May 14, 2010

This writer, several seasons ago, was a juror at an exhibit in Manhattan. After a grueling day of judging, we were going through the work one more time and standing before a piece in the watercolor category.

We thought there was something wrong with the work we were considering for a prize. One of the judges expressed out loud his doubts and a voice of a worker said "That is not a watercolor, it's from a photo on a computer and the artist just pushed a button to create a watercolor." We were all floored by the misrepresentation. There is an awful run of such stuff in the art world today.

Technology in the art of the 21st Century is at its best wonderful, but by turns, it can have awful inartistic results. Bourgeau and Goss are masters of technology and artistic whizzes of labor intense artistic creation. The works on view are superb and an exciting discovery in the year 2010.

There is a great sense of spontaneity in both painters but both arrive at their finished work via preparatory sketches.

Goss declares, "I just work up sketch after sketch. I have a very specific approach. Some ideas just click immediately. Others, I have to coax into existence. In the end, I have a visceral reaction and know that the work is all but done."

Bourgeau says, "all the images begin as figurative studies of other artists, friends or landscapes. From there it can take months to years to evolve into the final abstracted work. The original images are twisted, broken, turned, pulled, layered and re-colored – before they reach their final state."

It is as a colorist that Bourgeau’s art is most astonishing and his sense of form is like a great symphony. The point of departure for his splendid art seems to be the Italian Futurist of the 1920s, Giacomo Balla, and yet Bourgeau’s work has all the excitement of both Leger and Picabia. There are cubist elements too in his artistic mix. One beautiful work, "No. 2 Blue, 2009," seems an echo of Balla’s "Volo di Mondini" of 1920.

One festive work is all curve and harmonious shapes in red, blue, black and green, a painterly tour de force. Another piece seems aquatic with varied colored bubbles intruded upon by a magical fish. Bourgeau’s work is shot through with unlimited imagination. The works, archival prints on watercolor paper in editions of 15 are 19x13 inches in size.

The work of Jim Goss has a decorative strength and a minimalist poetry about its geometric swirls and turns. One work seems a lovely flower garden. Another has the humorous impress of Mickey Mouse looking at himself in a mirror. The black chain link on a white background could be a 21^st Century flashback to an ancient deity. One black and white piece projects the vibration of music from its canvas. Pink and blue bubbles in another work seem like Easter eggs or jelly beans.

Art buffs of the region should not miss these digital abstracts of Bourgeau or the splendid painted panels of Jim Goss. The show can be seen at BCB Art, located at 118 Warren Street through June 6.