Craig Norton at Jim Kempner Fine Art: These old people look so happy

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The key to understanding Craig Norton‘s work at Jim Kempner Fine Art might be in answering why all these old people are so happy.  Indeed, at the show my big question was how everyone my own age could be so miserable and stressed out while these older folks seemed so serene and fulfilled.  And, it’s not just the old folks in the Norton show:  I’ve seen this phenomenon before.

My grandmother was a saintly woman – I never saw her become angry and I noticed that she had the same charm and grace that the elderly have in Norton’s show.  Also, I went through the Catholic school system in Chicago, and I clearly recall some of the older nuns exhibiting this type of inner peace and equanimity.  Sister Stanislaus, you were truly an angel of God when you taught us math.  Sister Gertude, you are long gone, but you still have my thanks for your kind tolerance.  I guess that’s why I like this show at Kempner so much.  It’s as if these older folks have become privy to a secret the rest of us don’t know…yet.

Their smiles and their transparent kindness and peacefulness are so benevolent and trusting and reassuring.  We younger folks think, but wait a minute – you’ve got one foot in the grave!  Where’s your anxiety!?  Where are your regrets!?  This is so counter-intuitive!  How can you be so happy!?

So as an ex-sociology student I’ve come up with some theories as to why old folks might be happy.   1) Being old is like being fired from a crappy job.  Deep down inside you wanted to get out, and now you’re out and you can laugh your ass off.  Man, that job was stupid!  2)  No more mindless competition.  When you’re old and retired nobody even asks you what you used to do. Only idiots don’t give you unconditional respect for being elderly. You can relax and just be a goddamn human being for a change.  Ok, that’s enough. Those two reasons are enough. 

So another big question is: why does Norton draw faces and hands in a very stark manner but then surround them with colorful clothing and background features?  I don’t know.  Your guess would probably be better than mine.  The lifeless stuff around the faces and hands looks more colorful and the features that possess life are colorless.  Maybe the artist is implying that our environment and the stuff that surrounds us is an endless source of engagement and really the life-giving element for us.  Maybe he wishes to call our greater attention to the details of faces and hands by removing the color from them.

(Photos of me taken by an anonymous Russian guy, I'll just call him: Rustam)

As long as I’m writing about Kempner’s amazing gallery, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention his video series ‘The Madness of Art’.  

http://themadnessofart.com/

He’s been making short videos about what it’s like to run a gallery in Chelsea and some of these are pretty dang funny.  Also, I like the cameos with actual artists.  Off the top of my head, I loved the episode where Tony Fitzpatrick strong-arms a gallery show out of Kempner and I especially loved the episode where Robert Indiana walks into the gallery and is mistaken for a homeless bum seeking shelter.  Indiana then demands that one of his pieces be removed from the gallery because it looks like a forgery. Now that’s funny stuff!

Yoko Ono's Wish Tree at Jim Kempner Fine Art in Chelsea

My friend Yunhee took a couple really good photos of Yoko's "Wish Tree" at Kempner. 

I just learned, by the way, that Kempner also has created a very funny video series about what it's like to run a Chelsea art gallery.  www.themadnessofart.com   It's worth watching.  

To ancient societies trees held symbolic and even magical power. A tree was like a bridge between the earth and the sky. The roots of a tree penetrate deep into the earth and derive sustenance while the trunk rises and branches reach into the air. So even today a tree can be thought of as a type of bridge between the earth and the sky, or a bridge between the ‘lower’ and the ‘higher’ or our animal nature and our godly/spiritual nature.

On her website Yoko Ono explains that as a child she would go to a nearby temple and, like others, tie wishes written onto little strips of paper to a tree branch. The trees in the courtyard of the temple often held numerous of these wishes from her community. Indeed, Yoko has been facilitating the replication of this process since 1981, around the world, and she has been keeping all of the wishes that people leave on her “wish trees” for an Imagine Peace Tower. She currently has such a wish tree at Jim Kempner Fine Art in Chelsea.

When I was passing by Kempner recently, I saw a small group writing out their wishes and tying them to the tree’s branches and I was, frankly, affected by the sincerity of the act. People were earnestly hunched over or squatting on the ground scribbling onto a little sheet and then looking for space on the tree where they could hang their wishes. So although many people feel intimidated by contemporary art, or say that they don’t like modern art museums because they don’t understand what the artists are doing, Yoko has found a way to really engage people, through art, in a deep and significant manner.

By inviting people to make a wish and to place it on a tree branch, she compels the viewer/participant to really focus on what’s central to his/her life and determine whether this is as meaningful as it should be. Some people have written frivolous things, some people make political statements (I saw: “Down with the patriarchy!” written on one slip) but many people express thoughts directed to others who are hungry, homeless, impoverished, suffering injustice/cruelty or in need of some type of assistance. Of course, after making the wish, the participant is also tacitly invited to question what exactly is stopping this wish from coming true. Is it political? economic? racial? Each person is invited to reflect on the extent to which he/she can and cannot take action to make this wish a reality. Each person is, in fact, invited to begin to take action again, on whatever level, to spread peace and justice throughout his/her community.

Trees may have lost their magical power in our post-industrialized, secular world, but they still retain their symbolic power. The Wish Tree therefore represents the latent good will in all of us to wish each other goodness and prosperity, as a first step to finally bringing about a truly humane and conflict free global community. Who knows, this could be a magical process after all.