Alex Katz, Amanda, 1973 and Blue Umbrella 2, 1972, Above and Red Tie, 1979, Below
I had dinner a couple of nights ago with an artist I knew for a split second in NYC almost ten years ago. We reconnected totally out of the blue a few weeks back and it’s been amazing to have a rich and open dialogue about her work, my work and work in general. It reminds me of doing my MFA and having constant discussions about art that inspire you to think and create. While bouncing thoughts back and forth over dinner the other night it was brought up that the painter Alex Katz is 82 (American, born 1927). Although I’ve loved his work for years I’ve never met Mr. Katz and admittedly never read much about him, only connected with his paintings visually. Knowing his age suddenly changed my perspective on his work and gave new meaning to it. It put him into context of older painters like Alice Neel rather than the next generation of John Currin, Elizabeth Peyton and Lisa Yuskavage who I always categorized him with. I obsess over connecting dots between one artist and another. Unfolding the layers of work and seeing the progression and evolution over the course of years and decades. I love the sort of whispy raw melancholy figurative work they all seem to have in common. I always joke that I take photographs because I can’t paint but if I could I would. I want to stare at these paintings forever. I am fascinated by the intersection of art and fashion and its ongoing dialogue, love when the two worlds meet. There is an effortless chic and quietly seductive sexuality in all of this work that I love as well.
Lisa Yuskavage, Below
John Currin, Below
Elizabeth Peyton, Below
Alice Neel, Below