Bart Johnson Interview

Bart Johnson is featured in the upcoming Explicit Content later this April and to prepare art ambassador, Mark Murphy, caught up with him and reveals more about his new etchings. Read complete interview here.

Scot Sothern Photographic Scofflaw Interview

Scot Sothern is featured in the upcoming Explicit Content later this April and to prepare art ambassador, Mark Murphy, caught up with our favorite LOWLIFE photographer. Read complete interview here.

Explicit Content Opens—April 14—May 19

Mindy Solomon Gallery opens Explicit Content April 14 as a pre-cursor to tax day and a good reason to explore sexual expression. Explicit Content reveals “behind closed doors” perspectives on nudity and sexual activity as expressed by leading contemporaries not afraid to disclose social taboos in an “erotic” nature.

Explicit Content-Exploring the non-romantic nature of sex

The purpose of this show is to create a visual and sensory pictorial of the most intimate, yet unemotional aspects of human sexuality. Through the black and white photo journalistically inspired works of Los Angeles prostitutes by Scot Sothern, the sculptural couplings of Christina West, graphic video diaries by Barbara DeGenevieve, fantastical erotic drawings of Bart Johnson, and in your face photos by Becky Flanders, the show will plumb the depths of the most innate physical yearnings.

Artist Scot Sothern states: “LOWLIFE is an illustrated diary of dysfunction; the confessions of a befuddled baby-boomer maintaining a precarious connection to propriety and 
fatherhood while side-tripping into nourish infatuations. These stories and images, shot mostly in Southern California between 1986 and 1990 record the existence of the many disenfranchised Americans, men and women, hawking body 
and soul for the price of a Big Mac and a fix, struggling in a culture that deems them criminal and expendable.” Sothern’s images put a human face to the sex industry-one that defies judgment in the face of desperation, drug addiction, and instant sexual gratification. (Interview here).

Christina West’s figurations are depicted to be anatomically correct at a slightly smaller than normal scale. Their ghost like anonymity implies a level of dispassionate provocation. The highly charged erotic interplay forces the viewer to confront images of sexual arousal not often on display in the public forum.

Bart Johnson’s storied life is punctuated by a voyeuristic journey’s into the darkest realms of the human society. His visits to strip clubs and an interest in the marginalized members of society provide visual fodder for his endless array of eye-popping images. Johnson’s lurid, stream of conscious drawings push the viewer into a visual world of bizarre couplings. The graphic depictions are both repellent and disturbing-the idea of public sexual interactions as normative in a purgatory like environment references Hieronymus Bosch and the medieval notion of Hell. (Interview here).

Barbara DeGenevieve is the grand dame of erotica. Her ground-breaking, voyeuristic works reflect an independence and fearlessness in a world desperate to categorize and qualify. DeGenevieve reflects in her artist statement: “I have used sex as subject matter for more than 25 years in combinations of photographic images, videos, theoretical writings, and sexually explicit monologues. I often call my current work pornographic — when I don’t, I can always be sure someone else will. When I do, it becomes an unstable signifier. What does it mean for a middle-aged woman, a professor, a teacher of theory, a feminist – to write like this, to speak like this, to think these thoughts, to exhibit such bad behavior? I like playing with the vulgar, with the low-class, low-brow, language of traditional porn. I’m suspicious of distinctions that elevate erotica over porn as well as create incommensurability between art and pornography. I’m fascinated by what happens when private language and action enter the public domain, when vernacular “pornographic” vocabulary intersects with cultural analysis, when everything we believe about political correctness is subverted by intemperance, indulgence, desire out of control, and logical reasoning.

My work is not a critique, but rather an embracing of what has been vilified. It is also an acknowledgment of the ways in which pornography [locates/implicates] [me/us] in a realm of what Judith Butler has described as “psychic excess,” that which is systematically denied by the notion of the volitional subject. “The refusal to conflate the subject with the psyche marks the psychic as that which exceeds the domain of the conscious subject.” It is that realm of the unconscious she describes that that becomes so problematic, the consciously inaccessible that creates such turmoil because it compromises volition — what we think we are or what we’re told we should be. In a vain attempt to keep this excess under control, priests deny their obsession with little boys, evangelists with prostitutes, business executives with infantile humiliation fetishes, and feminists with rape fantasies. These are not accusations but rather recognition of the fact that fetishes, whether horrific or benign, become part of this psychic excess.”

Another young feminist striving to express an independent sexual spirit is Becky Flanders. Flanders often uses herself as subject, masking her face, so as to force the viewer to confront genitalia, and in some cases urination. Her uninhibited use of her own body as subject is a bold statement about freedom in sexual expression, and the ability to share it with an anonymous audience. Her spot on camera techniques provide a window into fetish like sexual practices and the viewer’s ability to digest them.

Explicit Content is show that explores raw human sexuality without apology. The works are provocative and dispassionate-a metaphor for the animal longings that are constantly at play within our society. Explicit Content opens Saturday, April 14, 6—8PM and will be on exhibition through May 19, 2012. Please note: we will be presenting material not suitable for young children and a XXX rating does apply. (Above, Bart Johnson).

Art Wynwood Passes : Feb 17-19

We are pleased to announce that we will be featured at this year’s Art Wynwood fair taking place this week in Miami, February 17—19.  Mindy Solomon Gallery will be located at booth A28 and featuring sculptor David Hicks, abstract painter James Kennedy and narrative painter Mernet Larsen.

Visiting this year’s fair is easy. Print out the pass below and bring a guest. We look forward to seeing you at the fair (A28).

During the fair, please visit the Dream Hotel showcasing Erin Parish and her illuminated and multi-layered paintings.

Save the date for Meditative Journeys opening next weekend at the gallery and featuring new work by Korean artists: Sungyee Kim and Kang Hyo Lee.

Meditative Journeys—Korean Paintings and Sculptural Forms

Mindy Solomon Gallery is pleased to present the devotional works of two Korean artists, painter—Sungyee Kim and ceramic artist—Kang Hyo Lee in a two person exhibition entitled, Meditative Journeys. Please join us for the opening reception Saturday, February 25, 2012, 6—8PM.

Sungyee Kim creates densely layered paintings that incorporate the principles of I Ching with the Taoistic pursuit of becoming one with material. Sungyee shares, “A painting’s artificial, two-dimensional surface requires pure belief in spiritual values. It opens a door to the ideal.“

Kang Hyo Lee’s ceramic work infuses ancient tradition with whimsical and contemporary interpretation. Bun-cheong was created during the Koryo Dynasty (918-1392AD) and was commonly used by the aristocracy and commoners of Korea. The decorative style of Bun-cheong was created by stamping patterns or etching into the surface of the unfired clay and then covered with a white slip. The slip was either dipped in a tray or hand painted in a rough, hurried fashion with no consideration for precise detail. (Read more here).

Astronavigation by Erin Parish

Mindy Solomon consistently introduces a diverse inventory featuring contemporary art works celebrating the narrative tradition. Often, we celebrate artists who reveal introspective techniques and traditions rooted in culture, philosophy and contemporary mantras. (Above, Astronavigation, 2012, Oil with small mirrors embedded in epoxy resin on aluminum, 18 1/2 x 27 1/4 inches).

We are pleased to introduce artist, Erin Parish, who delivers an impression of painted weightlessness. Stephen Westfall describes, “Erin Parish paints fields of circles that contain worlds. It’s rare to find a geometric element repeated to the point of patterning in paintings yielding so much spatiality, but Parish wrings space from pattern through scale shifts and an atmospheric materiality in her paint that shimmers and veils as much as it discloses in literal fashion her painting processes and the physical here and now of being before her painting. If spatial illusion is all about there and concrete materiality is all about here, then Parish has found an elegant, even romantic language for bringing the two together. (Above, Dog Days, 2007—2011, Oil and hand cast resin cubes on wood panel, 60 x 48 inches).

We are looking forward to introducing Erin Parish and her multi-layered paintings at the Dream Hotel, during Art Wynwood Fair. Please stop by the gallery and we’ll be happy to introduce her work in person by appointment. (above, Everlasting Spring, 2009, Oil and resin on mirrored plexiglass, 32 x 78 inches)

Introducing Korean Contemporary Art

Korean Contemporary Art has received notice as an important contemporary art movement, reintroducing itself as a realigned artist community who incorporates centuries of tradition into a diverse offering of ceramics and painting. Proudly, the Mindy Solomon Gallery represents talented South Korean artists—Sungyee Kim, Kang Hyo Lee, SunKoo Yuh (L) and Wookjae Maeng (R)—since the beginning.

Recently, we have expanded our Korean Art Program to include two distinguished ceramic artists from South Korea—In-Chin Lee and Ree Soo-Jong. In-Chin Lee’s work has been described by Yoo-Jae-gil, (Hong lk University Professor of Art Criticism), “The swelling forms of his jars and the rich colors of their surfaces particularly expose this unending depth.” (In-Chin Lee, above).

Ree Soo Jong begins his process by manually kneading soil into dynamic forms that reveal a raw and unprepared surface, thus preserving the natural look and feel of each piece. Both artists have been featured in galleries around the world and are often referred to as leaders in the ceramics art world. (Ree Soo Jong, above).

We look forward to introducing you to the inspirational works of In-Chin Lee (L) and Ree Soo-Jong (R) and happy to introduce you to a complete selection of works by our Korean artists.

The Mindy Solomon Gallery will be presenting “Meditative Journeys” featuring Sungyee Kim (L) and Lee Kang Hyo (R), FEB 25—MAR 31; Art Fairs: SCOPE NY, SOFA NY, artMRKT San Francisco featuring a diverse grouping of national and international artists; and we are consistently exploring traditional and progressive contemporary art forms.

We look forward to seeing you in the gallery. Please contact us for one-on-one consultation and learn more about our contemporary art program.