Art in Transformation
Figure 1: Miracle Paintings installation view, photograph by Rob McKeever.
Stepping into the Gagosian Gallery, we are surrounded by the Miracle Paintings (Figure 1) created by Dan Colen. Basing this series of paintings on Disney stills, Colen paves his way into our collective imagination and memories. The movements of colors, bursts of powders, and spirals of liquid echo the vignettes in some Disney movies, in which carnivalesque animated sequences that move fluidly between abstraction and representation are paired with inspiring phonic musical compositions.[1] Spectacular as the paintings are, the underlying subtleties and delicacies can still be sensed through the vibrating edges, layered colors, and organic shapes in each canvas. And these variations render the artist’s act of painting visible to viewers. As the introduction of this exhibition says, the paintings “depict an entirely fantastical realm in which unseen agents cast magic spells, phantasms rise from the murky abyss, and depth implodes in a cloud of dust.”[2]
Compared to his former series, chewing gum and bird poop, the Miracle Paintings appear to be highly aesthetic and visually pleasant. Some critics say that after he “flamed out, sold out and was critically beaten up”, “now he is transformed and re-engaged.”[3] Yet here, what on earth is in transformation? To me, the core concept—exploring the nature of art and experimenting with different materials—of Colen’s artistic practice remains unchanged, and this series of paintings is actually consistent with their “ugly” predecessors. Just as the artist points out himself, “I wanted these paintings to reveal themselves during the making, similar to how the trash paintings came to be.”[4] In this sense, the paintings just have themselves transformed physically, not conceptually.
In addition to the physical transformation in his paintings, there also has been a big shift in the opinions of the value of his works, both tangible and intangible. His trash paintings, once considered a joke by many critics, now have become the hot bid items for today’s collectors. A work from 2008 made of chewing gum and paper on canvas fetched $1.09m at Sotheby's last year. And on May 12th an oil painting from 2006, of a candle inspired by Disney’s “Pinocchio”, sold for $3.1m at Christie’s.[5]
The Miracle Paintings could be an interesting case. For the evolvement of the works’ physical forms and the shift in people’s attitudes may provide us with a clue to a further examination of what factors participate and how they participate in the artworks’ transformation.
[1] Gagosian Gallery, “Dan Colen: Miracle Paintings, ” accessed October 14, 2014http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/dan-colen--september-02-2014.
[2] Gagosian Gallery, “Dan Colen: Miracle Paintings,” accessed October 14, 2014http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/dan-colen--september-02-2014.
[3] Edward Helmore, “Dan Colen: how the badboy of New York artdiscovered the good life,” The Guardian, May 9,2014, accessed October 14, http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/may/09/dan-colen-new-york-art.
[4] Gagosian Gallery, “Dan Colen: Miracle Paintings,” accessed October 14, 2014http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/dan-colen--september-02-2014.
[5] The Economist, “Something to Chew On,” May 21, 2014.