grass will grow over your cities
Brooklyn artist Jason Kachadourian and four of his artist friends organized a show this past weekend in an apartment in Greenpoint. The show, called One Night Only, was one of the best I have been to in a very long time. It was curated with perfection. The space was neither overwhelming or lacking stimulation. Although the dj played familiar dance party jams, no one danced; presumably because they were consumed with the art and the conversations the art initiated. That’s really the goal of an art show. It’s not about how many people you can get to come to consume your free wine and feel fancy. It’s about creating dialogue and fostering a community that is based on the sharing of ideas.
Jason’s work gave me a lot to think about. He’s a friend. I see his work all the time. I even own one. Aside from the works being meticulously executed there is also something meaningful in his new work. It represents for me the malaise of our generation and it reminds me of the work of Anselm Kiefer who was creating work in a time of re-birth.
While in Berlin a few years ago I saw an exhibition by the Neo-Expressionist artist Anselm Kiefer. The curator used a quote by Kiefer that sums up his work so perfectly that I wrote it down and knew that it would one day come in handy: “Rubble is the future. Because everything that is passes. There is a wonderful chapter in Isaiah that says: grass will grow over your cities…Isaiah sees the city and the different layers over it, the grass, and then another city, the grass and then another city again.” Anselm Kiefer, 2005.
Anselm Kiefer’s work is somber and weaves tales borne out of the confusion and darkness of Nazi Germany. The death and destruction caused by the Nazi’s created a new society that had to sort through the past and pave the road for the future. Kachadourian is creating work in a similar era of reconstruction where Americans are seeking to re-shape the economy and adjust it’s national values.
However, the one major way Jason Kachadourian’s work differs from Kiefer’s work is in the lack of hope. Kiefer’s work is absolutely depressing. It doesn’t leave the carnage of WWII behind. The road to the future it paves is littered with bones from the mass graves. But, Kachadourian’s use of warm colors and playful use of dimensions makes me feel like things are going to be alright.
