Saturday, January 7, 2017

Josh Mannis at M+B


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Like Bonnard having grown up on the Simpsons, or Junji Ito by way of Matisse, or whatever the references listed in the PR that collapse into today's soup like bits of flavor in the overall story; the return of various forms of figurative art seems to be clever structures from which to hang painting strategies: The structures seem to be slightly infected comical situations overstretched with the representative style. Avery Singer to David Rappeneau, Jonas Wood to the interminable variations found in art fairs and group shows.  The comedic underpins to all these hold the paint at reasonable distance, a distance overtaking the same way flatness once did. Flatness was the "truth" to painting that these paintings today create so much distance from.


Jonas Wood at David KordanskyDavid Rappeneau at Queer Thoughts