Barakat: The Gift at Stux Gallery

One of my favorite galleries is Stux Gallery in Chelsea. They have an edgy mixture of programing that is always intelligent , interesting and timely. There is a certain aesthetic I love there and that I relate to having spent so much time in Los Angeles, the city where I believe my soul is from, even though at present I identify as a New Yorker.

I had been waiting to write about something I really like there and this exhibit is the perfect opportunity. I usually go back to my locker at the gym after doing the galleries on Thursdays and I even overheard someone talking about the show ., in the locker room, with the paintings with “the eyes.” I knew they were speaking about this show, the “eyes” paintings are arresting and dreamy at the same time.

The individual works in the show are great on there own, they have a very forward , dark hip look without hitting you over the head with any of these characteristics, but what impressed me more about the show is that this really makes the first time , that I have seen an art exhibit that deals with the Middle East Crisis in a way that seems appropriate for artists and curators to address it.

I mean it just doesn’t make sense to me to go to galleries that are selling expensive artworks to people who have the money to buy them , and see these angry artworks by american artists about this subject. It would be a different story if the artworks were by angry people from the Middle East , that would seem more meaningful to me, but you don’t need to tell me or the art going public at large that invading the middle east and war and oil etc etc etc are all bad. Most of us going to see art are educated and generally open minded and liberal thinking , at least to some extent, and have come to this conclusion on our own.

Some of these kinds of artworks seem to me to turn into a real low brow attempt to get people to notice the art, kind of like 911 artworks for sale on the street.

Barakat: The Gift at Stux Gallery , is not like this at all. This is an artistically felt response to the stimulation and information that is changing our world because of this sad and hostile political climate. I admit , I did not do all the reading while at the gallery about the specific theme of the show , I don’t always find this necessary as I am often able to read artworks without the assistance of words, so the exact meaning of the gift I do not know, but the exhibit made me reflect on the inherent , inevitable cultural exchange that happens between two countries at war and sparked my interest in an aesthetic that has feet in both places at once, which is really what the role of art is.

I want to share with you another work of art that deals with this subject. It is an ongoing , what I would call installation piece, that may not be intended to be art , but really is in my book . It’s called Arlington West Santa Monica . Click on the link to check it out and go see the show at Stux Gallery.