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.
The exuberant paintings by Frank Holliday, hanging at the PrivatePublic Gallery in Hudson, NY through this Sunday, Nov. 20, are, well, exuberant. These large-scale paintings – some just about fill the entire wall of this large gallery – have a freedom, energy and life-force that demand attention as they absorb us into their dance of life. Interestingly, the relatively small table-top ceramic sculptures, glazed with glossy sheens, contain a similar frenetic energy, while quite small drawn copies of old masters like Seurat have the traditional air of a slow, disciplined study. An added bonus to the show this weekend is the poetry reading on Saturday at 3pm with poets John Yau, Billie Chernicoff and Jared Daniel Fagan.
This painting is the size of a large wall.
photo taken from website