Review: Art Amongst the Manure by Barry Kostrinsky

Art Amongst the Manure

By Barry Kostrinsky

A Vermont getaway, or for that matter, any getaway helps to bring perspective to the daily lives we lead. Everyone becomes myopic in time and so these trips away from ourselves are critical for grounding our views, opinions and feelings about life and art. The MET, MoMA, The Morgan Library and Chelsea are great fun and places to see the best culture has to offer that has not been destroyed by irate terrorists of late. Yet Vermont's rolling hills, cows at every pass, cheese made from goats and maple syrup, speak of a quieter simpler time without monumental statements, grandiose paintings or an explanation of Man's place in the cosmos. Is there something in the stillness, the quiet of time that Vermont possesses that we New Yorker's brush off our shoulder as if dandruff when in essence it may be the pixie dust of gods?

I love a good hunt for art. Put me in a field of yard sales and let me loose. Scouring among the cacophonous clamor of disjunctive objects, rejects of an earlier mechanical age and the odd and very real surreal combination of mis-fittings with an eye to beauty or value is not only fun, but a test, a honing of my skills. Indeed amongst the myriad of local photographers and painters focusing on trees, barns, nature's mountain curves and cows there are some talented artists hunting out their future in a bucolic setting 300 miles north of Chelsea and NYC and 300 light years from the art world.

Steven Jupiter is just such an artist.

There is both a subtlety of a soft nature devoid of man and yet an affirmative action of the hand of the artist in Steven Jupiter's Vermont based photographs.

I respect these artists that persevere and create art in the woods. Middlebury, a misnomer in itself for middle implies surroundings on both sides and the Bury has, well, not much of anything on either side. Indeed the town is anchored by Middlebury College, and I am grateful Vassar accepted me so I was not dismissed to no-where's ville for College. In hindsight, Poughkeepsie wasn't much better and I recall having to run for London for a junior year get away.

In Chelsea you can see good art almost everywhere. In fact, even if you don't like it or know about the art, you will think it is good just because it is in Chelsea. Often art is even defined recursively as that which is recognized as art; However, this won't due for us. We need to be able to see when gallerist are hanging crap in Chelsea and yes, when MoMA is losing its mind with a Bjork exhibit. On the other side of the hills I enjoy finding an artist in the woods of Vermont that does more than paint cows or landscapes in a kitch academic bland expected style.

Steve Jupiter works in that very recognizable range of images we are all use to. That can be challenging for our eye will see the recognizable object and go to its memory as we dismiss what is before us. Yes, he photographs nature (I hear Chelsea moaning already), but so did Ansel Adams. Chelsea and the contemporary art world seem to be more concerned with a challenging aesthetic that is conceptual based and somewhat esoteric. This way no one really knows how bad the work is because no one can explain it meaningfully without words you do not understand.

Painterly photographs like the ones above push photography to it's limits. The organic breakup of water into Chuck-Close-like bubbles of expression reads abstractly and almost gives the photograph the feel of glass.

I like art that speaks to me without words. Is a poem just a reduction of the language or is it a door to a purer state opening to deeper thought through a loss of meaningless ephemera. Not to knock ephemera, the playground of many young and talented artists, but we all want something that lasts, that speaks beyond time, that will preserve us like an Egyptian sarcophagus just not with our critical parts jarred up next to us. Art must look to freeze the fleeting moment and lock it in our memories.

Indeed, Art is about connecting or disconnecting the dots we don't or do see regularly for deeper understanding and meaning- for enlightenment. Jupiter's landscapes speak of the beauty in nature but his eye and camera are present. We are aware of his painterly blending and the motion he captures in the still moments of photography. The water seams soft and textured, the reflections seam to shift the space and tilt as in a Japanese print and the trees and nature take on an erie emotion quality.

Jupiters watercolors blend abstraction with an architectural realism that is both friendly and new. As with most artists, he works in themes that he studies and extrapolates on over time until he fleshes out his statement or just feels he has explored the subject matter thoroughly.

http://www.stevenjupiter.com/

To be fair, I was not fair to Middlebury. By chance there was a film festival going on that would make manhattanites proud. In this little town films were being shown that were prescent, powerful, playful and meaningful. I was lucky to chat with William Kleinert, whose work on the great lakes and the change in the ice seems to be at the forefront of research on global warming issues. Yes, in this little town a film aired with 5x the crispness and quality of traditional films and was worked on by a noble prize winner.

www.projecticemovie.com

On a political note, yes everyone in VT seems to be voting and campaigning for Bernie Sanders. The Trump is far behind and has not come to a town hall meeting yet. Art does exist amongst the manure, Steven Jupiter and others provide the art, when the Donald comes to Vermont he will fit in well with the manure piles.