Sunday, May 30, 2010

Recent Acquisitions: Marzia Faggin, Eric Faggin and Woody Golden

As I mentioned in my last post, I bought some art at the AMG Stimulus Package.

Woody Golden
Woody Golden, untitled, laminated paper, 2009

I mentioned in an earlier post how much I liked the work of Woody Golden. He's a sculptor, and the work I was responding to were these pieces where he carved a hole into a large book, then took the carved out pieces, laminated them, and sanded them into organic, stone-like shapes--then put them back into the void in the book.

This piece is related to those sculptures. Golden has again taken paper (colored paper this time), somehow laminated it into a solid block, then sanded it into this shape. The paper used is important. In the book projects, the paper was slightly yellowed and covered with small black type. The solid shape ended up being a pale tan with black speckles. They looked like smooth stones or of eggs--very natural and organic. But this piece, with its colors, looks more like an oversized piece of hard candy! (I got the long thin one. I wanted to show both, though. They look great against the grain of the plywood walls--kind of the perfect backdrop for them, don't you think?)

Eric Faggin
Eric Faggin, various untitled works, tape on paper

I was definitely attracted to this suite of paired pieces by Eric Faggin. The figures are made out of tape, and the red tape is much brighter in person--it's actually fluorescent. Anyway, they all looked great and the pairings were intriguing (often implying a dialogue between young and old, or across cultures, or between people who might be at odds for some personal reason). Here's the one I ended up getting.

Eric Faggin
Eric Faggin, untitled, tape on paper

Finally, I got a piece by Marzia Faggin. I have no idea what relationship Marzia and Eric Faggin have (if any). Google doesn't really turn up much on them. They were both in a recent group show at Poissant Gallery. There is an Eric Faggin who is a designer, but I don't know if this is the same guy.

Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post, Marzia Faggin's work goes in a lot of different directions.

Marzia Faggin
Marzia Faggin, Zor and Zam, ceramic, paint and other materials, 2010

This is so unlike her paintings it's sort of a shock to think that it is by the same artist. The bullet, wings and flower seem to be glued on and perhaps made of plastic. The ceramic part is unglazed--the colors are paint. (At least as far as I can tell.) Of course there is a delicious irony in combining the flower and ceramic with the bullet. This aesthetic choice reminds me of the work of Charles Krafft, who makes machine guns and hand-grenades using the ancient somewhat kitschy, little-old-lady-like techniques of Delftware.

I think this genre of work (Faggin had another similar piece in the show) probably would have a lot of appeal to certain collectors. She should make molds of them and make multiples using slipcasting.  I could envision some beautiful glazes on them...

As I have mentioned before, I have a strong interest in accessible collecting--art collecting for beginners, one could say. I like schemes that bring high-quality art (with the value-judgments and presence of aesthetic gatekeepers that the word "quality" implies) to non-rich collectors. This show is a pretty successful example of this kind of thing. I certainly am happy with what I got--and if I had had more extra money to spend, I would have gotten more!

2 comments:

  1. Marzia & Eric are brother sister. She makes her sculptures out of plaster. You are lucky to have her work. She's amazing. She has others similar to the one you acquired. Congrats. Wait till you see her new stuff!

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  2. I have gotten to know Marzia Faggin and her work a whole lot beter since I wrote this post. See here: http://thegreatgodpanisdead.blogspot.com/search/label/Marzia%20Faggin

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