~SAM COCKRELL . . MAN OF TWO WORLDS / INTERNATIONAL WATERS !! & INTERNATIONAL OBJECTS !!
SAM COCKRELL – ‘MORPHO’ at INTERNATIONAL WATERS / BROOKLYN
HAS BEEN EXTENDED . . . THRU APRIL 23rd
VIEWING HRS: SAT & SUN / 2 – 4 PM
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SAM COCKRELL – A MAN OF TWO WORLDS
‘MORPHO’ – & – ‘LOCAL OBJECTS’
SAM COCKRELL . . . . finds himself with work /
in 2 very different galleries this weekend, and although the 2 galleries seem to be associated / the shows, the first a solo show, and the second a big group show / and the galleries themselves are in many respects, as different as day is from night.
the most important difference for you at this particular moment / is that one show, ‘Morpho’, is closing this weekend, and you don’t want to miss it /
so, let’s begin there:
‘SAM COCKRELL: MORPHO’ . . . LAST WEEKEND !!!!
‘MORPHO’ OPENED JAN 27 & is . . . .
still open: ONLY FOR THIS WEEKEND: SAT & SUN / MARCH 25 & 26, 2023.
INTERNATIONAL WATERS, 262 Meserole St., Brooklyn / East Williamsburg / Bushwick, NYC
behind Newton Radio /
HRS: SAT & SUN / 2 – 4 PM
see: the well written exhibition statement & gorgeous installation photos
so, what can I say ?
GET READY TO RE-SET YOUR ‘HUMAN-TO-EARTH’ / BRAIN, and put your SCI-FI ears on.
“FOR COCKRELL . . an obsession with butterflies & moths has emerged through a daily painting practice. Using an airbrush, Cockrell’s paintings double as an archive of relations between the artist & various forms of animalia.”
“By using an airbrush, his gesture is a soft one that is careful to never make contact with his surface. In a field blur, Cockrell’s creatures fall into their environment… Each work recalls a photographic instant; the paintings capture static objects that would otherwise seemingly be in motion. For Cockrell, butterflies & moths possess a history of human iconography & also represent a planetary history.”
~GALLERY NOTES
“the writer VLADIMIR NABOKOV, also a well known Lepidopterist, was obsessed with butterflies & moths as image-producing insects. Characterizing their wings as exploits (!!!!), Nabokov likens the butterfly to a deceiver with artistic impetus.”
~GALLERY NOTES
artlovers: what I find most entrancing in these works, along with the bold color range, and even a sense of embroidery (!!), is just that: the very non-auto, slightly diffused focus / which is used here as a deliberate visual device, a signifier / of time, movement & which gesture is a very human, a very painterly, contrarian effect / auto-focus being all we see these days. our smart cameras are all about sharp focus . . marking these slightly out of focus paintings, which began with scientific observation / as uniquely man-made.
made by a painter – with a stubborn ego !!
Man of Two Worlds !! science vs art.
it’s a deliberate pictorial stand vs. the advanced technology of today.
though its surface – is painted with an air brush / which is new technology, in the history of painting
Man of Two Worlds.
and yet, for all our tech advances, instant auto-focus which even a child can employ is pretty amazing / yet, now we have a global survival problem – the super threatening decline / of the ecology of this planet, or as we knew it.
some trade-off.
Man of Two Worlds. auto-focus for everyone on the one hand / loss of nature, our animals & habitat on the other.
and, oh. yeah. the . . backgrounds. that spray paint – is just crazy – hellbent !!
and, animal / seduction . . . by pattern ? / works every time.
SAM COCKRELL, ‘Eastern Tiger Swallow, Yellow Morph’, 2022.
acrylic on canvas /
93 x 67 in.
SAM COCKRELL, ‘Eastern Tiger Swallow, Black Morph’, 2022.
acrylic on canvas /
36 x 36 in.
SAM COCKRELL, ‘MORPHO’ – INSTALLATION SHOT
note: ALL 3 IMAGES ABOVE COURTESY: INTERNATIONAL WATERS
INTERNATIONAL WATERS, 262 MESEROLE ST., BROOKLYN, NYC
behind these worn, but mighty old doors / behind Newton Radio, lies . . International Waters.
the building is as grimmy, and grit – as old school NYC used to be, for sure.
tough & rough / the artists and buildings . . alike.
in sci-fi . . this grungy underground ‘garage’ from the deep past, would be where the rebels would hang out, and scheme. that wide arched doorway, in all reality the entrance to a 19th C. carriage house, where the horses brought in their wagons.
in sci-fi . . this would be the shady workshop, where those grubby, die-heard, outlaw heroes stealthily cobbled scrap . . into small vehicles / the better to take down – the whole mass-future, whether it be Human? Ai? Mutated? Alien?
Man of Two Worlds, it’s funny how this old horse & buggy doorway, now put to modern pedestrian use / screams sci fi . . . and, to think there’s air brush butterflies within, flitting about / that’s history meets science & goes . . ballistic.
seriously, the whole show is so subversive, and it’s just . . butterflies ?
must be – the spray paint.
yep. the sign says: 1875 !!
so great when they used to time-stamp – all those historic buildings.
note: all 3 photos above, of Meserole St., BROOKLYN: NANCY SMITH
ps: INTERNATIONAL WATERS is run by: MATT TABER & TRANG TRAN / as per the website.
SAM COCKRELL, ‘Self Portrait’,
acrylic on canvas / 41 x 132 in.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
and, if that ‘shaped’ painting isn’t / HUMAN-centric, and sci-fi scary . . Man of Two Worlds,
I don’t know, what is.
you can get a real sense of how frail a human is vs. how potent, and vibrant / the inner soul of an artist is.
and then: going forward, gallery-wise
SAM has . . .
this great . . . great, eerie / sharp, deep red & green, super-wired / but, deathly static . . . self portrait !!
dead to the bone, on a surf board ?
in ‘LOCAL OBJECTS’, a big, futuristic-leaning . . group show that just opened, in the new / new construction, elegant brute . . INTERNATIONAL OBJECTS gallery, a few blocks away.
if that building, all big, bold open space, concrete & glass . . doesn’t signal / elite palace from an alien future, what does ?
ps: International Waters is also run by MATT TABER and TRANG TRAN, except now with the addition of partners . . NATE HEIGES and ANNAKA OLSEN.
all concrete, steel & glass / the gallery is on the top floor, and has use of the penthouse roof/terraces – to great effect, with expansive views of the Manhattan skyline, in the distance.
INTERNATIONAL OBJECTS, 53 SCOTT AVE., EAST WILLIAMSBURG, BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN, NY 11237
HRS: THURS – SUN / 12 – 6 PM
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
‘LOCAL OBJECTS’ – is on view thru . . . MAY 28, 2023
see:
‘Man of Two Worlds’, by Sir Maui Pomare. 1953
‘Man of Two Worlds’, by Raymond F. Jones. 1963
‘Man of Two Worlds’, by Walter Raleigh. 1964
‘Man of Two Worlds’, by Frank Herbert & Brian Herbert. 1986
