Zoom in and Let them fill in the Rest

LA Frieze week, Freud on fetishes, and Image references inside

Today’s send is brief. Last night, I made my way over to Michael Werner Gallery in Beverly Hills to sit in on a conversation between New Yorker writer, Naomi Fry and artist Issy Wood. Naomi wore an ISSYWOOD sweater and asked the best questions. Issy wore a charcoal skirt suit with strong shoulders and what I think were brown Prada loafers. Chic

The conversation ping ponged and I loved it. A snippet here—

“
Sometimes I look at paintings and I’m like, they’re too zoomed out. When I’m in a museum, or whatever, I find myself going up to a painting and zoning in on one little corner because that’s all it takes for me to say all that needs to be said. That’s what I try and carry out in my work,” says Issy.

“You like the crop,” Naomi finishes her thought.

“When Freud talks about fetishes often, it’s just, the hem of the skirt—and the brain kind of making up the difference. I find that exciting and anything more than that overwhelming in painting and imagery, generally.”

Issy had large-scale paintings that exhibited only a slice of a complete image. There was a broad canvas the length of a car but which depicted only a very narrow view of it. Also, there were torsos clothed with jackets but you were left to imagine what, or who, might exist just beyond the frame. Whose head might that body belong to? Who is under that fab shearling coat?!??

The two also spoke about cars and guns, America, scale, the internet fucking that up, Joan Rivers, british tabloids, tits, safety in the context of an art practice, image archiving, etc.

I got really excited when Issy touched on collecting visual material and building an image archive. I have something like that going here, i’d love to write more on it sometime. I’m leaving you with with a few scattered images I’ve collected myself this week.

I will carry that thought from the talk with me—how can I zoom in for a more focused view and do away with explaining the rest.

Img 01: Charlotte Rampling photographed by Juergen Teller, Img 02: Kate Moss photographed by Mert & Marcus for Givenchy, Img 03: Agnes B ad, Img 04: Photographed by Peter Lindbergh, Img 05: Schostal shop in Rome, Img 06: Kirsten Owen and Stella Tennant photographed by Juergen Teller for Marc Jacobs, Img 07: Photographed by Daniel Riera, Img 08: shitty screen grab from In the Mood for Love, Img 09: Photographed by Fish Zhang

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I’m off to visit the Schindler House in West Hollywood and look at some lumpy Helmut Lang sculptures now. It’s Frieze week!!! Any other art I can’t miss?

Thank you for reading,
J