RECON - A column by “Poor Al” Barasch
Art as Authority is proud to present RECON - A column by “Poor Al” Barasch with its first installment covering the opening of the new Grace Lane Gallery in Costa Mesa, CA. Poor Al, who doesn't know Poor Al? with major shows of his work in LA, San Diego and all across this beautiful nation, Poor Al has earned the respect of many street and graffiti artists and has influenced a whole generation of younger underground upstarts. Poor Al is also the man behind the highly successful Collabro exhibition series. Art as Authority is pleased to welcome him into our ranks. Thanks and enjoy!
RECON
A column by “Poor Al” Barasch
Grace Lane Gallery and Warren Heard
Once in a while a gallery is opened by someone who really understands the art business more than your average Joe. With galleries popping up in Southern California at a rate faster than ever before, many owners are anxious to have success but really fail to understand what it takes to throw shows month after month relentlessly, just to establish a working business. Many people don’t consider that they might have to have a “real” job while running a gallery. The art business can often be more glamorous than it is in reality, and having the right plan, clientele, and artists lined-up can make the world of difference.
One wall of Grace Lane Gallery
Grace Lane Gallery, in Costa Mesa, is one of those galleries with the perfect mix to succeed. Fred Page, owner of Grace Lane, is an art appraiser with decades of experience evaluating art for high profile clients. Page started his art collection in college, and has never stopped being involved with art ever since. As a Navy photographer stationed in Newport, R.I., he bought his first Picasso print, and with that purchase sealed his commitment to a life long love of art.
Fred Page and “Poor Al” Barasch
As an appraiser, Page’s job involves digging into the history of the work, artist, time period, and researching what exactly a piece of art is worth. He’s researched countless genres of art, so his curatorial decisions are likely to be a combination of well informed data and gut feeling about the art he’d like to show. Page’s inaugural show, a solo show of work by Warren Heard, illustrates how he can be expected to pick excellent artists with depth and rich history.
Opening Night
Warren Heard
Heard’s work embodies the urban folk styling of a man with texture. There are so many ideas and thoughts on one of his paintings that you need to take a few looks at it before gathering in the parts to assemble a whole feeling about it. He’s got deep color contrasts, excellent black-line images peeking from the backgrounds, and words that stand out and add exclamation to the image they are nestled against.
The Couple
The figures in Heard’s paintings look stripped of skin, leaving a window straight into their colorful muscle mass and tissue. They are often in very intimate positions, for example the couple sitting in bed holding one another, or the portrait of Jesus, stripped down to the vibrant humanity below the man’s skin.
Jesus
Intimacy is more than just a concept in the paintings Heard creates; it’s actually his modus operandi. Many of the paintings in his collection have three and four paintings beneath them, and in some cases, they’ve taken seven and eight years to complete. The paintings and Heard have a relationship sometimes characterized by late night visits involving minor updates and occasionally whole scale “breakups” where Heard will go over a painting to begin another.
One of Heard’s paintings
Close Up (click on image for larger view)
What is brilliant about the work is that it doesn’t feel forced and contrived. So much art these days looks like a product, slightly altered facsimiles of other people’s work. Like John Michael Gill, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Chris Yormick, Phil Frost, and other urban folk artists, Heard’s work just seems authentic, and for that alone he deserves praise. Warren Heard couldn’t be anybody else and that’s really what being an artist is about.
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Warren’s show will be running for a while, so please take the time to go and check out his work.
Grace Lane Gallery is located at:
2930 Grace Lane, Suite F
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Call for an appointment: 714-545-1773
www.gracelanegallery.com
Comments
WOW!!! wonderful blog and i lOVE the art!
the gallery space looks very cool and contemporary
what is the medium of heard's work?
where has he shown before
and where is the gallery located in costa mesa?
i'm ready to do an art run!!!.
Posted by: Maura Vazakas | mai 16, 2007 09:46 AM
Maura... to answer your questions.
Warren works in oils and uses only very small water color brushes. (I believe he said they were #3's and that they are the only brush he uses even on those 'huge' paintings that he does.)
Warren has shown in Orange County for years and years at a variety of spots. (Santa Ana arts district, and Costa Mesa at The Lab.) Gallery is located near Baker and Bristol (address above)
Posted by: "Poor Al" Barasch | mai 16, 2007 04:52 PM