Alice Neel...

 

Someone I have been looking at a lot in this moment of "what the f*** is Alice Neel.
I was so lucky and delighted to see that David Zwirner was having a show of her drawings in NYC when I was there last month.  So I dragged my not feeling well 4 year old to the gallery and it was so worth it.

I love the directness of her drawing style, her viewers direct gaze and her admittance to the domestic world that she lived and worked in. As a very real woman who married multiple times, had a handful of children and never ever stopped making her art. I am inspired by her perseverance and her ability to gaze in a way that few were doing at the time.

 

Of course I like her pregnant women series (none in the show) very much but also really found the images she drew of children powerful. The show is up until the end of the week and so worth it. I am really loving drawing work right now it is so simple and direct and raw. 

My problem comes with the fact that it then needs to be behind glass, I wish I could figure out a less permanent way to resolve mine in the gallery. But I will take Alice's work however they give it to me.