Okay, I guess this hiatus thing isn't working out. As soon as I declared hiatus I wanted to post all kinds of things.
Like, for instance, the work of Jon Rappleye. I went to see his work in New York this week. He's a freaking genius.
In the Tremble this Nature Abounds
Brutal ArdorFrom
Jeff Bailey Gallery.
These images are too small to see well, but click
here to see a big image which still does not convey the amazingness of the work in person. He's a crazy draftsman and makes pieces that look like collage but aren't. They have a totally original visual language and an incredibly comprehensive range of scale: there are finely detailed parts and cartoony parts and flat color and greyscale...and it all works together. They have creepy birds and star-eyed owls and beautiful deer...They're amazing. I saw one a couple years ago at Vox Populi and then he was in New American Paintings and now he shows at Jeff Bailey and Richard Heller Gallery in LA. Jeff Bailey was kind enough to take a piece out so that I could look at his work in person when I went in to the gallery today, and I highly recommend the experience to anyone who's heading over to Chelsea.
When I was in New York I also saw the Turner show at the Met, which was a revelation, and Charles Burns' show at Adam Baumgold Gallery. It was terrific. The man's a genius, but I figure everyone already knows that by now. If you don't know that, go buy
Black Hole right now. And while you're there, buy Maira Kallman's
The Principles of Uncertainty. That book is the best thing I've read in a long time.
