Main Street Arts in Clifton Springs screened the Alice Neel documentary tonight and it was a perfect evening for the 45 minute drive. Clear blue skies, very low humidity and a generous touch of color in the trees. In other places a 45 minute drive is nothing. Here it is time enough for deep conversation and Alice Neel’s paintings provided the fuel. Louise rode out with us and we had dinner at Warfield’s, across the street from the gallery. Painters, Jim and Gail Thomas, were having dinner at a nearby table.
A woman in the crowd, who lived in New York for many years, told a story before the movie about how she organized a show in the city and rounded up paintings from artists she liked. Alice Neel gave her one for the show but said he would not be around to pick up the painting when the show came down. The woman took the painting home and hung it on her apartment wall for a month or so. Marlene Dumas is in the movie, as well she should be. Alice is the master. Chuck Close is in there too and he tells a funny story about meeting Alice on the street. He told his name and she said, “Oh, I hate Chuck Close paintings.” He said, “I love yours.” And she said, “Well, I’ll have to give yours another look.” I was trying to get a good look at an Alice Neel painting in New York, somewhere in the nineties, and there was a guy in a wheelchair sitting in front of the painting along with a big guy behind the chair. They stayed planted there for an almost rude amount of time and when they finally moved on and the wheelchair spun around I saw it was Chuck Close.
Alice Neel is one of my favorite painters so I was in heaven watching her draw with color as she hung onto the end of her brush. Her portraits look just like the people she paints but they are much more demonstrative. She did the painting above when she was 80 years old and this self portrait when she was 84. She got better and better her whole life and her work remains as an inspiration. Louise said my painting look polite by comparison or something to that effect. I very much agree and plan to do something about it.
1 Comment
Was looking forward to seeing your write-up of this, and it’a great job! Yes, I said her work exaggerates and agitates and extends her subjects to the point of emotional violence, while you keep a restrained eye on yours. Imagine when the spirit of Neel would do with one of your basketball players. I’d love to see it.