A new avant-garde is coming of age, and like generations before them, they’re challenging the art establishment by communicating and selling to new audiences. Now in their late twenties and early thirties, this loose group has matured into a surprising hybrid of humanists and grounded romantics. To experience some excellent examples of their art and ideas, it’s time to head to Williamsburg.
Jack the Pelican Presents is showing Youth is Wasted by Matt Hansel. The images depict flatly painted “tweens” getting stoned in secret: some behind locked doors, others in cars and, still others, concealed in forests. The comical stoner poses and narratives of covert mischief reveal insightful coming of age stories that then lead us on to larger issues, like, the hypocrisy of drug laws, or modern man’s flawed attempts to connect with nature. Some will see harmless abandon, others, youthful dreams derailed by self-abuse. With his impressive painting skills, Hansel has conjured up bleary-eyed visions, starling light and dusty smoke. His figures are both specific and androgynous, and his settings create tense, but oddly touching moments of floundering escapism.
By taking on subjects directly related to his life and times, Hansel is breaking with the established view that “important” art should address theoretical or timeless subjects. The new avant-garde disagrees, and they’re using their cinematic talents to engage the here and now. You may be so moved by the relevance of their art that you’ll want to buy some. Which brings me to another important departure from the norm: cost.
Many emerging artists are making affordable art. Cost, of course, is somewhat dependent on materials and volume, but there’s a general belief among this new avant-garde that ownership by a wider audience, instead of an elite few, does more to promote creative progress.
The McCaig-Welles gallery is hosting Wide Open, a benefit for “Food not Bombs” curated by R. Nicholas Kusyzk (you may know his robot paintings). Priced from $40 to $400, Kusyzk has collaborated with many of the artists on display. The gallery’s commitment to average-wage art lovers has helped the area develop into a haven for new collectors, and the collaborative art in this show is a tribute to that democratic spirit.
The Capla Kesting Gallery is showing Times Like This One, featuring the drawings and paintings of Travis Lindquist. He, too, believes that the process of art buying encourages self-awareness and self-expression. And his exhibition, which offers his signature collage-style, features portraits of actual and symbolic individuals who have helped to change the world through creative efforts.
Cinder’s Gallery is currently showing Allyson Mellberg and Jeremy Taylor. They made their own non-toxic inks and paints, and used them to explore damaged relationships. Their darkly tender embrace of pockmarked figures, submissive rodents and sickly stags are gracefully rendered in fine line drawings and paintings on paper.
And The Front Room Gallery is featuring Mark Stillwell’s Super Defense Force, a room-sized, 3-D city overrun with aliens—more Neo-Terrorism. And check out the galleries affordable limited editions, like Nelson Bradley’s prophetic poster, “Invasion of the Art School Graduates.”
Matt Hansel’s Youth is Wasted, through Oct. 7 at Jack the Pelican Presents, 487 Driggs Ave. (betw. N. 9th & 10th Sts.), B’klyn, 718-782-0183. Wide Open to benefit Food not Bombs, through Oct 7 at McCaig-Welles, 129 Roebling St., Suite B (betw. N. 5th & 4th Sts.), B’klyn, 718-384-8729. Handplant, through Oct. 7 at Cinders, 103 Havemeyer St. Store #2 (betw. Hope & Grand Sts.), B’klyn, 718-388-2311. Mark Stillwell’s Super Defense Force, through Oct. 14 at The Front Room Gallery, 147 Roebling St. (at Metropolitan Ave.), B’klyn, 718-782-2556.
