Scott Greene’s enormous paintings of body parts are dutifully rendered and shined to a full gloss. There are plenty of nods to Phillip Guston’s famous boots but the cartoonish, flat look of Guston has been replaced with a triumphant attempt at achieving renaissance style rendering and varnish. Judging from the sprawled legs and arms, it appears Scott created headless monster sculptures out of doll parts, removing the articulated arms and legs of superheros, knights and horses. I think he then creates very large paintings from these sculptures. The end result is a decadent image of war, chaos, and brutality.
Al Farrow architects cathedrals, mosques and other religious buildings using parts from guns and lots of bullets. The buildings are all large model sized and cold. The detailed metalwork is impressive and ominous. Many of the pieces had the bones of a finger encased in a glass enclosure. This impressive body of work must be seen in person. You can feel the weight of the metal when you stand in the room with these things. People are so transfixed by the pieces, it makes you feel anxious waiting your turn to see.
Scott Greene and Al Farrow will be showing at
Catherine Clark Gallery
From November 29th 2007 – January 12th 2008
See older work of Scott’s at scottmgreene.com
More of Al Farrow’s work can be seen at alfarrow.com/
View more photos on the Bay Area Art Quake Flickr Photo Group.
Also posted on the Bay Area Art Quake Group Blog.