Jess Paintings and Paste-ups at TIBOR DE NAGY GALLERY

[McCainTheTurdburglar]

There was a great exhibition on the west coast not too long ago based around Wallace Berman and that whole Semina scene. Wonder if it made it to New York. I think Berman is someone who is due some major recognition.

[Mattstudioapparatus]

I have always likened Jess to a kind of psychadelic A.P.Ryder.

Now that I think of it, Deborah Kahn over at Bowery has some of the same wrinkly thick paint moves too.

[LawrenceCharlesMille]

and I never wore that mullet hair attachment again!!!

[purewonka]

Ah , Jess, have always loved his work. Am excited to see this. I had no clue that he had a show in NYC right now. Thanks.

[LawrenceCharlesMille]

I try to blend.

[jameskalm]

On a sad note, when I asked the receptionist about the lack of work after 1993 (Jess died in 2004), she informed me that Jess stopped working around then. Seems the tragedy of the loss of Robert Duncan in 1988 had deprived him of his Muse.

[MrWowforever]

even eccentrics can have the heart broken:(...............on the question of eccentric painting, i always see eccentric used to describe painters who work within a tradition while also working against it. such as the monochrome tradition, the opposite of a continuous field of color is an active (obsessive) field. these things are in the air and not just the result of schools churning out pseudo-whatevers, but i agree with mr. kalms points also.

[jameskalm]

Mr.Wow,

I guess my point would be that true eccentrics, or naives or obsessives don't know they're weird. Contrived weirdness is just as false and off putting as the pointless drive for novelty.

[MrWowforever]

maybe what passes as 'normal' is just a condition of conformity and a few folks are wonderfully indignant and don't give a shit, without even realizing it and thus seeming eccentric only to all of us paralyzed clones......contrived weirdness is always a ghost dance from cases of arrested development, you know it when you see it......thanks, as always, for the response:)

[LawrenceCharlesMille]

You introduced me to Jess. Thanks for the enlightening commentary. Great comments from Spawn, rybgpo and MrWow! Thanks for filling me in.

If Jess were emerging today would we consider him an eccentric?

Thank you James!

Best-

[jameskalm]

Hey LCM,

Unfortunately, like everything else, the notion of the "eccentric" has been assimilated by the "Academy" (the place where good ideas go to die). We now have waves of pseudo-eccentrics, pseudo-naïve and pseudo-obsessive artists cranked out by our institutions of higher learning. But I think Jess would still stand out, at least after twenty or thirty years.

[LawrenceCharlesMille]

Is my perception correct that dealers emphasize the formal educations of their artists? I am seeing the art world anew after being away for years. Weren't college degrees a bit embarrassing?

[jameskalm]

A seeming illogical trend started in the higher reaches of the NY art world about eight to ten years ago. Dealers and curators began trolling grad student shows and open studios at some of our more elite university arts programs. These folks started snatching the babes from their cradles, and giving them high powered shows at fairly good galleries before they'd had a chance to pay their dues and mature.

[jameskalm]

Many had their prices pumped up top unsustainable levels in six months.  This was a major complaint of older artists. Now, with so many of these overnight wonders crashing and burning, the "market" is looking at the geezers, folks with track records and inventories, as a more reliable commodity.

[LawrenceCharlesMille]

So if age isn't a stigma, might it be a good time for older painters to emerge? Assuming they have the right-stuff.

[jameskalm]

That is a firm and unequivocal maybe...

[rybgpo]

A couple of other related folks worth mentioning- Wally Hedrick and Jay DeFeo. You use the word eccentric- but I think that all of these artists are eccentric mostly in that they have a very distinct voice, visually and conceptually. The Bay Area has been home to many artists working to their own beat. Maybe that's why they are so little known outside of the Bay Area. A contemporary painter who could also be called eccentric is Sonoma Country painter Chester Arnold.  Thanks again.

[rybgpo]

Great commentary- thanks, another wonderful piece of documentation. Think of Jess as a bridge from the Beats to the 60's psychedelic- his time in the SF literary milieu is probably more important than the art scene. I was waiting for you to mention his relationship with the poet Robert Duncan, and finally did. Then I was waiting for a mention of Bruce Conner, and then near the end you said his name. So you've done your homework.

[jameskalm]

Hey rybgpo,

Having grown up in Idaho, I love the whole West coast thing, particularly leading into the psychedelic period. There were a lot of artists, poets and characters who I could have mentioned like Jack Parsons, Wallace Berman, not to mention the latter group of Bay area artists, Roy Deforest, William T. Wiley, Charles Arenson, All good artists independent and not like your New York stuff.

[brartook]

Do you collect the announcement cards from all the shows you go to?

I would love to see some of them as it is something that I collect.

[MrWowforever]

thank you mr. kalm for the information about jess, you are right, he is under appreciated. his paintings are so good in person, the textures are special. the modern in forth worth(tx) has a beautiful jess, of soccer players.......thanks for this one, great choice:)