Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Review: Andrew Rose at Andrew Rose Gallery | Honolulu | May-June 2012


The new paintings presented by Honolulu-based artist Andrew Rose at his eponymous white box gallery grew out of a meditation process on brushstroke and color.  As the artist states in his exhibition notes, these paintings, all from 2012, continue “an investigation of how gesture and pattern function across different scales and palettes in an effort to understand aesthetic apprehension.”  Rose initially began the exploration in a series of pluvial abstractions from 2008 known as “Rain Paintings.”  His latest show, “Kaleidoscope” (so called for the Ancient Greek derivation of the word, which translates as “observer of beautiful forms”), further refines and elucidates both theme and process.

Each of the eight works, which range in size from 30-by-40 inches to 5-by-15 feet, is made of a minimum of five to over fifteen layers of acrylic paint on canvas or paper.  The effect produces a harmony of color, as seen in Danaë, in which a central swell of gold emanates from a sweeping bloom of a backdrop.  Thousands of brushstrokes in varying shades, each a separate spark of light, make up the radiance that pours from the top of the canvas, a nod to the myth of Danaë being impregnated by Zeus in the form of golden rain.  In his use of both brushstroke and color, Rose’s work calls to mind Pointillism and Impressionism and is additionally connected to late 19th-century European painting in its expression of movement and spirit.  This is best illustrated in Kamakanimomi, an abstracted view of Honolulu ostensibly from the artist’s rainforest studio in the mountains above the city.  A work on paper, it is a massive, wall-length panorama in which countless calligraphic dashes of blues, yellows, and whites churn and swirl, blending sky, sun, and sea in expansive rapture.    

These are dynamic works of art; they are documents of an activity, and in that way are akin to action painting.  For Rose, process is as important as product, and his pieces emerge from the meditative spirit.  Each painting is a reflection of the contemplation and concentration by which it was made.  It is for this reason that there is such balance in the work.  Form and color coalesce.  Organic, human rhythms appear to the eye in the same subtle way that the ear might detect them in Shakespeare’s iambic verse, for example.  That the paintings buzz with life perpetuates our spirit and is an uplifting validation of our own existence.
Andrew Rose, Danaë, 2012. Acrylic on canvas. 30” x 40”.
Andrew Rose, Kamakanimomi, 2012. 55” x 180”. Acrylic on paper.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Gabriel Medina and Adriano de Souza Surf Eisbach

You love this clip of two of the world's top professional surfers, both from Brazil, figuring out the tricky standing wave on the Eisbach in Munich.  It's a man-made wave on a man-made river, and it takes Medina and de Souza a few tries before they're carving it up and doing 360s.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Joey Bada$$ | "1999"

Joey Bada$$ is on some golden age of hip-hop shit. His mixtape, 1999, is a throwback to the '90s with its jazzy beats and intelligent, playful flows. And the best part is that the kid is only 17 years old. Yup, the Flatbush native will be a senior in high school. What were you doing with yourself at 17? Probably not crushing beats by MF Doom and J.Dilla. Give it a listen below, and if you like it, download for free

Monday, July 16, 2012

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Edouard Manet, Portrait of Emilie Ambre as Carmen, 1879. Oil on canvas. 36.4 x 29.8 inches. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Nike Footscape Free

You're really liking these in the White & Light Bone colorway.