chris Blum it’s inside the box of his dioramas of finely crafted figures and objects, where all the action is.
“Fake News” posits a teller of lies holding a news screen with a red diode in the middle and five attentive receptors (atop pedestals) with the same red diode implanted in the back of their heads, suggesting an almost hypnotic trance-like fixation of mind where they are powerless to turn away.
Nothing subtle here. No lack of artistic voice. No nuanced interpretation. Blum has a point to make and he makes it: While the truth may set you free — telling a lie in today’s culture is more compelling . . . and captive-making.
Isolation takes on many forms, but loss of reason and discernment can be the most crippling. Blum is known for saying difficult things, yet from a simple, completely other, quirky, on its head, often-times light-hearted vantage point . . . which in turn takes us off guard . . . and if only for a moment, brings us Out of the Isolation of our own “Fake News”.
Now that’s great art!
Previous Featured Artwork Posts
Out of Isolation #1 – Lawrence Gipe – 04/9/2020
Out of Isolation #2 – Wosene Worke Kosrof – 04/16/2020
Out of Isolation #3 – Elena Zolotnitsky – 04/23/2020
Out of Isolation #4 – Oscar Camilo de las Flores – 04/30/2020
Out of Isolation #5 – Nikolai Atanassov – 05/07/2020
Out of Isolation #6 – Harry Carmean – 05/013/2020
OUT OF ISOLATION #1
Out of Isolation #1 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Lawrence Gipe, "Thames, 1946" Oil on canvas, 48" x 60", 2017-2018 While it is evident that these merry souls are not practicing proper "social distancing", they certainly do exude a familiar sense of isolation in an otherwise dark and moody time. To be more precise, Gipe's [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #2
Out of Isolation #2 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Wosene Worke Kosrof "Queen of Words II," Acrylic on linen, 25" x 20", 2017 The world according to Wosene Worke Kosrof is one of non-stop talking. Everything and everyone can't seem to get enough of the latest gossip of a thousand story tellers that fill the [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #3
Out of Isolation #3 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Elena Zolotnitsky "After the Shower," Oil on paper, 24" x 23.25" custom framed Time to reflect is an unexpected luxury of "Isolation." An expansive opportunity made possible by being forced to stop . . . then listen, look, imagine, feel . . . repeat. Until suddenly, [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #4
Out of Isolation #4 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Oscar Camilo de las Flores "El Gran General" Conte crayon on paper, 79" x 50.5" The "Big Macs" are his balls. . . . but wait there's more, much more. . . . OMG, TMI. Made you look. Too much information can be disturbing, deadly in [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #5
Out of Isolation #5 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Nikolai Atanassov "Last Days of the World" Oil on canvas, 70" x 207" Spoiler Alert! Isolation Mandate to End on "The Last Days of the World." In the Apocalypse According to Nikolai Atanassov, his painting brings all humanity together melded in a sea of vibrant Turner-esque [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #6
Out of Isolation #6 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Harry Carmean "After the Bath" Oil on canvas framed, 33.5" x 27.5" In this time of Isolation, to touch — a basic yet potent essential life force — has become fraught with hesitation, anxiety and fear. "Art is a form of contactless consolation when the most [...]
