STUDIO-ONLINE

Swell, acrylic, 6x6feet ©2008

ECHOES, a solo exhibition of paintings by Diana Schmertz will be on display during April at the K.B. Gallery. Within her large acrylic paintings Schmertz explores the human psyche through touch.

Using large bold marks, Schmertz creates the sensation of light falling across flesh of the body. The physical contact between the flesh of these bodies reveals the psychological relationship embodied beneath the surface of their skin. The application of paint is sensual, expressing an intimacy rooted in the connectedness of all things.

While Schmertz’s works are figurative and representational, the compositions create an abstracted image. There is confusion within the compositions, making one question where one person ends and the other begins. This confusion breaks down the mental fixation of singular entities and reinforces the notion of the interdependence of beings.

Schmertz was born and raised in New York City. After completing her BFA from Purchase College at age 19, she was accepted into De Ateliers 63 residency program and awarded a two-year grant to live and paint in Amsterdam, Holland. Since, has traveled extensively, completed two Masters in Science, and has exhibited frequently throughout America, including San Francisco, New York City, and Philadelphia. Most recently she received a Manhattan Community Arts Fund grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and a grant from the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance.

K.B. Gallery:
875 West 181st Street & Riverside Drive.
New York, New York 10033
Phone: 212 543 2393

Sculpture, Video Installation and Painted Photography
By Rachel Harrison (maybe the best of the show)

If you want to see the state of American Art don’t visit this show, make time to visit studios when there are open studios, which is something these curators never appear to do. Almost nothing is this show can be classified as art, frankly I saw more artistic expression on “Project Runway” than inside the Whitney Museum or the Armory. As for the additional exhibits in the Armory, the actual rooms are more impressive than the things displayed within.

This Biennial is more to do with who you know than to do with art. Apart from a few artists, most of the stuff found here is not done by artists, but by participating want-to-be artists, who failed miserably in showing any kind of artistic expression.

The installations, the sound effects, the videos can be summarized as “What are they thinking, are they thinking at all?”

If this show reflects American Art, then I put my money on Contemporary Chinese or Japanese Art. But as this show does not represent the new and inspiring work by contemporary American artists, I hope the Whitney hires better curators for their next Biennial.

From March 6 to 23, installations and performances will be presented at the Armory, 67th St. and Park Avenue.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York, NY 10021
Website: www.whitney.org

By M.A.B.