Simon Hantaï Unfolding at TIMOTHY TAYLOR

James Kalm tries to keep his viewers aware of the current trends and interests of the Downtown painting scene here in New York. Simon Hantaï (1922-2008) was a French/Hungarian experimental painter. Responding to the momentum of Abstract Expressionism, and Action Painting, Hantaï endeavored to find a new way of painting. In his own words “The problem was: How to overcome the aesthetic privilege of talent, art, etc…? How to make the exceptional, banal? How to become exceptionally banal. Folding was one way of resolving this problem.” The artist developed several ways of folding, pleating, and rumpling his canvases, then applying paint, and “unfolding” them to reveal uncalculated painterly effects. Hantaï’s work has inspired generations of experimental painters all over the world. This program was recorded February 2, 2024. #jameskalmreport #jameskalmroughcut #lorenmunk

[@paulenright]

Fantastic work + dreamy music + excellent review = thank you Kate ‼️

[@johnjones3714]

Thank you James for reminding me of Hantai. Always enjoy hearing about technique. And thank you Kate

[@singlespies]

Thanks James! Great job getting a French singer, too!

[@salvadorblancocasalins6526]

particular and nice show

[@stepladder13]

Great show! Great singer!

[@jhb61249]

Nice music. Interesting work. Thanks to you both.

[@superfly2449]

Thanks, James and Kate

[@thirdrockjul2224]

Thank you Kate! ❤

[@julienporisse9902]

Simon Hantaï born in Hungary in 1922 and died in Paris in 2008. I visited Georges Pompidou museum in 2013 for his retrospective and… the sheer scale, and nature of his work was as impressive as it was almost frightening. Here was a painter who did not wait for tomorrow. Painting very large canvases, although folded tied up and dipped in large contaiof dye or paint. He is easily recognizable as nobody does his kind of art. It’s big scale, it’s original, it’s Hantaï

[@simonlinke1]

Thank you Loren, that's a very interesting show very well described by you. Is it possible that last painting on the back wall was not folded at all? I ask, partly because it precedes the other works in the show which suggests it's formative, but mainly because of the material challenge of oil paint. As you mention, there's the issue of drying times which would make the construction of the painting impossibly complex, but also the question of cracking and delaminating that would result from extreme tensioning and bending of the canvas. I wondered (from the video obvs) whether instead if it was painted with a palette knife, and that was how the shard effect of the composition was created? You mention BMPT and Soulage etc. and the challenge David Reed talks about in relation to Pollock, and it got me wondering whether Riopelle might also have been an influence both in terms of compositional design but also in process, with this particular work? It's a fascinating period especially in terms of Paris and the response of artists there, partly to the legacy associated with the history of that city but also the processing of developments in NY in the 40's and 50's. Thank you for taking the time to show us this show.

[@jameskalm]

Nice to hear from you Simon. As I relook at the footage, and think about seeing this piece in person, I do think it was a bit different from the other works, probably because it was darker, and much more heavily painted. It looked to me like it had at least three coats of paint, starting with a dark grey, then dark green and blue, and maybe the rumples were smaller(?) As to the problem of cracking, if the rumpling and re rumpling was done fairly quickly (for oil paint) the surface would remain soft enough to manipulate it with out cracking. As to the pallet knife, maybe (?) If you go to the video at 5:38, the wall label gives descriptions of Hantaï’s various techniques for the rumpling/folding he developed over time. Also, I’m sure Hantaï was very engaged with all the hottest, most recognized art movements happening in Europe during the fifties and sixties and Riopelle was certainly in the mix…JK

[@simonlinke1]

@@jameskalm thanks Loren. Looking forward too the next one!

[@samjgardner]

May I ask the name of the CZcams art documentary you mentioned? Thanks, Kate!

[@jameskalm]

Sure @samjgardner here's the link czcams.com/video/thQbxX6_hkE/video.htmlsi=7YUwvuQTRCV3d-LH

[@melkerart1793]

Interesting how art can resemble science and vice versa. These paintings may be inspired by x-ray crystallography of proteins which began in the late 50s.

[@tralexan]

"How to overcome the aesthetic privilege of talent" Really? I imagine one should also consider how to perform at Carnegie as an untalented musician, or how to transform yourself into James Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" when given no acting ability . . . "How to overcome the aesthetic privilege of talent" or "How to fake it when you can't make it" . Good God in heaven!

[@edwardferry8247]

He was a trained artist. He might not be to your particular taste but he’s an important figure in experimental painting, he represented France at Venice one year. He was far from a fake, he devoted his life to exploring painting and art. 🙏

[@Allenmayesallenmayes]

@@edwardferry8247 who gets to be successful and who doesnt.

[@tralexan]

@@edwardferry8247 Although I found the work to be banal personally, my displeasure was not with the work of Simon Hantai but rather the ridiculousness of the phrase "overcome the aesthetic privilege of talent."

[@jameskalm]

@tralexan Whatever one might think of the work, its aesthetic framework, or the recognition he’s received, you have to admit that a statement like this is intentionally provocative. I see it as a precursor to the whole Postmodern, deconstructivist notion of “deskilling”, and a kind of Neo-Dada contempt for society’s accepted norms…JK

[@Allenmayesallenmayes]

@@jameskalm you can't hide the disquiet that most of us feel about pompous over rated artists