The current exhibits at the Block Museum of Art on Northwestern University’s Evanston campus include Leon Golub “Live and Die Like a Lion?” in the main gallery. Featured in the exhibit are over 40 drawings by the late painter, taken from the last years of his career. Alongside the drawings, the show presents the last painting that Golub was working on before he died in its incomplete form. Golub (1922-2004) was born and educated in Chicago, studying at the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. During his lifetime he lived in Chicago, New York, and Europe and became well known for his paintings on large canvases. These paintings were often figurative political statements against inequalities and injustices.
In the exhibit “Live and Die Like a Lion?” the drawings presented come from late in the artist’s life and are slightly different in theme. Many of the drawings deal with death and sexuality. They reflect a painter in old age coming to grips with his mortality. The incomplete final painting can be seen at the rear of the exhibit as soon as one walks into the room, and sets the somewhat morbid tone for the show. This feeling is often cut with sarcasm and humor as the viewer takes in the drawings along the walls before getting to the large canvas of the final work. A fine example of this humor in mortality is the drawing immediately next to the history lesson and introduction to the exhibit which is simply a smudged up purple skull with the words “FUCK DEATH” scrawled in ink over the paper (the drawing is oil stick and ink on Bristol board like most of the drawings presented).
Another drawing titled “Exhumed” features a figure pulling a dead body out of the ground. Interestingly and perhaps indicative of the artist’s clear view of his approaching death, the face of the exhumed body is much more clear and detailed than that of the person digging up the body. Another drawing titled “No Escape Now” uses only different shades of gray to show a man shackled at the waist, hands, and feet to what looks like a post or a tree.
Even in the paintings that do not seem to deal directly with death, one can see or feel the theme still present. Many of the drawings incorporate dogs. Most of the dogs are not cute or friendly looking at all, with their teeth bared in aggression. They could be construed as hell hounds coming after the artist. Several paintings also incorporate sex and women in sexual positions. At first glance these don’t seem to incorporate any themes of death, but close examination can help reveal this overriding idea even in these drawings. “One Leg Up” is a great example of this. At first it just looks like a nude woman with her leg up in the air. Studying it a little further reveals a woman that at first looked young, but now looks quite old indeed. Her arms in particular are almost skeletal. The drawing is done all in red giving it an almost bloody appearance.
These drawings all seem to reflect Golub dealing with death in his old age, and while the mood of the exhibit is often gloomy there is much to enjoy. The sarcasm and humor present lightens the mood of what could have been a very dreary experience. The inclusion of the unfinished painting seems to only escalate this mood, and does not seem totally necessary. Also included alongside the exhibit are pieces from the Block Museum’s collection of some other work by Golub (mostly screen prints and lithographs) and examples of his source material (lots of magazine clippings) taken from his archives. These will serve nicely to cool down the observer after the emotionally stirring themes of the main exhibit.
No comments:
Post a Comment