ASPEN ART MUSEUM
MAGAZINE
44
ArtCrush Auction 2024
McIntyre acknowledges the in u- ence of a number of greats, including Sigmar Polke, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell and Cy Twombly. Her enigmatic titles, such as Laws of night and honey , The gospel of translucence , Queen of the air , Doth mutation love (all 2023), add an extra layer of poetry to these beautiful and intriguing works. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, McIntyre completed her undergradu- ate studies and rst Master’s degree there and, in 2021, she completed a second MFA at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. She continues to live and work in Los Angeles. Shota Nakamura Work generously donated by the artist and Clearing Writing in 2019 for Tate Etc . about the French painter Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947), the critic Barry Schwabsky observes, “Bonnard’s was an art of ux. He eschewed the clear, well-dened forms of classical art to orchestrate a symphony of coloured blurs and smudges that only gradually add up to scenes of everyday life. Each patch of colour is, in itself, a distinct vibration, a dierent frequency, and, at the same time, each one communicates some- thing of its own inner motion to all the others, little by little, as the eye moves back and forth among them.” The interpretation feels pertinent to the work of Shota Nakamura; the resonances between his work and that of Bonnard and his fellow Nabis painters are strong. The stylization and use of color—at once bold and muted; the simplied forms and atness that also recall the work of another earlier French painter, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824–1898). But in the subject matter, too: landscapes and gardens, domestic interiors and the two combined. Nakamura grew up in the moun- tainous prefecture of Yamanishi, Japan, near Mount Fuji, a long way from rural France, but his dreamlike landscapes could be anywhere. Painting with oil on linen, there is a lightness to his touch, an ethereal quality that recalls the oneiric aspect of some of Peter Doig’s work. The gures themselves are like apparitions. Often sleeping, some- times reading, they are only partially present—their minds elsewhere, their bodies assuming a ghostly presence. Nakamura moved from Yamanashi to Tokyo to study art, before moving on to Berlin, where he continues to live and work. Robert Nava Work generously donated by the artist and Pace Gallery Angels, dragons and other fantastic beasts dominate the paintings of Robert Nava. The roughly rendered creatures are inspired by a diverse range of sources, from prehistoric cave art to cartoons, from philosophy and religion to video games. Combining acrylic with grease pencil and spray paint, Nava’s naive, playful images exude a raw energy. What the absurdity and cartoonlike violence lack in horror, they make up for with comedy. There is a rm nod toward Jean-Michel Basquiat, and maybe even Jean Dubuet, and without doubt the work evokes the “‘Bad’ Painting” named by critic and
Above Shota Nakamura.
Courtesy: the artist and Clearing; photograph: Daniel Farò Right Robert Nava. Courtesy: the artist and Pace; photograph: Axel Dupeux
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