Max Estenger New Paintings March 6- March 29

JOHN MOLLOY GALLERY NEW PAINTINGS BY MAX ESTENGER March 6-March 29, 2014 Red and Yellow, 2013, oil-based spray paint on stainless steel; raw  canvas, poly-vinyl over wood, stainless steel, 36 x 81 inches (7 panels)

John Molloy Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by New York based artist Max Estenger, from March 6 through March 29, 2014.  Estenger has been working with his particular language of non-representational art for the  past two decades. In this exhibition, Estenger continues his exploration of  disparate materials – raw canvas, clear poly-vinyl, aluminum and wood panels – to create multi-paneled, spray-painted  works of art.  The new paintings show an obvious refinement  of Estenger’s process, as well as an unusual dedication to the  formal strictures within which he has chosen to operate. The  resulting  interplay of surface, structure and color presents new formal and conceptual possibilities for abstract painting.  A fully-illustrated 28 page catalogue will be available in both  book and digital format as of February 22.                                       JOHN MOLLOY GALLERY                                         49 East 78th St., Suite 2B                                             New York, NY. 10075                                                   212 249 3020                                                 GALLERY HOURS                               TUESDAY-FRIDAY 11:00 AM- 6:00 PM                                     SATURDAY 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM                                     www.johnmolloygallery.com

SHOCKER Museum Quietly Sells Newman Painting for $105 Million

In 2013, Barnett Newman's work made quite a splash at Sotheby's when Paul Allen sold the exquisite "Onement VI" (1953) for $43.8 million dollars, nearly doubling the price paid for the same painting a decade earlier.  Yet, that record-setting price for Newman was nothing compared to what transpired just a few months ago in Japan when the Kawamura Museum sold one of Newman's greatest paintings "Anna's Light" (1968) an acrylic masterpiece measuring 108 x 240."  There has been NO American press concerning this sale and I discovered it when perusing a recent list of the 20 most expensive paintings ever sold. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/478014947920475135/

First,  a little history. In 1988, the painting was purchased by the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum in Japan from the DIA Foundation (most likely for a million dollars)  and it became a focal point of the Museum's postwar collection since it was installed in 1990. The museum is basically the corporate collection of the DIC Corporation which is in the business of manufacturing liquid inks, lacquers and chemicals and whose slogan is "Color and Comfort by Chemistry." 

For those who never saw the painting in Japan or at Pace Gallery in 1988, the painting was part of the huge Newman retrospective  organized by Anne Temkin at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2002. "Anna's Light" was one of the highlights of that spectacular exhibition and  ironically, nearly 30 years ago in 1985, the painting went  unsold at Sotheby's as a bewildered Annalee Newman sat in the front row.  The New York Times reported on that evening's sale:

Xavier Fourcade, the dealer who purchased Walter de Maria's Minimal work ''Equal Area Series'' for $45,100, said he was not surprised when the Barnett Newman work did not sell. ''It's a very big painting,'' he said. Annalee Newman, the artist's widow, who was sitting beside Mr. Fourcade in the front row, said she expected the painting might not sell. ''It's a museum painting,'' she said with a shrug. http://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/06/arts/modern-paintings-sold.html

A few years later the DIC corporation in Japan purchased it from DIA. Imagine what that painting would look like at Dia:Beacon today next to Donald Judd and Richard Serra's work, two of Newman's most important acolytes. But I digress.  Apparently, DIC's books have not been looking good and they saw the Newman as a perfect opportunity to pad the financial books by $105 million dollars. Straight from their awkward press release:  http://www.dic-global.com/en/release/pdf/20131004_01.pdf

 Regarding extraordinary profit associated with the sale of a certain painting owned by the company and revision of its consolidated operating result forecast 

The press release refuses to name the "foreign" buyer but states:

 A foreign company approached DIC and expressed an interest in purchasing Anna’s Light. DIC cannot disclose the name of the company due to a non-disclosure agreement with the company. However, based upon the company’s records of important business transactions in its industry, DIC’s interview with the company, as well as corroboration from a third party, DIC has concluded that the company has no dealings with anti-social forces and elements and has a healthy on-going business. As a result of the transaction, DIC believes that Anna’s Light will be properly maintained and managed at its new home. 

The DIC Corporation states that the "purchaser has assured DIC that the work will become available for viewing by the public."  It's obvious that  if a museum had purchased it they would be making that public. So where is "Anna's Light?"  I decided to contact the Barnett Newman Foundation here in New York to find out. The Foundation told me they have "no information on either the new owner or the painting's current whereabouts." Is it destined for Abu Dhabi? Or is it already sitting in some Russian oligarch's pad? Barnett Newman ran for mayor of New York in the 1930s as an anarchist. I wonder what he would have thought of this.

Milestones........

2009

On Sunday, January 5, 2014 I received a phone call informing me that my aunt, Margarita Estenger (1937-2014) aka "Cucucha" to family and friends, had passed away in California just six days shy of her 77th birthday.  Since she was my only aunt, and I have no uncles (and only two first cousins--her children) we were a small but close family. She led a very colorful life that ended with a brutal and thankfully short battle with Alzheimer's.  

She was the life of every party-- reminding me of the Maureen Stapleton character in Woody Allen's Interiors (1978)--with her raucous sense of humor and her virtuoso piano playing at family gatherings. Like many of her generation she left Cuba in 1961, as the promise of revolution turned into the Gulag under the sun. Her first husband fought at the Bay of Pigs invasion and was a captured prisoner. She spent months anxiously awaiting his fate until an agreement was reached between the Kennedy Administration and the Cuban government to free the prisoners. Like my own parents, she moved to Los Angeles after a brief stint in Miami. 

Living in Southern California, she loved going to tv game shows and even made a quick deal with Monty Hall in the early 70s which netted her $50 on Let's Make A Deal (she happened to have  a lemon in her bag). But her biggest TV moment was undoubtedly on June 16, 1975 when she struck gold. On that day, on the CBS Televsion Network Johnny Olsen told her to come on down (butchered her last name actually, it was her second husband's name). She was the big showcase winner on The Price is Right. She won a lot of stuff including a huge camper trailer, a pinball machine and a trip to Jamaica for two. She jumped up and down and nearly trampled her fave Bob Barker. Unfortunately, this was pre-VCR and so all we have is an audio recording though strangely there are full You Tube episodes of The Price is Right from that season and seasons prior and after, so perhaps one day it will surface. She took her daughter to Jamaica and sold everything else.

As stated earlier, she was an extremely gifted piano player as her mom (my grandmother) was a piano teacher but my aunt lacked the desire to pursue it as far as her talents may have warranted. Her unluck in romance (three husbands, three divorces) was made up for by a large and devoted group of friends and the love of her family. She is survived by her brother, my father Guillermo, her two children Henry and Maria and six grandchildren including Jessica whom she raised as her own. Because of the nature of her illness we have missed her for some time, but now will miss her even more. Rest in peace. Services will be held January 17-18. 

Happy New Year 2014!

As the rest of the country braces for the cold to come, my friend musician and graphic designer Mike Horton took his majestic dog Marlowe out for a stroll on January 1, in Lincoln Park in Los Angeles.

Judd at Mnuchin

The Mnuchin Gallery on East 78th Street has an exhibition of Donald Judd "Stacks" that runs until December 7.  There are 10 sculptures in all,  some better than others but any single one of them is a commanding presence. But the most interesting aspect of this exhibition is the space itself and the installation. At a time when the de rigueur  look of the commerical art gallery has been an industrial space with concrete floors and fluoresent lighting (the Chelsea chop shop makeover) there is something majestic about modernist art in a grand 19th Century townhouse.

In this show, each stack is given lots of space and the contrast between the warm, immaculate dark wood floors and Judd's shiny metal sculptures is invigorating. They know how to handle art at Mnuchin. They also know how to make even the announcement card special--the ones for this show were the thickest  exhibition cards you will ever see. They probably cost a dollar each to print.  Equally noteworthy is the catalogue which features essays from a few past associates of Judd along with excellent archival photos of the stacks. 

With all of this precision and care it was funny to see the 80 year-old gallery owner Robert Mnuchin conducting business from the sidewalk handing his staff notes through the ground floor window into the gallery offices. 

Lou Reed 1942-2013

The banner headline came first on Huff Post and then his legion of followers started weighing in on social media, finally the New York Times sent out its breaking news message  for its phone followers. (Monday's print edition had a front-page obit).  Something big happened. One of the giants of American culture of the past 50 years, Lou Reed died. If all we had was Lou's solo work he would be in among the first rank of rock artists. But then there's the Velvet Underground. They were a gamechanger.  Anything great since the mid 70s in Rock bore their distinct imprimatur--from Joy Division to Sonic Youth to Galexie 500 to Radiohead.  Besides the music, I don't think you could say this about anyone else in his generation; Lou Reed was never not cool.  Ever. One other thing about the Velvets and Lou's solo work that always struck me was how personal the music was. It was always to an audience of one.  Lou never wrote an anthem.

One of Lou's most devoted fans is the art critic Charlie Finch whose old WBAI radio program featured the Velvet's "We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together" as the show's theme song.  Charlie penned a lovely tribute to Lou and I asked him if I could post it. Here it is: 

THE THIN REED OF LIFE  Goodbye Lou/ Rock and Roll Heart/ You gave all us New York bohemians our start/ Vicious walkers on the dirty boulevard/ Softhearted inside, but always acting hard/ You taught us, Lou, to thrive and survive/ That our worst impulses were what made us ALIVE/ Now you are gone/ But you always were "gone"/ Sensitive to the blur that is living/ The necessity of creatively giving/ Even when you're hated and hurting inside/  Always up for another stiff glide/ I always waited for you, my man/ My back to the wall, I never ran/ "Ocean" was playing when my brother Will died/ And "Heroin" in my wild, stoned rides/ I teased David Bowie that he stole all from you/ An Upper East Side Wasp devoted to a Long Island Jew/ I finally met you through Chicago Fat Tony/ For creatively, Lou, you were my one and only/ So give Andy and Candy a kiss in the sky/ Through all tomorrow's parties/ I'll still be your guy GOODBYE LOU REED, CF

Well said Mr. Finch.  Thank you Lou. Thank you for being fearless.  You made history and changed the world. Ask Havel.

George Jones is Dead

George Jones died last week in Nashville.  His astonishing career lasted over 60 years. He died universally acclaimed as the greatest singer in the history of Country music and his recorded output and influence rivals Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.  Many of us were first introduced to George Jones through Elvis Costello's Almost Blue which gave him the cool imprimatur that his more obvious contemporaries already had--Haggard, Cash and Willie and Waylon.  But the range of his singinging and the feeling his imbued every lyric stand alone in pop music.  There will never be another like him again.