Tipped off by a friend on MySpace, I
learned that an exhibition of works on paper by Julian Schnabel was on its last
day of display in the Hillsboro Fine Art
gallery, which specialized in 20th Century and Contemporary Art. So
on Saturday 10th October, at 9:45am, I left my house full of
excitement and travelled into town on the bus over-flowing with expectation. I
had hoped Carol would join me but she had to sleep after a night of collaging.
Hillsboro
Fine Art, was directly opposite the Rotunda Hospital’s new entrance on
Parnell Square. However when I arrived at the gallery at 10:30am - when it was
due to open - I found the door locked and the galleries lights off. In
desperation, I rang the intercom three times and then knocked on the door three
times, before realizing there was no one there. From the window, I could see a
beautiful Schnabel painting on paper - under glass and framed in a lovely black
frame. I was so close and yet so far!
I
decided to go to Chapters bookshop in
order to kill sometime - where I bought a small book on Egon Schiele. Then I
went back to the gallery at 11am but it was still closed! So I went down to
Easons’ to look around. It was absolutely packed with news people,
photographers and slack-jawed heavy-metal fans, pressed around to see Ozzy Osbourne
who was signing books. I saw the back of his head as he signed autographs but I
felt contemptuous of the whole circus. I went to McDonalds and had a Big Mac
meal, which I loved.
Then
I went back to the Hillsboro gallery only to find it still closed at 12pm. I
was just about to leave when a gallery woman came and unlocked the door. “Eh,
is the exhibition still open to view?” I asked her desperately. “Eh, yes you
can come in, but I am only here to receive a delivery.” She replied in a kindly
manner. “Oh, thank you! I’m not a collector, I’m just an artist but I came into
town especially to the Schnabel’s! I am a huge Schnabel fan!” I exclaimed. She
let me into the gallery and turned on the lights.
Apart from Schnabel’s works, the exhibition
New York Contemporary included small
paintings on canvas by Ross Bleckner, Donald Baechler, David Salle and Jeff
Schneider - none of which I was very impressed by - in fact I could think of
countless Irish painters who had shown better works in Dublin in recent years.
But, I was delighted and enthralled, by the Neo-Abstract-Expressionist Schnabel
works on view.
He was represented by about
six hand-painted screen-prints, with resin dripped on them. They dated from
1995 and came from editions of 80. In fact, despite the fact they were in part
screen-prints, Schnabel’s personality oozed from them. Again, I was struck by
the Joie de Vivre of Schnabel’s
Neo-Salon brand of Expressionism and its total lack of angst. The colours were
bold and strong – fuchsia pinks, cobalt blues, and darker blues and burnt reds
- brushed on in semi-thick, textured, gestural strokes - around which he wrote
words like; La Blusa Rosa, Otono, Mujer, Invierno,
and Primaveral’ which gave the works
their titles. The works reflected Schnabel’s new life with his Spanish wife
Olatz and his visits to Spain that year. They were inspired works, which relied
on Schnabel’s subconscious manipulation of forms and materials. They reminded
me of late Miró canvases that mixed surrealism with the sale and effects of
Abstract-Expressionism and the later works of Cy Twombly with their ad-hoc
mixture of classical words and abstract scribbles of paint. The largest pieces
like La Blusa Rosa I were about 40” x
32” where as the others were slightly smaller at about 40” x 30.” They were all
works on stiff watercolour paper of an average quality. Dripped and pooled on
the paper, was thick golden looking resin, in anthropomorphic shapes, which
proved very effective and suggestive of phalluses or torsos. Even if to the
uninitiated, his work could have looked slap-dash, haphazard and crude - I was
struck by the artfulness within the apparent chaos of Schnabel’s work. I found
his abstract works emotionally engaging and his brushwork skilful and measured.
He just had a knack for making beautiful splashes and swirls of paint - which
evoked thoughts of places and people.
There
was also a colour lithograph based on a black and white photo of his stunningly
beautiful wife Olatz. She looked out of the picture with a sultry stare, with
her hands behind the back of her head - above which he had crudely painted in
white My Wife. It was merely a family
snapshot, given the professional artists gloss, of a fine art print enhancement
and glorification. It was factory made Expressionism and the weakest work on
show. The work was the 31st print, of an edition of 2000, and was selling for €2,
500! The more ambitious pieces were not priced. Despite the worst economic
depression in Ireland since the 1930s, I was astonished to find all the
Schnabel works had sold – though I agreed with the buyers and only wished I had
that kind of money.
Also in
the show were works by Jeff Schneider who used a cowboy motif repeatedly, but
his efforts looked little-better than a young graduates efforts. There were a
couple of black and white paintings in oils by Donald Baechler, which I liked,
but did not think they added up to much.
I looked around to find the David
Salle works but could not recognize them. Ross Bleckner was represented by two
small oil still-life’s of flowers in a kind of fuzzy Post-Impressionistic style
which left bare linen underneath to add to the fuzziness. I thought them utterly
redundant works. So I concentrated my last few minutes looking again at the
Schnabel’s and for once I was consumed with the desire to own art. I thanked
the woman and left soaring on air as I walked back through the city.