Art Image of the week by Barnaby Furnas

Sorry for the delay again.. Somehow I got screwed picked to be on a Jury Trail.. so I've been without internet all week. Can you image..? Picking someone as biased, jaded and judgmental as MAO to be on your Jury.. OMG.. talk about scrapping the bottom of the moral barrel! I almost feel sorry for the apparently totally guilty defendant! But that's another story... now ..back to our AIOTW...

So this weeks image is by Artist Barnaby Furnas.. This large painting is titled "Dual, 2004." It's an oil painting and measures 325 x 193 cm. I believe the scene "depicts two ex-presidents in battle, simply for the sake of seeing the beauty of the carnage in slow motion."

Interestingly.. For this young artist, I've not seen much written on Barnaby's work lately.. but you may remember him from his hot debut a few years ago.  He's one of the overhyped 2000 Columbia University, MFA super stars who had his first show at Marianne Boesky Gallery in 2002.

Barnaby's use of hot colors, and intense hyperactive narrative scenes have always been an attraction to collectors.

Here's some background info..

an  Artforum Review by Jordan Kantor,

His listing on ArtFacts

and a little more

from the Saatchi Gallery Website about the artist.

So what do you think?

A Young Art Star who burned out quickly?

Still a major force in modern painting of the new century?

All Washed up at age 33?

or A fresh voice, gliding effortlessly between the worlds of representation and abstraction?

All thoughts welcome..

Comments

[TomB]

I love this painting.. great choice MAO.

I've always been a Barnaby Fan.. and it's nice to see some of his new work!

[ROb]

Not one of your better choices for image of the week.

This painting looks simple, and basic.

It seems like an under developed technique by an art school student.. it lacks maturity.

[Orenthal]

remember being impressed by barnaby at the whitney biennial. work reminded me of ralph steadman. not a lot of progression since then.

[pivory]

I agree 100% with ROb - I loved it when I first saw his work - but it seems like he didn't have anywhere to go from there - at least not yet.

[James Wolanin]

Not very interesting, seems like he is using color, trying to compensate for poor composition.

[A.J.]

perhaps looks better face-to-face... but in repro it looks abit like carnie spin-art... Murano even.

[s-in-bkln]

i first saw barnaby's watercolors about 4 years ago, and thought that a) they were overpriced at 7000 for a 12x18 size, b)they seemed a bit over-designed and "safe", and c) it felt like he had "painted himself into a corner" inasmuch as he had developed a mature-appearing style at a young age and that it would be difficult to expand the breadth of his vocabulary as he began to expand intellectually as a human being.

he has not evolved.
the only thing that i could say is, now that his little watercolor was at christies with an estimate of 40K, and that he is outperforming the dow-jones. so, stupid me. does anyone miss the times when artists stewed in a miasmic, creative social mix, experimenting for years before a truly explosive, "eureka" moment made them break through (like jim morrison says) to the other side?

p.s. to MAO...did you catch the Dietch show thursday?

[Fabio]

I saw some small Barnaby's at a show in San Francisco a few months ago. Nice stuff. I don't see why people are so hostile. The guy clearly has an interesting style, and I see strong composition. He has these lean, tall figures that anchor these flashy color drips. What I find interesting is how they act as weird illustrations of historical moments.

Washed up? Lack of development? That's a weird response. If you have a solid style early in your career, why mess with it? Why not work through it for a while? Enjoy it, especially if you can make $$$ with it.

[Jimmy]

So was there any art to see in P-town? Any water colors of bears in the woods, or was there only lesbian macramé?

[Kenny T]

Nowhere near being washed up. You sure pick the oddest images for your "Image of the week".

[Gabe]

Interesting....I've never seen anything like it--which stands for something in my opinion. I don't understand the subject matter though...

[martin]

i'm with kenny t, nowhere near being washed up - just beginning and very interesting.

did you read the kimmleman article on klimt friday - i don't mean just the parts about money, but about his death at (i think) 53, and wondering where he might have gone? what is barnaby, twenty years younger than klimt was?

sinbrooklynbayonnemedicalcenter - ugh. eureka moment? there is no laboratory explosion, sorry.