Jack Baron Exhibit

Last September I wrote a short essay on this ongoing exhibit at the Customs House. When I was there recently to see the Mario Sanchez show I took another turn in the gallery at the opposite end of he ground floor and I figured I wanted to show more of his astonishing art.

Art appreciation is a struggle for me. On the one hand I have the crude appreciation of "what I like" which puts me in the position of not feeling sure I know what exactly it is I do like. On the other hand my linear brain wants to know what it means before I can understand and therefore appreciate it. On the third hand I respect technique, considering every chip of a chisel that Sanchez applied to a piece of wood over several months. Or, in this case using wool to "paint."

Check out this detail from the pigtail. As far as technique goes this is way beyond me. Never mind having the required imagination to dream up such a style.

How do you think this up? Then how do you create such needlepoint? Amazing.

I photographed this last September and it remained in my ind ever since.

And here is a a"simple" painting, luminous and vivid.

Curiously Baron died the same year as Sanchez, where Sanchez underplayed his own technique his focus on Key West as it was gained him fame for subject matter as well as his folk art technique. I find this stuff fascinating, even if it lacks the historical context of the work down the hall.

http://www.gingerbreadsquaregallery.com/Paintings/Baron/baron-bio.html

 

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