Content provided in partnership with
Wade Schuman at Forum - New York - Brief Article
Art in America, Sept, 2002 by Nancy Grimes
In his recent exhibition of oil paintings, Wade Schuman unveiled a series of ambitious, moody allegories that provocatively juxtapose people, objects and animals. Divided into three groups--"Histories," "Interiors" and "Observations"--the paintings depict real and remembered landscapes, rooms inhabited by naked and clothed figures, and simple arrangements of dishes, bones, insects and fish.
- Most Popular Articles in Arts
- Art since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism
- Free-standing cardboard sculpture
- What makes a successful business person? Business people who are tops in ...
- Take advantage of local advertising: TV, newspaper or magazines? If your ...
- Tino Sehgal at the ICA
- More »
These odd, often disturbing images clearly owe a debt to Surrealism. No umbrellas and sewing machines meet on dissecting tables, but a bagel, a naked woman, a rooster and a fly do come together in Then and Now (1998), and a wild pig cozies up to an attractive supine nude in another work. But while Schuman's weird, dramatic subject matter seeks to violate our sense of propriety, his polished, traditional style reinforces it. Characterized by precise drawing, clearly articulated spaces and a largely neutral palette, the paintings recall the codified naturalism of the late 19th-century academy. The deadpan, rational mode of representation serves a dual purpose. By downplaying the sensuous, expressive qualities of the paintings (particularly color and surface), Schuman not only focuses attention on the subject matter, he also firmly locates his scenarios in the outside world. In other words, these aren't Symbolist fantasies but allegorical commentaries on life, love and the human condition.
The observations can be less than electrifying. The pairing of humans and beasts in Woman with Pig (2001) and Conversation (1997), which shows a pack of dogs milling around two men at a dinner table, may point out the bestial nature of man--the flip side of civilization--but this is hardly news. Somewhat more intriguing is the enigmatic nature of the coupling in Embrace (1998-2001). Two naked figures grapple and grope in what could be interpreted as a posture of lust, love or strife. Poetic ambiguity is enhanced by the fuzzy, nearly romantic rendering Schuman adopts in this work, where details are lost in a gray haze, and even the gender of one of the figures is impossible to determine.
Schuman's knack for condensing several meanings into a single, apparently simple image is also evident in "Passages," an ambitious three-panel piece that falls into the "Histories" section of the show. A reworking of the ages-of-man theme with an autobiographical subtext, the work begins and ends with a landscape. The first, Passages (Conflict), 1996, depicts a leafy, dimly lit suburban street on a summer's night. In the lower left-hand corner, one half-naked figure punches another. The tumult of youth gives way to the peace of age in the last panel, Passages (Resolution), 2000-01, which portrays a city street muffled by freshly fallen snow and illuminated by the gray, diffused glow of streetlights. While Passages (Conflict) represents youth at odds with its environment, Passages (Resolution) can be seen as desire blunted by age and silenced by the fulfillment of its ambitions.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group
