Saturday, December 1, 2007

Emilie Clark: The Weeklies

Morgan Lehman October 25-December 22, 2007



I have many things that aren't very nice to say about The Weeklies so I'll start with the one thing I really liked; The idea. I know you're snorting right now because there isn't anything all that original about the idea of creating one painting a week since 1995 and planning to continue making one painting a week for the rest of your life. Still, I like the thought of having a life-process and actually going through with the idea is something other then a late night at the bar.

The effect of all the paintings, hung in graph formation under a year's heading, all the same size, was a bit under-whelming. There was quantity certainly, but not quality in in quantity. Although I like the idea I began to wish that Emilie had edited her weeklies, as there were at least five really good ones. Many of the good ones were towards the end. (All the ones in the beginning resembled the types of screen-printed collages high-schoolers and indie-rockers are so fond of.) This is actually an excellent sign for Ms. Clark because she must be getting better. The good paintings all resemble blurry monster-like animals in "horrible" colors. I wished they were bigger. They look remarkably well reproduced on the internet.

Though I have said many things that aren't very nice about Emilie Clark and I take none of them back I am afraid that the exhibit leaves me with the feeling that I have read her diary and now I am in danger of having a little nerdy art crush on her. Perhaps this was her sinister scheme all along? I know her too well to really dislike her.




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