“Tripping the Mild Great,” Andy Ness
All 20 paintings in Andy Ness’ exhibition The Satellite, currently on perspective at Julia Martin Gallery, showcase the artist’s idiosyncratic approach, which evokes almost everything from batik textiles to glam rock icons. In his very own phrases, it shouldn’t do the job, but it does. We spoke to Ness from his property in Minneapolis about 1 function in particular — a 51-by-82-inch diptych with a title that references a poem by John Milton by way of Grace Jones.
“Cy Twombly explained that he typically did not know what he was doing right up until 3 or 4 months following he’d finished some thing. And I sense like that about this get the job done. I was just performing, and from the work came the do the job. I was just seeking to be a overall body in motion.
“I use plenty of elements, and I’m not concerned with shades that get the job done together or are harmonious. I’m throwing almost everything in and looking at what sticks. There are outdated drawings, outdated wallpaper, spills, inks, polymers and pigments, and then I use a resist on top rated of that, and then I use a gold leafing on top rated of that.
Depth: “Tripping the Light Wonderful,” Andy Ness
“One of the main motives that I have been utilizing wallpaper and gold leaf in all of these products that I pretty much believe of as staying bombastic in a way, is that these paintings, for me, are absolutely and totally about flexibility. I’m breaking my individual regulations — I under no circumstances imagined I would use metallic leaf in a portray, due to the fact there is just some thing so tacky about it. The exact detail is correct about wallpaper. Back again in art university, if you really wished to offend any individual you would tell them their painting looked like wallpaper — it is just offensive. So there’s one thing really releasing about embracing the items you’re not meant to do. And in a way, I experience like there’s some thing queer about it — there is anything ornamental and unapologetic about it, which I assume is extremely a lot exactly where I am in my life appropriate now. This could just be a thing that I’m acquiring in myself, but I feel there’s an instinct to not use a sample, or not appropriate a little something that was applied for interior style and design or decoration since it’s a little something a nancy boy would do. It’s not major. So I guess that instead of averting that, I started running straight toward it.
“A good friend took just one look at this portray and was like, ‘That portray doesn’t give a FUCK.’ I assume that’s accurate — it’s pretty self-certain, but I think it’s hospitable.
“The title ‘Tripping the Gentle Fantastic” occurs from a poem from the 1600s. But how I resonate with it is via Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Grace Jones, and those folks who have made use of that phrase in their tunes. Julia [Martin] even questioned me, ‘Is this exhibit about David Bowie?’ simply because so several of the titles of these paintings are from Bowie tunes or album titles. And it’s not, but for the reason that he dealt so substantially with outer place and with the outsider — he loved that so a great deal — it was type of inescapable that I would attract parallels to him.”
