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Serenity Now?
Although this new work by Dan Schimmel
fits into Spector Gallery's wider penchant for "monsters"
derived from a youth oriented popular culture sensibility, these
handsome drawings and paintings hold more art historical weight.
Having less to do with the current cartoon approach prevalent
these days, they follow certain traditions going back to Guston,
Goya, and all the way to Piero della Franscesca, without relying
on derivitive means.
Taking a healthy leaf from the Gustonian bible, Mr Schimmel imbues
these images with both an urgency, in terms of content, and a
serenity, in terms of form. We watch his roll-call of big-eyed
creatures in their quasi-cartoon world with affection, but don't
accept them as completely anthropomorphic. They are, literally,
ink and paint creatures. The immediacy of the drawings can't help
but superede the more carefully constructed works in oil, but
the two paintings here hold more complex and deeper hidden concerns.
With only two paintings to view, it's hard to make comparisons.
They may need a larger venue to speak to us more fully. However,
a balance is achieved. A density throughout the show holds things
down, while a light playfulness in the "surface" narratives
propel the work forward and suck us in. There resides a watchable
and whimsical uncertainty in both the drawn work and the paintings.
Mr Schimmel, as home grown talent, is an excellent example of
an artist who carefully preserves an art historical umbilical
cord for a good purpose. He understands the relationship between
"then" and "now" and follows through by defining
his concerns as wholly contemporary and honest. This understanding
makes the difference between real art and the insignificant.
© James Rosenthal - May 2001
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