Middle Sister - Justice

This is Beautiful, Chandra!

Posted by zhenne (guest) on Sun 25 Oct 2009 02:17:50 AM UTC

Mark Van Proyen

"In the nine large mixed-media paintings included in this exhibition, Chandra Garsson consistently demonstrates both engagement and aplomb in the execution of one of the most difficult high-wire acts any artist could hope to pull off--that being the...

"In the nine large mixed-media paintings included in this exhibition, Chandra Garsson consistently demonstrates both engagement and aplomb in the execution of one of the most difficult high-wire acts any artist could hope to pull off--that being the equilibriation of an expressionist esthetic with one that is more seductive, poetic and intimate. each of these works features many different kinds of imagery, paint application and support materials, as well as the more well-considered inclusion of found objects that pungently connote both a happy nostalgia for a moment of innocence and also a grief over the loss of that innocence. Interwoven into these multilayered compositions are painted fragments of primitively adumbrated figures that seem representations not so much of actual people as mythic apparitions representing some private pantheon of archetypical actors. To say that these works convey the logic of a dream is to not say enough: a more to-the-point characterization would point to how these works record the intersection and layering of many dreams. What is remarkable is how the works employ the associations that are redolent in their many fragments to create a kind of poetic unity based on analogies that are both obvious and obscure. Although there is much for the viewer to see in each of these works, they also provoke the realization that much lies below their conglomerated surfaces of thick paint and magic memorabelia..." -Mark Van Proyen, Artweek, April 12, 1990, volume 21, number 14

Posted by Guest on Wed 15 Oct 2008 10:53:32 PM UTC

chandra garsson

Addendum: Jean Sandstedt-conner was his wife, and is an artist in her own right.

Posted by Guest on Fri 08 Aug 2008 09:33:41 PM UTC

Chandra Garsson

I felt that Bruce Conner and I were kindred spirits, artists influenced by similar concerns. I met him once. My friend Lu Read, knowing how I admired the work of Bruce Conner, was friends with Judith Elliot, who had been married to Jim Elliot, who had ...

I felt that Bruce Conner and I were kindred spirits, artists influenced by similar concerns. I met him once. My friend Lu Read, knowing how I admired the work of Bruce Conner, was friends with Judith Elliot, who had been married to Jim Elliot, who had run the University Art Museum for many years. Judith got us all together (minus Jim and Lu)one morning, at the request of Lu, on my behalf. Bruce drove all of us, along with his wife or partner Jean the nurse, all around San Francisco, for hours. For hours he showed us to the sights of San Francisco, and treated us to stories of his travails in the art world, especially concerning galleries and museums. He told us he never went to a meeting with a gallery or museum director without his wooden baseball bat. He said he would always dress imaculately (as he had that day, all in white), his manners refined as always, with his basesball bat displayed prominently. When I asked him if he had ever considered writing a book on the difficulties navigating the art world, even for a successful artist, he ruefully replied, "Who would want to read it?" Ah, a wise man indeed, and a great artist, was Bruce Conner.

Posted by Guest on Tue 15 Jul 2008 07:05:43 PM UTC