It's all about the subtext with Wes Magyar. I discovered this Denver-based painter's work via a rather fascinating interview at Syntax and I have to admit it I'm hooked. I'm not usually a fan of broad brush strokes or paintings with that "painterly" feel. Perhaps I'm a control freak. What am I saying? Of course I am, and not in that rather usual O.C.D way where at least your strange behaviour results in a clean kitchen. No, I mean in what I personally see as the progression of art, since learning in my teens that Duchamp placed a toilet in a gallery, and in his day Jackson Pollock demonstrated and remonstrated (repeatedly ad nauseum) that gestural painting is nothing more than an illusory folly, I have had my hackles up when anything resembling 'traditional painting' rolls past my eyes. But when it comes to Wes Magyar the experimentation is in the subject matter, the juxtaposition of everyday life with surreal behaviour that drums up several reactions, both intellectual and emotional.
A painting of a pair of old hicks sawing down a lamppost immediately strikes me as a totem for culture clash, instincts versus social norms, the "old" ways versus the disconnected present, which looking at the state of the world now, and especially its dwindling resources, is most likely to be our "new ways" in the very near future. But then the theory collapses as I stumble across a painting of a family being served building bricks on a plate. At that point I start to wonder if this Magyar sees himself as something more of a surrealist, or perhaps its symbolic, something along the lines of work ethic, society and the act of "building", be it society, family, or one's sense of purpose in a so-called 'modern life'. Then again, the dad might simply be having a breakdown. Who knows?
- Set in Place by Wes Magyar
That's what I love about this guy's work, conceptually, and even emotionally to a degree, it leaves me reeling. Something like a slow roller coaster for the middle aged, you're sitting comfortably, you control your fear through experience, yet as reach the peak and know you're about to drop, you can't help the sense of fear, perhaps regret, and self induce a brief subconscious retrospective review of your life.
Strange, piquant, a whisper of melancholy and a vague haunting feeling after you've witnessed his work. Wes Magyar has a fascinating brain, I'm glad it made it to the canvas, take a look at some more of his work at www.WesMagyar.com.
Wes is top-notch. deserving of attention. one of the artists who proves that figurative painting is valid and current.
Most definitely Pete – he’s brought the genre to the forefront for me. Thanks for the input mate.