Manish Vora
I have long been a supporter of The New York Academy of Art, the first graduate school in the US devoted exclusively to figurative art. Through the efforts of President David Kratz and an extremely active board led by arts patron and historian Eileen Guggenheim, the NYAA has gone from a quiet, Tribeca-based school to a major international arts academy. The latest exhibition, titled Iconomancy, features artists like Will Cotton, Tat Ito, Natalie Frank, Amy Bennett, Ali Banisadr, Will Kurtz, and Peter Mühlhäußer. Having never seen this word “iconomancy” before, I turned to the explanation from the curators, Peter Drake, Dean of the Academy, and artist Jean-Pierre Roy: “Each of the artists are deeply invested in understanding the complexities of visual culture and transforming that culture through the alchemy of their own work, and as the title would suggest, there is some magic involved. They cast a spell through technical and formal mastery that leaves the audience mesmerized by their talent and enchanted by their intelligence.”
I was intrigued by this show focusing on the magic of art from a graduate school focused on intense technical discipline. I decided to ask a few of the artists about supernatural powers, specifically, if you could have a creative magic power, what would it be?
Artist Natalie Frank says, “I would like to time travel – to go back and visit Goya and learn from him, enroll in the CIA after college and meddle in espionage and international affairs, and spend, perhaps, a third lifetime working in the non-profit world. Though as a painter today, painting day in and day out, oil painting is magic enough in its profound capacity for mystery and for the inexplicable worlds it transports me to!”
Natalie Frank, Protest, 2011. Courtesy New York Academy of Art.Artist Peter Mühlhäußer says, “The magic to make my boys work as marionettes that contain enclosed emotions. They are trapped in motion, damned to be frozen in the act of performing their destiny or future. The power to give a glimpse of the action that happened before and after to the viewer.”
Peter Mühlhäußer, Willhelm, 2010. Courtesy New York Academy of Art.
Artist Amy Bennett says, “I’m sure it’s not much of a surprise given the voyeuristic nature of most of my work, but if I could choose to have any magic power, it would definitely be to fly. It’s a selfish one, I know, but I can’t imagine anything better than having the freedom to explore from such an exciting point of view.”
Amy Bennett, Sleeping In, 2005. Courtesy New York Academy of Art.
Artist Ali Banisadr says, “I think painting itself is magic, and it takes a sort of shaman to be able to travel into the invisible world and bring back something that was not there before.”
Ali Banisadr, It Happened 2, 2011. Courtesy New York Academy of Art.
What artistic power would you have? Let us know on Facebook.
Sign up for Artlog’s email newsletters, providing access to the best in global art and culture.
