Anthony Falcetta at Rotenberg
Post #939 • January 16, 2007, 10:37 AM • 9 Comments
Anthony Falcetta has some serious, handsome work up at Judi Rotenberg. One can detect strains of the more biomorphic abstractions of Diebenkorn in them, to their credit, with about the same key on the palette. Falcetta gouges the paint with knives to make a linear texture, which he then repeats with strokes of paint, resulting in an impressive range of transparency and opacity, both actual and implied. Falcetta subscribes to the virtues of intuition and surprise in his working method, which comes through on the canvas as energetic shape-making. There's enough of a range of success to pick out favorites, but as a whole they display notable authority. The show runs through the 27th.
Installation view of "Anthony Falcetta: Ongoing Events" at Judi Rotenberg Gallery
Anthony Falcetta: Sea Lawn, oil and oilbar on canvas, 62 x 62 inches, 2006, image courtesy Judi Rotenberg Gallery
Anthony Falcetta: after the flood, oil and oilbar on canvas, 62 x 60 inches, 2006, image courtesy Judi Rotenberg Gallery
Anthony Falcetta: the sun will blind my eyes, oil and oilbar on canvas, 60 x 60 inches, 2006, image courtesy Judi Rotenberg Gallery
Anthony Falcetta: as it is when it was, oil and oilbar on canvas, 60 x 62 inches, 2006, image courtesy Judi Rotenberg Gallery
2.
January 16, 2007, 11:48 AM
Wow, a question I might actually be able to answer!
He's probably referring to oil pigment sticks as "oil bars". I have seen the two names interchanged. I find the best ones come from here, they go on like butta.
http://www.rfpaints.com/8-Store/RFStore2PS1Top.htm
No affiliation etc. etc. , just a happy customer.
I'm curious to know if I'm correct in my assessment or if there are something else out there called "oil bars".
3.
January 16, 2007, 12:06 PM
Joanie, that looks like the same stuff, but Winsor & Newton makes a product actually called "Oilbar." It's an oil-based pastel, pretty much Cray-Pas writ large with better materials.
4.
January 16, 2007, 12:36 PM
Pretty serious stuff. If he is a young guy and still working things out (the pictures strike me that way) he may turn out to be a damn good painter. I like the last one best. The others are very good but a bit tentative.
I call them "oil sticks" and I use them often for small work. I believe the term "oil bar" refers to the same thing - I know at least one company calls their product "Oil Bars" They are pigments mixed with wax and mediums to produce a large "crayon" which can be either fairly hard (Shiva) or very "buttery" (Sennelier). With a little practice and the judicious use of solvents one can use them to excellent effect.
5.
January 16, 2007, 1:40 PM
OP, he was born in 1970.
6.
January 16, 2007, 1:51 PM
P.S. I think the best ones are the last one and the second one.
7.
January 16, 2007, 2:50 PM
I'll go along with that but on the second one I really want to make that long vertical yellowish curved line a bright red-orange
8.
January 16, 2007, 8:15 PM
I agree with that idea, OP. In any case, I can't help thinking that this sort of work is very unlikely to be (brand-name) gallery fare in Miami because it's too mature or too solid. No gimmicks, no bells and whistles, no trendy hype affiliation, no shock or "transgressive" value, no political grandstanding...you get the picture.
9.
January 17, 2007, 7:56 AM
wow!! in french please :)
1.
Marc Country
January 16, 2007, 11:17 AM
Is oilbar a different medium than oil, or just a special way of applying the same media?