Marlene Dumas Against the Wall at DAVID ZWIRNER

James Kalm recovers from St. Patrick's Day with a visit to the latest exhibition of works by controversial artist Marlene Dumas. Since 2005, when one of her paintings set a record for attaining the highest price ever paid at auction for a work by a living female artist, Dumas has become a lightning rod for criticism. Dumas's "Against the Wall" uses the image of the wall as a metaphor of the intractable and tragic situation present in the Middle East, and contrasts the political and spiritual implications of what these structures portend.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• James
• Kalm
• Marlene
• Dumas
• David
• Zwirner
• painting
• drawing
• sculpture
• Chelsea
• New
• York
• gallery
• opening
• Neo-Expressionism

[TomHendricksMusea]

Lots of the same problems. Where is the great NYC art? Look at the 9 points and her art.1. Cold - yes 2. Disjointed - kinda, what do these relate to? 3. Can't communicate it's message - little vague but pretty clear. 4. Weird - yes 5. Elitist - yes 6. Technically poor - brush skill just OK. 7. Pompous and inflated, - yes, would be better as studies. 8. Non functional, not integrated into life - yes 9 No breath or scope - there's a little, but vague. Kathe Kollwitz, so much better

[jameskalm]

@TomHendricksMusea for the love of God, one more rehash of of your "9 rules" and I'll be forced to flag you as spam, CAUSE YOU'RE SPAMMING MY CHANNEL

[MrWowforever]

closer to Tuymans than Doig.

[jameskalm]

@MrWowforever I think her thinned paint and staining is closer to Doig, Tuymans has an overall homogeneous surface thicker and more material, but perhaps their color sense (Dumas and Tuymans) is closer.

[TomHendricksMusea]

@jameskalm Why don't you stick up for the art? You complain about me, but can't support the art. Go through the same 9 and defend it - but you can't.

This is a house of cards and you should know it. I'll applaud it when it's good. BUt many do so much better. You think this is better than Kathe Kollwitz? It is not.

[TomHendricksMusea]

NYT review of Dumas.

The show suggests that while this amply talented artist has created some riveting images, her work becomes monotonous and obvious when seen in bulk. She has not substantially varied her subjects or her habit of basing her images on photographs in about 25 years. And when you stand in front of her paintings, far too many other photo-dependent artists come to mind for the pictures to qualify as original. Her work tends too much toward well-done pastiches of ideas and tactics

[webspecific]

Hey, guys, nothing changes, you seem to trying to select one woman to represent the whole gender. That's never done to men. I think I'll keep Kollwitz and Dumas, Your comments remind me of the old days when academic men would suck everyone into a debate about Marge Piercy and Adrian Rich. The whole idea is specious and ludicrous. Individual artists have their own strengths. Doesn't mean you can't compare them, but not with a goal of control, condemnation and elimination.

[rwm89]

@TomHendricksMusea The fact that Kollwitz is a better artist goes without saying really, Kollwitz is possibly one of the best and most renowned female artists of all time. You could at least compare her with an artist from her own generation.

[tubeberk08]

@TomHendricksMusea the brushwork has a nice purity and overall sensitivity to the stark subject matter... maybe the paintings are a bit too large, maybe not. however i like the simplicity of her technique, it appears to draw the observer in, to get a closer look, at least from my pov.

[claureic]

May I recommend a salvatory look at Charlie Finch's latest creation on Artnet...

[blakkbyrd]

Dear James. Thankyou for sharing these videos. Distance prevents me from attending personally and the videos give so much more than a press release. Blakkbyrd (now in Sydney)

[eenkjet]

oil on canvas is the acoustic guitar of the artworld. she's a pretty decent guitar player. but her lyrics were dismal and repetitive.

[TomHendricksMusea]

@mulatto Great art stands up to tough criticism. If she's good she can handle it. What doesn't help is a Pollyanna approach where all art is praised and all criticism is attacked - then nothing is valued. Do you think she's better than Kollwitz? BTW what are the NYC reviewers saying about her work? Surely many reviewers have written about her show.

[mulatto]

@TomHendricksMusea brush skill looks great to me

you go paint how you wanna paint she'll paint how she wants to paint

you're not the fuckin art police

[creepyartkid]

wow. great work!