The Magazine of Yoga; real life is real yoga interviews Kenise Barnes

November 15, 2011

Six of 1: Kenise Barnes

Photo: ©Kenise Barnes

Art is very subjective but there are accepted standards. They are hard to define. If you have looked at enough art it becomes evident even as it remains hard to articulate.

BY KENISE BARNES

Web site Kenise Barnes Fine Arts

Kenise Barnes Fine Art
Tuesday – Saturday 10 – 5:30 and by appointment
1955 Palmer Avenue, Larchmont, New York 10538
914 834 8077

The Magazine of Yoga Six of 1: The Arts Interview

One

Is being in a flow or a particular kind of space part of creating or part of working for you? Can you describe anything about it – how you get it, what it feels like?
When I am in an easy flow kind of place, it is the best feeling – friction disappears and things just glide. People respond well to you, words come easily. It is a feeling of ease and safety, all the pieces just fit.

I don’t know how to generate it or how to prolong it. When I begin the day with some quiet meditation it definitely helps. But I think other things play into it – the state of my hormones (!), a good night’s sleep, sunshine, a good outfit.

Two

T.S. Eliot famously said, “There is no method except to be very intelligent.”
Yes, no? Maybe so?
Maybe so.

Cultivating real intelligence takes a lifetime, or more. Maybe that is why reincarnation is so appealing. To be very intelligent is enviable.

Having a method is useful for some things and for some people. A system can take you pretty far. I am not very organized so I try to remember to employ methods to keep things ticking along. You just have to be intelligent enough to know when to make exceptions and adjustments.

Knowing to listen to your heart in the most intelligent thing you can do.

Three

Is there some place or attitude you begin from in yourself when you look
at art by other people?
I generally have an introduction or a conversation with an artist before I see their work in person. It is a challenge to keep the artist’s personality and how they define their work out of the equation. I also usually see a digital reproduction of the artwork before seeing it in person. Comparing my pre-conceived notion of the work with its actuality can be distracting.

I try to be open. I just look, at first. I have to like my first impression. My appreciation for the work has to deepen and compel me to spend more time with the piece. Sometimes visual art can be seductive at first but overly simple and lacking the power to endure. Art is very subjective and personal but there are accepted standards. They are hard to define. If you have looked at enough art it becomes evident even as it remains hard to articulate.

For me, art must have beauty above all other qualities. That is not the same as saying that it must be beautiful. It must have content and balance. It must be well crafted.


Kenise Barnes Fine Art at AAF NYC, Affordable Art Fair. Photo: ©Kenise Barnes

Four

Does anything (consistently/ frequently/ randomly) move you to make art? How did you find yourself making the kind of art or the particular work you are involved in now?
Although I do not have an artistic practice or output, I am randomly inspired to draw or paint. I draw because I like the way it makes my mind and my eye work. I paint because I adore the way oil paint smells and feels. I just squish it around for an hour or so and then clean up. It is enough for me.

Five

Favorite overheard remark

“This place has really beautiful things.”

(heard through the glass from window shoppers standing outside the gallery)

Six

I’d rather be…
Hold on. Is this a trick question? I have to be so vigilant in my efforts to “be in the moment” and now you want me to tell you where I would rather be?

The summer of 2011 slipped through my fingers with very few days off. Summer is my favorite season, so I missed not having more time this year. I love the warm summer air and light. The thought of the cold, dark days of winter fill me with melancholy. If I could, I would choose to re-live the afternoon I spent sweetly swinging in a hammock at the lake with Mark.

Half a Dozen of One/ Six of the Other

Six words my gallerist/ artist’s statement/ mother use to describe my work:
This question pertains more to an artistic output than to my job as a gallerist but I will give it a go.

My mother thinks that I should work less and relax more. She tells me that all the time. My artists probably think the opposite. So I will choose my mother.

Consuming, interesting, distracting, creative, supportive, capricious

Six words my best friend would use to describe me:
Ok, I asked her. I thought it would be more honest that way. She sent me 7. Go figure.

Trustworthy, clever, inspiring, enjoyable, spirited, funny, dependable.

Six words to repeat:
please, love, yes, focus, vision, thankful

Six words to ignore:
Can’t, Hate, fate, must-have, should, and any superlative like greatest or worst

Six artists to look at:
I feel stingy offering only six.
Agnes Martin, Beatriz Milhazes, Michiyo Ihara, Georgio Morandi, Jean-Edouard Vuillard, Jackie Tileston

Six places to find yourself in:
– My gallery, 50 hours a week or so.
– The kitchen, stirring food relaxes my mind. I make a lot of risotto.
– The place your mind occupies when you are sleeping lightly. It brings to the fore all sorts of memories and unresolved feelings.
– My children. Sometimes I find myself in their habits or in their actions. Sometimes it is in their eyes reflecting their judgment of me back to me.
– My garden. I like physical work, it quiets the chatter
– My love’s arms


Photo: Kenise Barnes Fine Arts gallery opening night. ©Kenise Barnes

hanging art salon style

David Konigsberg's large landscape painting functions almost like a window, transporting the viewer to an imagined outside world

Designer Elissa Grayer and I hung this room according to intuition rather than formula. The beautiful federal blue walls were the perfect foil for the landscape paintings by Francis Sills, David Konigsberg and Jayne Holsinger.   This designer show house guest room was transported into a real retreat - love to be a weekend guest here!

I Can See The Whole Room...Lichtenstein Pop Icon sells for $43M

This painting sold in 1988 for 2M (and change) in 1988 when I worked at Christie's East.  Sometimes art turns out to be a pretty good investment, no? 

Roy Lichtenstein, I Can see The Whole Roomby Judd Tully

Published: November 8, 2011 on Artinfo.com

Powered by a rare Roy Lichtenstein Pop Art masterpiece from 1961 that fetched a record $43,2202,500, Christie’s marathon postwar and contemporary art evening sale delivered $247,597,000. That tally landed midway between pre-sale expectations of $226,450,000-$312,340,000 for the 91 lots offered. Of those, 82 sold for a svelte buy-in rate by lot of ten percent and 13 percent by value.

Thirty-three of the 82 lots that sold made over a million dollars, and, of that group, four exceeded $10 million. The price nicked the previous mark set at Christie's last November when Lichtenstein’s "Ohhh... Alright" from 1964 made $42,642,500.

The separate 26-lot Peter Norton collection sale, which came with its own catalogue, kicked off the evening with 100 percent sold and contributed $26,785,000 to the overall total, easily eclipsing the high end of the Norton $15.9 million pre-sale estimate. A whopping 13 artist records were broken, nine of those coming from the software magnate’s trove.

Even without Norton, the huge various-owners’ portion of the sale made $220,812,000, falling lightly between the $215.3-296.4 million pre-sale estimate, making it the eighth most expensive contemporary art sale for the privately owned auction house. It was a turnaround, indeed, fromthe embarrassingly weak $146.7 million Impressionist and Modern art evening sale one week ago.

Though impressively strong in terms of bidding and a buzzy atmosphere — especially for those works carrying a great provenance and fresh-to-market credentials — it trailed the evening record of $384.6 million for a postwar and contemporary sale set back in May 2007. Some of the evening’s buzz, meanwhile, was owed to the unusual appearance of a superstar celeb,Leonardo DiCaprio, who entered the packed salesrooms with his baseball-capped head tucked down, as if suspecting an onslaught of paparazzi, and cell phone glued to his ear. He sat next to his art dealer pal Helly Nahmad and seemed to follow the proceedings.

The lone Norton lot to make the top-ten price list was Paul McCarthy’s mad assemblage sculpture “Tomato Head (Green),” a 1994 piece in fiberglass, urethane, rubber, metal, plastic, fabric, and painted metal base, that sold to New York, London, and Zürich dealer Iwan Wirthfor a record $4,562,500 (est. $1-1.5 million).

Another Norton standout was Glenn Ligon’s “Untitled (Stranger in the Village #17)” from 2000, a work of acrylic, oilstick, coal dust, and resin on canvas that sold to Robert Mnuchinof L&M Arts for a record $1,178,500 (est. $300-500,000). It more than doubled the previous mark set at the Artists for Haiti charity sale at Christie’s in September when Ligon’s “Stranger #4” from 2011 fetched $450,000 when it was bought by another rare megastar bidder, Jennifer Aniston.

No one had expected Norton to liquidate a chunk of his collection, especially at auction, since he primarily acquires works early on through the artists’ primary-market dealers. His taste and appetite for challenging works were richly rewarded as the Norton cover lot, Fred Tomaselli’s horror vacuui 2000 diptych “Untitled (Expulsion),” based on a famous Renaissance painting and comprised of leaves, pills, insects, mushrooms, and printed paper collage on panel, shot to a record $1,650,000 (est. $500,000-700,000).

There was so much bidding on the Norton works that it took auctioneer Christopher Burgeabout 50 minutes to dispatch the 26 lots.

Similar to the Phillips de Pury evening sale on Monday, Christie’s had numerous third-party guarantees on 10 of the most expensive lots, as well as six straight-out guarantees from their own pocket, assuring works would sell no matter what the reception.

It began with Gerhard Richter’s “Abstraktes Bild (724-5)” from 1990 that went to New York art advisor Kim Heirston for $3,90,500 (est. $2-3 million). The Richter was also one of a handful of works that had already shot through auction at the height of the past art boom, this one selling for £916,500 ($1,866,979) at Sotheby’s London in October 2007.

Another guaranteed property was the pristine and early Jeff Koons “Two Ball Total Equilibrium Tank (Spalding Dr. J Silver Series, Wilson Aggressor),” floating weightlessly in a fish tank from 1985, that sold to New York dealer David Zwirner for $4,226,500 (est. $2-3 million). The dealer waited till the last moment to place his winning hammer bid of $3.7 million.

The consignor had acquired the work from Chicago’s Feature Gallery in 1985 for $3,500, according to the gallery’s founder, Hudson, who continues to run Feature on the Lower East Side. As he recalled, “I think I ended up selling one Koons, and it wasn’t easy.”

Another guaranteed Koons sculpture, the elaborately gaudy “Baroque Egg With Bow (Orange /Magenta)” from 1994-2008, in high chromium stainless steel with transparent  color coating, sold to a telephone bidder for $6,242,500 (est. $5.5-6.5 million).

Sculpture in general fared extremely well, with Louise Bourgeois’s grandly scaled bronze “Spider” from 2006, which had been parked on the sidewalk in front of Christie’s (receiving some plumping from no less than Spiderman), selling to an anonymous telephone bidder for a record $10,722,500 (est. $4-6 million).

Photography also shined as Andreas Gursky’s magisterial and mural-scaled “Rhein II,” a computer-altered 1999 state of the actual river from an edition of six, sold for a record $4,338,500 (est. $2.5-3.5 million). It also was a record for any photograph at auction.

“It was a dynamite image,” said underbidder Baird Ryan, a New York private dealer, as he exited the salesroom, “and rare to auction.” Christie’s had guaranteed the lot.

But the hum-dinger of the evening was the early, Benday-dot-infused Lichtenstein “I Can See the Whole Room... and There’s Nobody in It!” Bidding began at a sky-high $27 million for the 48-by-48-inch canvas, and as auctioneer Burge read out the title in deadpan fashion to the packed salesroom, the audience burst into combustive laughter. New York private dealer Guy Bennett beat back intense telephone bidding, nabbing the prize for the record $43,202,500 (est. $35-45 million).

Remarkably, the painting also set a record the last time it came to auction at Christie’s New York in November 1988 when it made $2.09 million, one of many masterworks from the storied collection of the late Connecticut collectors Emily and Burton Tremaine.

The huge march from $2 million to $43 million in 23 years speaks not only to the rising reputation of the artist but the explosive growth of the contemporary art market.

Pop Art once again proved its mettle with various examples of Andy Warhol making the grade and then some, with the gorgeous, turquoise-eye-shadowed “Silver Liz” from 1963 selling to London jewelry magnate Lawrence Graff, who was seated front row center in the salesroom, for $16,322,500 (est. $16-19 million). The painting, guaranteed by Christie’s, and it made Graff’s evening.

Andy Warhol, Liz“Of course I’m happy,” said Graff, as he strode out of the auction house. “Wouldn’t you be? This was the one opportunity to get it, and it’s a beautiful painting and it complements my ‘Red Liz,’ so I’ve got the two best ones.” Graff was referring to the other Warhol he acquired at Sotheby’s New York in 2006 for approximately $11 million.

Graff and Christie’s were expecting more competition for the painting, which didn’t materialize. The collector was delighted to get it at $14.5 million hammer, before premium, which was well under the $16 million low estimate.

“The ‘Liz’ had been mine,” said supercollector Peter Brant, with a seller’s pride. Speaking to the Warhol market and the wider art market in general, he added, “Whenever something is a good example, it brings a lot of money.”

Another Warhol, “Four Campbell’s Soup Cans,” a 1962 work in casein and graphite on canvas, sold to a telephone bidder for $9,826,500 (est. $7-10 million), and a 26-by-22-inch “Mao” by the artist from 1973 sold to Mnuchin for $3,442,500 (est. $3-5 million).

Some big-ticket items bombed, including Francis Bacon’s large but unappealing “Study of a Man Talking “ from 1981, which flopped against a $12-18 million estimate, and Willem de Kooning’s juicily wrought “Flowers, Mary’s Table” from 1971, which wilted against its $8-12 million estimate. Gerhard Richter's fuzzily realistic "Frau Niepenberg" from 1965 also passed without a bid against its $7-10 million estimate. But the casualties were easily absorbed by the tide of successful bids.

There were a couple of first-rate Abstract Expressionist examples, too, topped by Mark Rothko’s trophy-ready “White Cloud” from 1956 that sold to a lone telephone bidder for $18,562,500 (est. $18-25 million). The seller acquired the painting in 1976 from the Pace Gallery.

Among other abstract beauties, Robert Ryman’s 10 ¼-inch-square “Untitled,” an oil-on-linen-canvas from 1965, sold to London and New York dealer Harry Blain for $1,594,500 (est.$400-600,000.) It last sold at Christie’s New York in May 1993 for $92,700.

A Patch Of Shade posts about our new exhibition; Love Thy Neighbor

Artist Cynthia Newman included our new exhibition in her post today.  Newman's blog A Patch Of Shade has posted photographs of our opening last night.  Newman's beautiful  painting Origins: Paulinella Ovalis is part of the exhibition.

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR:  An exhibition featuring the talent of our local and regional artists.  Keeping the importance of supporting local culture central to its heart, Kenise Barnes Fine Art is excited to deliver an exhibition comprised entirely of local artists. Exhibiting various talents from across the county, Love Thy Neighbor promises to have something you will love and everything you can be proud of.

The Kenise Barnes Fine Art Award will be presented to an exhibiting artists who shows promise at the 10^th AnnualLarchmont Arts Festival. This is the second year that the gallery has funded and presented the award.  We are thrilled to partner with the Larchmont Fine Arts Festivals' energetic team in its dedication to keeping our local talent alive and thriving. To help uphold and support our friends and neighbors, Kenise Barnes Fine Art will donate 25% of all proceeds from the show to the Larchmont Arts Festival. Come join us in nurturing our growing community for what promises to be a magnificent exhibit showcasing the talent of our friends and neighbors.

Kenise Barnes Fine Art

Jasun Martz with his painting; 6 Train, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 28 inches, [caption id="attachment_209" align="alignleft" width="300" caption=500.

Kenise Barnes Fine Art to participate in The Affordable Art Fair 2011, Booth A 8

The Affordable Art Fair

This fall we have decided to return to The Affordable Art Fair.  The Fair debuted in New York in 2000.  Our gallery participated in the 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2007 editions.  

Our booth AAF 2005

At past Affordable Art Fairs we have introduced our  gallery and our artists to thousands of tri-state area collectors, designers and corporate buyers.  We have met some of our favorite clients at the The AAF! 

The fair has always been a good venue for entry-level collectors with most of the work under $5000 and much of it under $1500.  We will be bringing a stellar selection of new work from some of our favorite artists. 

Exhibiting Artists: 

Mary Ellen Bartley

Mary Ellen Bartley, Utatane, 2011, color photograph

Gabe Brown

Mary Judge

David Konigsberg

Jill Parisi

Jackie Tileston