The title Entropvisions is in homage to my mother, the poet and art critic, Harriet Zinnes. In 1990 New Directions published a collection of her poems titled Entropisms, a word she made-up combining entropy - the tendency toward disorder - and tropism - the growth towards or away from a stimulus. Similarly, my short reviews combine entropy and tropism by suggesting growth towards a vision of art from the chaos of the art world. Through the back door, my title also pays homage to my physicist father, Irving Zinnes, whose long discussions with my mom got her thinking about entropy and tropism in the first place.
Bill Jensen at Cheim & Read
2022.4.4
NYC is at full bloom with quite a few very strong gallery exhibitions right now. Over the next few days I'll post some highlights from shows I saw in Chelsea last weekend. For starters is Bill Jensen at Cheim & Read, through April 23. Jensen has been around for a long time, yet still continues to explore, reinvent and surprise. These incredibly painterly and dynamic paintings, with layers of color amidst quieter layers of atmosphere, suggest the root of human energy with their evocations of figures running, forming or perhaps unforming into another world where anything can happen. Apparently, Jensen has been immersed in Eastern religions, philosophy and poetry for a long time, but except for the recurring double yin/yang symbol found in a number of paintings, I doubt I would have thought the quiet meditative practices from the Far East were the beginnings of this work. Perhaps it's the complete absorption, the tension between opposites pulling and balancing each other, and of course the yin/yang symbol that point to his indebtedness. Whatever his inspiration, the paintings have a courage and force that hits deep and stays in the gut. Thanks Carol Diamond for your always insightful accompaniment as we journeyed through the wonders of Jensen's (and other artists') art.
Detail of previous photo
Detail of previous photo