Barbara Mink

I'm introducing a new piece at the forthcoming State of the Art show, in conjunction with the Light in Winter festival. Flatter, less textured, more emphasis on line, but still in the relatively narrow color palette of white, black, beige, hints of red. I do love going back and forth between large and small scale as well as differences in texture and line; the one thing i don't do well is stay in one place.

The other Paris exhibit was at the Musee de quai Branley, the controversial primitive art museum near the Eiffel Tower. An exhibit called Upside down Arctic was a multimedia installation featuring fabulous masks and tiny detailed inuit sculptures and talismans, all over a thousand years old. Air conditioning and fake snow may have been a bit kitchy, but the ambient animal sounds and creaking ice made the whole thing work. Good discussion with my friend James Siegel, anthropologist, on the role of masks in ancient cultures and how they fit in (or don't) with the aesthetic of an art museum.

Sitting in CDG airport in Paris, languishing as flight home delayed five hours, a good to to reflect on some of the art experiences this past week.I was especially impressed by an exhibit of Jacques Villagle, specializes in incorporating ripped advertising posters (ripped by others) into large-scale collages with acrylic paint. In the retrospective at the Beaubourg I was really struck by one period in his output which came close to Abstract Expressionism; heavily textured paintings because of the paper and words, but pulled together with large color fields, a la Rauchengberg, Clyfford Still, Rothko. I think I'm going to try incorporating words and pictues along with the photo transfers I did last year, perhaps a good way to reinforce the texture of the acrylic medium.

Sigh. It IS odd, trying to launch a new business venture in the midst of a worldwide economic recession, but I guess one does what one must. The giclee prints on canvas I've had produced locally came out beautifully, I think; the big oils and acrylics scale down nicely, and they ARE an affordable alternative to the originals. But people are understandably wary of laying out money right now, so... we'll see.