Ray Caesar’s Dangerous Inclination

Ray Caesar’s new exhibition of more than 30 works premieres at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, CA this Saturday from 7—10PM and is appropriately titled, “A Dangerous Inclination.”

Ray Caesar’s latest follows up, “A Gentle Kind of Cruelty,” showcased at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York back in January. The first exhibition was a grouping of large scaled works that dealt with Dissociative Identity Disorder, a long recovery from foot surgery and the echo of childhood past, that consistently appears in his digital paintings and assemblages.

Toronto based fine artist, disparate, Ray Caesar, is the first major artist working as an outsider equipped with digital tools in compliment of Roger Cardinal’s art terminology—“art brut or raw art.” Digital paint exposes rich tapestry decorating large architectural spaces while adorning porcelain- skinned characters pose in Victorian inspired dress. (Above, La Chase).

Ray Caesar’s “A Dangerous Inclination” continues his deeply personal journey to settle feelings of childhood trauma and abuse, creating spatial atriums for his characters to protect, reflect, engage, falter, amuse and retain a sense of youth that can never be taken away.

Ray describes, “As a child, I used pictures as a way of hiding feelings and emotions I wanted to protect in situations that were extremely dangerous. If I experienced something that overwhelmed me, that I couldn’t deal with, or had emotions I wasn’t allowed to display, I used to draw it into a picture. Those pictures became a doorway to a happier, safer place – and sometimes a dangerous place for others because it was MY place. Years later while working at the hospital I realized I was doing the same thing. If I saw a child that had been burned with an iron, I couldn’t handle the image in my mind and function. So, I put the image into a picture, sometimes repeatedly (in fact, I drew and painted pictures about irons for 10 years ), and then I would put the picture away into a closet. Sometimes I would have a little ceremony at night and burn the picture in my backyard. (Above, Siren).

For years and years I didn’t realize what I was doing but it occurred to me much later in life that I was dealing obsessively with emotions on a subconscious level and the picture was able to communicate to my conscious level that all was ok ..we have protected the memory and managed the memory and found a place to put the memory so it wont hurt us again. It was/is a excellent way of viewing the image from a safe distance …a way of disassociating oneself from the ugly thing in ones head…a way of turning the ugliness in life into something manageable ..maybe even beautiful. It was and is a way to cope. (Above: 4th from left).

Virtually all of my work deals with coming to terms with the subconscious elements to my life and the way I experience the world around me. My work seems to keep on the regular themes of “Hunting Back Innocence” and “Revelations of Light” and the painful process of “Self Examination” and hidden voices calling like sirens in the night…

Ray Caesar is like no other, and I am thankful that he and Jonathan LeVine provided the opportunity to create a dynamic collection of his work back in 2008. Ray Caesar “A Dangerous Inclination” opens on Saturday, October 22 at 7—10PM at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, CA and on exhibition through November 12. (Interview 1/20/11 : Ray Caesar Book Overview : FL Cute and Creepy Exhibit : Order Book Here).

Erik Mark Sandberg Interview

Erik Mark Sandberg is a Pasadena based artist who persistently evolves while communicating his richly layered narrative style. Erik’s latest body of work, “Get Pretty Now” features automotive paints and finishes, multiple printing techniques and painting applications that shroud metaphors of beauty, acceptance and the world over ethos of Hollywood.

Erik was featured in “Survey Select” this past summer and showcased his first ever sculpture that attracted much attention. Erik is a tenacious worker who shares his time between making art and teaching art at Otis College and Art Center Pasadena. Thankfully, Erik took the time to share an introduction about his latest exhibition taking place at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York:

Mm. what was the overall context behind your Get Pretty Now series of new works?

ES : The new body of work was conceived for a solo exhibition to be held at the Jonathan LeVine gallery Jan 22- Feb 19th 2011. The work in “Get Pretty Now” focuses on the relationships between a projected idealized archetype and the unattainable emulation of the archetype.

Mm : I loved the girl with star patterned sweater : was that a combination of different tecnhiques ?



ES : Material use in the construction of the paintings is important to me; it’s in integral part of the language. Each material has a very distinct voice. Getting all the material components to communicate the way I intend while combined is at times what drives the work. Girl With Star Patterned Sweater is acrylic, oil, air brush, screen print, and enamel on panel. I’m constantly trying to balance the use values of each in the work and perfect the construction craft. The environment I live in is filled with such a diverse gamut of materials, it just seems natural to work the paintings with a variety of materials.

Mm : I know you love furry girls—is their a context behind their warm and fuzzy beauty?



The hair in a broad sense is a metaphor for effects of certain aspects contemporary living, idol worship created by manipulated advertising visuals, emulation of celebrities characters….It’s like the obese girl who was a simultaneous victim of fast food marketing and sexualized teen fashion, I’m interested in how do I show that embedded psychological aftermath. This show also comments on victories claimed in the narratives of some contemporary hip hop music. These narratives are continually played and paradoxically supported by family product advertisements on mainstream radio. The effects of these dichotomies are what the work starts to reference in this show.



Mm : What’s next for you?



Busy year scheduled…Sculptural group show at the Biological Museum in Stockholm, Sweden… solo show opening at Gallerie Johanssen in Berlin, June 3rd…followed by a 7-week residency and solo exhibition at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia opening Aug 18th 2011.



Sweet thanks Erik Mark Sandberg and keep up the great works. Looking forward to your next show.

Ray Caesar’s Gentle Kind of Cruelty

Ray Caesar’s new exhibition, “A Gentle Kind of Cruelty” premiers this weekend in New York at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Ray’s large scaled works and limited print editions reconstruct feelings of disparate emotion and personal challenges faced while dealing with Dissociative Identity Disorder. (“Day Trip” featured above).

Eris : 40x 30 : 101.6 cm x 76.2 cm : 1/1

Ray’s continues through hallowed halls of early memory and personal experiences of the spiritual realm. Inhabitants of Ray’s preserve were experienced through his childhood and experiences while working at the Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto for sixteen years. Ray’s work provides clues on a path that I would describe as, “Ray Caesar is first major artists working as outsider with digital tools that compliments Roger Cardinal’s terminology—art brut or raw art.”

Revelation

A couple of years ago, I had the great privilege of hosting Ray and his wife in San Diego to sign the limited edition of his book, “Ray Caesar: Volume One Art Collection” sponsored by Jonathan LeVine and myself. It was one of those rare moments to participate and profoundly exchange. Kindly, Ray Caesar took time out to introduce his new exhibition, featuring one-of-a-kind, large-scaled works now on display at Jonathan LeVine Gallery through February 19, 2011. Enjoy and kind thanks to Ray Caesar.

Well the name of the show is "A Gentle Kind of Cruelty" and it references the last 3 years of therapy I have been going under. I see therapy as a very gentle kind of cruelty as it takes you back to a time I would rather forget. I think I told you I am dealing with Dissociative Identity Disorder…its been a bit of a strange time for me and for the most part its not a lot of missing time…more like “distorted time.” I go into a sort of trance that is like a deep daydream and another aspect or part of me kind of takes over…(Totentanz featured above).

Calamity

Anyway "Calamity" is sort of how it feels...one minute you are doing fine then you swing back and forth and then you fall without any warning. The piece is loosely-based on the work of Jean Honoré Fragonard’s ”The Swing“ which I always loved and in part the pieces of Francois Boucher who painted unassuming lovers in some sort of paradise.

Fraonard (L) : Boucher (R)

Often, musical instruments would be found in both Fragonard and Boucher’s work off in the corner as a kind of idyllic frivolity of the good things in life. Often this was the Musee De Cour an instrument that was forgotten after the revolution. I am not sure if they have any literal meaning other than to suggest the girl spends her day in leisure and unconcern, but tragedy can strike the innocent anytime. I also thought it was a bit funny to put Bach music and a tambourine as if she was attempting something that difficult on such an instrument...a bit of humor. Tambourines also...like the swing…keep time or measure beats.

Keeping Time

The ants...red ones, like tiny jewels...along with all the other insects are the life in the garden no one notices or sees. For me, that hidden life is always suggestive of the subconscious and how without our knowing that subconscious can have a life of its own. It can be parts of our mind that are dissociated from us...separate and having a mind of its own­—totally unconcerned about the calamities and tragedies befalling us.

Impromptu

At the time, I was reading about Dylan and thinking of the words to his song that suggests a kind of pied piper aspect—the little ants follow along. Dylan’s lyrics have so so much meaning...when the idea to put a tambourine in the piece occurred I came across these lyrics in the song that stuck with me.

Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man”
Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Shaq, Tim Burton, NY Exhibitions : No 1

Recently, I embarked on a trip to NY to visit artist friends, take in a few galleries and join in the celebration of Jonathan LeVine’s Fifth Year Anniversary exhibit for his gallery in Chelsea. Along the way, I paid a visit to the exhibition “Size Does Matter” curated by Shaquille O’Neil, visited with fine artist Barbara Nessim, chatted with Joshua Liner at the Joshua Liner Gallery, visited MOMA’s Tim Burton exhibition, peeked at a couple of Henry Darger’s paintings at the American Folk Art Museum and skimmed the dense selection of art books at the Strand bookstore.

Ethel Seno : Victor Castillo : Hiro Kurata

I tried to pack it all in as the weather proved a significant challenge and encouraged me to spend more time indoors. Concentrated time in Martin Wittfooth’s studio proved beneficial, as I designed 60 pages of the Kelsey Brookes catalog, “Bigger, Brighter, Bolder.” My time in NY was fruitful and inspired me to write this entry, beckoning an immediate request from the art world to aspire to a much higher standard.

Shaquille O’Neil is no doubt, a future NBA hall of famer, and to my surprise a qualitative assembler of great artists. Shaq orchestrated a stand out exhibition, “Size Does Matter,” at the Flag Art Foundation on display until May 27, 2010. Shaq’s contemporary survey explores a myriad of ways that scale affects the perception of contemporary art. The artwork ranges from paintings on the eye of a needle by Willard Wigan, large scaled paintings by Chuck Close, Kehinde Wiley and large sculptures by Conrad Bakker and Tim Hawkinson. This is a must see if you are in NY. (MM rating A)

MOMA has thrown its hat into the Hollywood ring featuring Tim Burton and his creative conceptualization genius. The “Tim Burton” exhibition was packed with a frenzy of visitors looking on at hundreds of art pieces and artifacts. Unfortunately, space was tight, and the exhibition was cramped within a small wing of the museum’s third floor. Decaying Hollywood props (as latex in the movies has a small shelf life), hundreds of sketches, conceptual development drawings, models and video studies were presented in overwhelming quantities. The exhibition did a great job presenting Mr. Burton as a true visionary in the history of film and character development. “This exhibition, by measure of the exhibition’s graphics,” I thought, “will be exciting.” Not so much, I felt this presentation lacked careful editing and thus, a bit too much on the eyes as paintings, sketches and drawings were hung salon style, as caged artifacts were presented in a space that lacked adequate space between pieces. The exhibition presented itself as a visionary’s creative laboratory with pieces floor to ceiling, feeling less like an organized museum installation. (MM rating C+)

Walking away from the “Tim Burton” exhibition, MOMA presented “Five Themes” and featuring 5 installations by William Kentridge. William Kentridge is a force, versatile, poetic, kinetic and resourceful. William Kentridge (1955, South Africa) presents 30 years of inspirational works including, books, collage, sculpture, film, drawing and prints. It is an impressive exhibition of scale organized by 5 themes entitled, “Ubu and the Procession,” “Soho and Felix,” “Artist in the Studio,” “The Magic Flute” and “The Nose.” You can check out more of the interactive components, film and information by visiting MOMA in New York and clicking here. (MM Rating A+)

Jonathan LeVine assembled an outstanding cast of emerging contemporaries featured at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery over the past five years including: Date Farmers, Dan Witz, (pictured above), Souther Salazar, Doze Green, James Jean, Andrew Houser, Adam Wallcavage, Ron English and on… An immense Scott Musgrove bronze welcomed you into the gallery, flanked by James Jean (great study in red and blue), Jeff Soto, Ray Caesar, Shephard Fairey and Tara McPhearson. The Date Farmers were in the gallery room to the left (amazing piece and my personal favorite) and Souther Salazar was located directly across on the opposing wall if you took a right through the gallery door. The exhibition was inspired, as it represented a great assembly of artists with a great amount of potential. What it lacked was a representation of excellence practiced at a much higher degree. The exhibition felt as if it was an artist’s job to get something done in time for the exhibit’s opening, as opposed to delivering a heart felt sign of gratitude to be exhibited, promoted and hustled in a busied world of contemporary art. “Hmmm, I hope this show did not interfere with your busied schedule,” I thought to myself.

James Jean : Isabel Samaras & Doze Green

The main reason I was in NY was to be a part of this exhibition, as I respect Jonathan and the many artists he works with and felt that this was a historic occasion. Unfortunately, I felt that the show was challenged in areas of—craftsmanship, output, experimentation, variety of work—and artistic notions to deliver deeper and more meaningful work. It was still a great occasion, and thankful to be a part of the history. A NY Times interest piece featuring the exhibition here. (MM rating C+)