FALL 2023 EDITION
www.fineartmagazine.com
Dr. DAVID FIELDS, AILENE FIELDS PHOTO BY JOSH HLAVACEK
A Museum Grows In Jersey Planted By Ailene Fields & Neil Zukerman
SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY • 1
“Neil’s Angels” – Ailene Fields, Jo-Ellen Trilling, Anne Bachelier
Early visitors to Skylands Museum of Art, those in the know, invariably remark about its resemblance to CFM Gallery. How could they not? Co-founded with CFM’s beloved Neil Zukerman, the contents not only reflect the taste of Zukerman but also contain a very large percentage of works from CFM’s collection. Not just a time machine tribute, this is a real time visit to a very special era in the history and lineage of art through the ages lovingly curated by Ailene Fields.
Neil and “La Bachelier” planning out Skylands exhibition space 2 • SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY
Tom Shivers helping get things ready with Anne Bachelier
SKYLANDS MUSEUM NEIL ZUKERMAN CO-FOUNDER
1939-2021
“A friend, mentor and the most beautiful, open caring person I have ever known.” - Mitchell Meisner
SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY • 3
Ailene Fields
Reaching For The Sky SKYA N D S M U S E U M is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, Skylands Museum fosters diversity and sustainability, operating and communicating ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education and enjoyment, a place of reflection & knowledge. L
Fine Art finds a home in New Jersey Skylands Museum - a new home for fine art in Lafayette, New Jersey founded by Neil Zukerman and Ailene Fields
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eil Zukerman was passionate about art and introducing it to new audiences. In addition to owning the CFM Gallery in New York City, he participated in a number of collaborative projects that connected him with artists from all over the world. Neil believed that art was only enjoyable if it challenged people and that it can come from anywhere. Skylands Museum reflects his adoration for art and its versatility, Every project that Ailene and Neil have committed to, including the Skylands Museum of Art, has a personal, spiritual, and communal value that is meant to connect us further to the best parts of ourselves. To reconnect with nature, our inner dreamer, and kindness towards ourselves and others. We all sometimes struggle in the day to day, and their hope is that the museum will you give you a moment to breathe and enjoy the beautiful gift of our lives. Every artist has a unique story and follows a personal journey through various aspects of life, and Ailene is no different. Her mission is aptly captured in her own words, “I am a sculptor. I express myself through my sculptures. They say things that my words cannot. But I will try words. Carving stone is different from most other forms of sculpture. It is a process of finding what has been trapped within since time immemorial and allowing it to reveal itself to the world. For much of my career, what I liberated were animal and human figures caught in particular moments of reflection that revealed some essential aspect of their being.” David Fields first met Ailene more than half a century ago, when she was Eileen Rubin, ten years old living in Brooklyn. “I was twelve,” he recalls. “She knew immediately that I was to be hers. She’s that way, always has been. She gets it — whatever it is — intuitively, at a glance…in life and in her sculpture. Her aim…as a sculptor, is to capture the essence of her subject in a moment…that contains their essence.”
4 • SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY
Dr. David Fields, Ailene Fields, Neil Zukerman Fine Art Magazine • Summer 2022 • 43
Karen Kettering Dimit, Ms. Sphinx
Aline Fields, Alice, 10’
Sapiens
Frederick Hart SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY • 5
Leonor & group
6 • SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY
Martin Glick
Ailene Fields
Ailene Fields, Sanctum Porta SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY • 7
Wit, Wisdom, Kindness and Hope: Ailene Fields’ Quest For Beauty
hat to say about Ailene Fields? How to say all that I W think should be said in the small space allotted here? And
of Syrinx. All alive in a moment—a moment that contains their essential rose-ness, their essential cat-ness, their essential princess-ness, their essential Pan-ness…in a word, their essence.
why me?
In the words of William Butler Yeats, one of her favorite poets as a young girl:
Others will tell you that she began her sculpting life in college, an English literature major fascinated by the essential (that word again), timeless truths of Greek mythology. Accurate, but incomplete. Although she was finishing college and was fascinated by the wisdom of Greek mythology, her career as a sculptor actually began in response to two near-tragedies that occurred in rapid succession. The first, an automobile accident that put me initially near death in a coma and, subsequently, in the hospital for more than two months, threatened to leave her, on the day of her twenty-fourth birthday, alone in the world with Marc, our five-year-old son. The second, less than two years later, was the premature birth of Adam, our second son, and the harrowing time that followed. Her reaction? Psychically, the operative words were hope and the conviction that the universe could be kind. Operationally, instead of psychotherapy, she sought an outlet in pottery classes at an obscure storefront on the upper west side of Manhattan called Earthworks. In the beginning, there were vases and bowls and pitchers.
My dear, my dear, I know More than another What makes your heart beat so. Not even your own mother Could know it as I know As another poet said, “To know the artist, know his work.” While there is a great deal of truth in this—true artists do speak to the world through their work—it is not the whole truth. In many cases, especially in this case, the converse is equally true. To know the artist’s work, know her history— her joy, her suffering, her successes, her failures, her aspirations. Believing that I know the totality of her better than anyone, and being convinced that knowing things about her as I do will provide another dimension to your appreciation of her work, I feel it my responsibility and my privilege to tell you things about who she is and how she is, enabling you to see the inevitable and necessary connection between the person/personality of a truly great artist and her work—Ailene Fields, a sculptor, my wife and my beshert. I first met Ailene Fields more than half a century ago, when she was Eileen Rubin, ten years old. I was twelve. It took me eight years to realize that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her; she knew immediately that I was to be hers. The night we met she told her mother that she had met the boy she was going to marry…sounds apocryphal, but the facts, according to her mother, are accurate. My point? She’s that way, always has been. She gets it…whatever it is…intuitively, at a glance…in life and in her sculpture. Her aim, the measure of her success, by her own measure, as a sculptor, is to capture the essence of her subject in a moment. A stone flower? Hard to believe that something appearing so soft could be of stone…one can almost smell the rose…a cat sleeping on a pillow or grooming itself or arching its back for the loving hand that pets it or waiting to pounce on a ball hanging from a string…a princess, fitfully tossing on a tower of plush (stone) mattresses… Pan, wistfully holding his pan-pipe, all that he can recover
But it wasn’t long before the pitchers and vases morphed into gracious feminine forms to hold flowers, and monkeys and monks whose heads could be removed to reveal hiding places for small precious objects. And then, not much longer before the held objects gave way to the ceramic sculptures themselves—the marvelous mythical (she would eschew the word imaginary) creatures and the Brancusi Bird you will find in It Begins. As you look at these few representative pieces, you can see, from the very beginning, in the tilt of a head, in the wide-eyed optimism of a magical creature, in the ‘apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’ egg with a face being tended by the Brancusi Bird, that the operative words were, in fact, Hope and Kindness…with a large measure of wit. In the ensuing thirty-five years, this has never changed…except, perhaps, for the fact that the wit has become more prominent. What did change was that by 1980 she had begun to think of 10
8 • SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY
(see Tom Larose, elsewhere here), twelve white alabaster ‘bubble’ pieces weighing between fifteen and two hundred pounds, illustrating various scientific principles (shown at the New York Academy of Sciences)…in all, more than 250 sculptures in fifteen years, so varied in theme, medium and style, that they often, at exhibitions, were greeted by the words, “What studio do you represent?” But, to the careful observer, this phantasmagorium of art represented and presented a consistent world view. Has anyone, before or since, ever carved poor Humpty Dumpty from stone and found a baby egg emerging from his (?) cracked shell? Or created scads of dragons as pregnant or as an adolescent not quite able to fly hitching a ride on a magic carpet or as babies hatching from eggs, all just begging to be petted? Or the sciences of biology and physics as the operation of tiny fairies and elves? Or a honey possum ecstatically in love with its flower? Or literally hundreds of other similar ‘I’m in love with all of life’ pieces?
herself as and call herself a sculptor. After some prodding, it was only a small leap from ceramic to bronze, from small wide-eyed creatures to classical Greek mythology, from the freedom of the imaginary to the rigors of reality, from pottery at Earthworks, where she had become a teacher, to studying the human figure with Bruno Lucchesi at the New School and then classical, rigorous anatomy and bronze casting at The Sculpture Center. The result…her first bronze sculpture, Song For Syrinx (1982), catching Pan in the moment he is about, for the first time, to make beautiful music with his beloved Syrinx, whom he holds in his hands as the pan-pipe…then A Centaur of Attention, emphasis on the butterfly alighting on his finger rather than on his bow lying on the ground…Gaea, confidently surveying her world…Halcyone, choosing life as a kingfisher to live nesting on the Mediterranean Sea with her husband, Ceyx, over life as a princess without him… Metamorphosis, her first self-portrait, a woman emerging into a new life from her cocoon. All sharing the same looking-forwardness moment of hope and kind gentility… all a reflection of her own metamorphosis into a citizen of the universe, convinced that the measure of a woman was her commitment to decreasing the emotional entropy of existence in that universe.
Of course, in life, not all is roses. Many of the myths and stories she captures tell seemingly unhappy stories, but somehow, when she tells them, we are left with something different. The coachmen of 12:01 AM have reverted to mice, and Cinderella to rags, but they are lovable mice who forecast a hopeful ending. Sometimes, tragedy is inescapable. Her Daedalus seems to be the only telling of Daedalus and Icarus, that focuses, not on Icarus falling from the sky, but on the grief of his father standing safely on a cliff in Sicily, facing life without a future. Her mindbending life-sized Eve, the last of her four snake-woman chimeras, stares us directly in the eye and dares us to resist evil as no sculpture I’ve seen before.
Four years and fifteen bronzes after Song For Syrinx , she bravely took the next necessary leap, the ultimate laying bare of the psyche for any artist, by offering her ‘self’ to the art-going public, in the forum of Art Expo (NYC). Although she sold nothing, she met one of the loves of her life, Roslyn Sailor, soon to be of Roslyn Sailor Fine Art, with whom she forged a life-long professional and personal bond, and received sufficient positive reinforcement to bring her back for more the next year. On her second foray, she did sell, but, more importantly, she met Neil Zukerman (CFM Gallery), her other great art love and, for more than twenty years and counting, fellow conspirator in the quest to bring beauty to the world, which is how she most often describes her purpose. (See emotional entropy above)
Struck by the despair and the post-traumatic shock after 9/11, she has most recently expressed her empathic core and her compassion by giving us her Sacred Spaces, an on-going series of more than twenty-five radically different places of sanctuary for us to be contemplatively alone with our thoughts in an increasingly jarring world. And, when, five years ago, a knee injury severely limited her physically— carving stone is very hard work—she expressed her inner ant (à la Aesop) by creating a line of sculptural jewelry so she could sculpt while sitting. Like most of her other work, these unique wearable sculptures, echoing the themes of her larger stone and bronze pieces in gold, silver and gemstones, have multiplied almost geometrically. Now more than one hundred in number (the next book), even though she is back to banging on rocks and crafting bronze mythologies as furiously and constantly as ever.
Shortly after, having graduated to teaching at The Sculpture Center, she was introduced to stone, the only inanimate thing she has ever truly loved, and was returned once again to studenthood by its Director, Gary Sussman. Intrigued and challenged by the one-wayness of carving stone, by making hardness and inflexibility soft and pliable, by, as she herself put it and as Michelangelo himself did it, releasing the sculpture from the stone, she entered an amazingly productive and imaginative period.
This is the creative essence at the center of Ailene Fields, the sculptor—the inexhaustible need to make her own personal daily contribution to hope and beauty in the world.
Adding stone carving to her facility with bronze, sometimes using one, sometimes the other, sometimes both in one sculpture, and still other times casting stone originals into bronze as fresh takes on extant pieces, she created a dizzying array of forms in sizes ranging from table-top to pedestal-worthy to outdoor monumental—flowers of stone, creatures both real and fabled of the land and sea and sky, a series of thirty-five fairy tale, nursery rhyme and mythology sculptures that enjoyed museum exhibition
If you have read this far, you must be convinced that I am hopelessly biased and shamelessly promoting my wife. If you are, all I can say is, “There are 500 sculptures in this book that testify to the truth and accuracy of my words. Just look at them and you’ll see.” — David Fields 11
SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY • 9
Ailene Fields’ Plea for Sanity and the Pure of Heart
Victor Forbes, Ailene Fields at CFM Gallery
Baba Yaga Eats Andy Warhol
Baba Yaga Eats:
Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Yves Klein, Robert Gober, Maurizio Cattelan, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Claes Oldenberg, Rothko, Wolfgang Laib, Edvard Munch, James Turrell, Richard Serra, Fernando Botero, Christo, John Chamberlain, Andres Serrano with Baba Yaga and Baba Yaga’s Day Off.
An Homage to Mediocrity and Hype
I am a storyteller... in my childhood, one of the stories I was most taken with — and afraid of — was that of Baba Yaga, a witch and nature spirit of the forest of Eastern Europe, the place of my ancestors. I have always thought of myself as a child of the forest. Baba lived in this forest that I loved. As a child, I wanted to be worthy of the magical gifts she gave to heroes and the pure of‐heart. I did not want to be foolish nor unworthy, and eaten by this force of nature. As a sculptor, having attempted to capture the essence of many other tales, I always wanted to pay homage to Baba’s earth-mother wisdom. Finally, after many years, I sculpted her house to represent her power. Shortly thereafter, while sitting with Neil Zukerman (whose CFM Gallery has represented my work for many years) discussing the state of the art world in general I said, “Baba should eat everyone!” and so began this series of works that I hope examines and illuminates what I believe is terribly wrong with the business of art. Leo Feroleto will represent the collection. My hope is that after Baba’s finished eating, there will be more room in the forest for those who are pure of heart. This 19 sculpture series is meant to take the ‘art worldlings’ to task for their irresponsible behavior. It is to visualize the stupidity and lack of responsibility in the current art world that is foisting mediocre ‘shtick’ upon the public and calling it art - the hype being more important than the work being lauded. — Ailene Fields
The Definition of Art, or What is Art? A DiAtribe by Neil ZukermAN
Let’s begin with an unassailable definition. Art is Communication. The artist wishes to communicate something to the viewer and the viewer wants to understand what that message is. It is this writer's opinion that this definition strips the question, “What is Art?” to its essence. For obvious reasons the academics like to put everything into categories. It is easier to study assigned groupings then to recognize and address differences. Fortunately, however, artists come in all shapes and sizes as well as engender art in all shapes and sizes. They, by definition, can't be categorized. Many years ago, in my youth, a new denizen of "New York City" (!), I paid my hard-earned $2.50 and entered, for the only time in my life, the vaunted Whitney Museum. The first thing that greeted me was a 12' x 12' room, painted all white; walls, floor and ceiling. In the far corner I spied 6 bricks in a row. Curiosity being my driving force, I went over and looked at the tag. “6 Bricks in a Row.”!!! I turned around, walked out and have never again given them any of my money - or respect. The point of the story is that I do not accept, and will not accept, that six bricks in a row is anything more (or less) than 6 bricks in a row. I don't care what the critics, gallery owners or museum directors decree. When assaulted by a self-important 'expert' with the supercilious, Page 56 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Summer 2016
10 • SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY
continued on page 58
Ailene Fields, IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (NARCISSUS), Bronze, 52” H x 96” W x 32” D, Skylands Museum Collection
“it is great because no one has ever done that before” or “He [sic] was the first person to do it.” My response is, unless it was actually something that warranted being done, “why did they bother?” Different to be different is only different. It is not art! It’s my opinion that the elevation of mediocrity and empty expression posing as art does nothing so much as turn off the general public to the true challenges and enjoyment that Art could afford them. They are constantly being told, “Oh, you don't have the necessary (fillin-the-blank) to understand this,” Not being assertive or educated enough or too polite to reply, “Bull----,” the masses are then excluded . . . and another club is created. Think about it. Clubs are formed, usually by people who were excluded by another club, so that they can then find someone to exclude from their club. If someone does not understand what they are looking at; if someone needs a written explanation as to what they are looking at; they are not the one who is deficient, it is, in the end, the artist who did not successfully communicate. Maybe someday there will be different words to differentiate between ‘good’ artists and ‘bad’ artists. The word ‘artist’ will apply to only those who actually not only have something to say, but also have the skills to say it effectively. One without the other is useless. Whether it is music, visual art, dance, the written word, or some other form of communication, if the audience does not understand it intellectually, viscerally or emotionally, it is the artist who has failed, not the audience. Andy Warhol saw this more clearly than any other artist of his generation. When the pundits started to eulogize his tongue-in-cheek, amusing pastiches and turn them into a “new movement in art,” he consciously started pushing the envelope to see just how far the ‘art worldlings’ - thank you Tom Wolfe for the phrase - would go in their fervor to show how they ‘knew’ and everyone else “just didn’t understand.” Ronnie Cutrone’s pissing on paintings was not “a social statePage 58 • SunStorm/Fine Art • Summer 2016
Coy Gryphon
ment” or even a “pushing of mores.” It was Warhol seeing how far he could go in his quest to make fun of the new art establishment. He was waiting for them to get the joke. They didn’t. His final word on the subject was to leave a large bequest to the New York Academy of Art with the proviso that they must continue teaching figure drawing. Somewhere along the line, untalented people made it ‘in’ to be inept. Express how you feel! Throw the paint! You don't need to know how to use the materials! Just let it hang out! Throw an egg against a canvas and say, “That's how I feel!” No need to know technique. It is passé. Is it any wonder that more money is being spent to restore artwork from the 1950’s forward then is needed for all of the art work generated before that time? As a footnote to my Whitney Museum anecdote, I add that when the ‘cutting -edge’ gallery exodus to Chelsea began in the ’90’s, I went to see what was going on. I stepped into Mary Boone’s gallery and was greeted with a 10' x 10' room all painted white; walls, floor, ceiling. In the corner there were nine bricks in a row. Forty years and three more bricks. Now that is what I call artistic growth! There has been a movement in the last 20 years, to, once again, venerate those artists who did not lose their way; who honed their skills; knew how to paint and properly prepare their painting surfaces. An atmosphere wherein Beauty is less and less being considered ‘kitsch’ and artists are beginning to stop feeling that there is something wrong with them because they are passionate about creating beauty. Although Art does not have to be beautiful to be art, it does need to be both meaningful and well executed. One without the other is not art, it is an opinion. It is currently only a grass-roots effort, but more and more people are starting to realize that the Emperor is naked and that the ‘experts’ are not as pure of heart as they would like us to believe. Maybe we do have the ability to judge for ourselves. Originally Published in Fine Art Magazine, Spring, 2006
SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY • 11
Leonor Fini, Sphinx, Drawing, Skylands Collection
Massimo Rao, Viandanti Su On Mare Di Nebbia, Oil on Canvas
Three generation of Fields: Ailene, Anne Bachelier and Marc Fields enjoying a special evening at CFM Gallery in Soho with Marc’s daughter Morgan Fields hostessing 12 • SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY
Ailene Fields, Sphinx
“Then everything is exactly as it should be,” said The Beast
By VICTOR FORBES ith a wit sharper than the business end of a carbidetipped chisel and an eye slightly jaundiced by a lifetime of dealing with artworldings who refuse to see, Ailene Fields (some four decades into a prolific and spectacular career) has carved out her place in the annals of art history. Let me put it this way: Ailene Fields is the most talented and creative person I have ever met in the art area and her body of work (readily visible in her CFM monograph Out of the Nowhere, Into the Here) continues with a nod to Clyde Frazier, to abound and astound. Fine Art Magazine Publisher Jamie Ellin Forbes recalls her initial encounter with the artist. “I met Ailene for the first time in the mid-1980s when she was exhibiting her sculptures at an international art fair. While I was walking the aisles at the event, the mystique and alchemy of these enlivened works caught my eye. Approaching the stone and bronze creations, I noticed that old mythic friends had come into being, accompanied by new imaginative creatures and animals imbued with the possibilities of unfettered imagination. Gathered together and arranged for presentation, these sculptures as abstracted symbolic figurative bronzes and works done in stone impressed me as masterful artistic compositions. “I can still remember Ailene standing in her booth, connected to the atmosphere she and they created. I walked toward her to introduce myself, as if the muses had called me to witness the parade provided by the cornucopia of an imagination laid out for display. Halcyon, Leda and Cassandra may have been among the early works I was viewing. For the moment I was drawn into
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each one, participating in a symbiotic creative event between artist, artwork and art appreciator. As if they had risen from the common ground of universal dreamscape, the sculptures came to life. Bronze and stone rooted in classical style and form became a composite of whimsy and elegance molded together — the expression of her line dancing as each piece spoke to the fancy of my own imagination. Personalizing her accented universal vision of metaphor is the defining genius of Ailene Fields, which she couples with uncanny ability to breathe animation into the inanimate form. I was mesmerized.” Just when you think there are no more worlds for her to conquer, Ailene comes up with a doozy — some kind of structure prancing about on chicken legs. It turns out to be her take on Baba Yaga, a witch from the fairy tales of her childhood. What better commentary on today’s art/commerce conundrum than a series of sculptures offering up the giants of creativity as lunch meat for the nature spirit of the forest. So began four years of work that sheds light on what is truly happening in today’s market place. It’s a mean situation with art advisors flaunting the next big thing, or the new wave, or this movement or that hot spot. C’est la vie, you might say, and go back to the studio and just do what you have been doing all these years, but not Ailene. With a collection that will one day reach over 1,000 pieces, Ailene is at the point where her work is her play and the result is creativitygone-wild. It is a never-ending spree in which a universe is built that waits to be inhabited by her imagination, upon which there are seemingly no restraints. SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY • 13
Then & Now
Ailene Fields At Artexpo, NY, 1980s
By JAMIE ELLIN FORBES On the occasion of the publication of Ailene Fields’ monograph, Out of The Nowhere Into the Here (CFM Gallery, Chelsea, NY 2011) Fine Art publisher Jamie Ellin Forbes reflects on her many years of friendship with – and admiration of – the artist. I met Ailene Fields for the first time in the mid 1980s when Fields was exhibiting her sculptures at an international art fair. While I was walking the aisles at the event, the mystique and alchemy of Ailene’s enlivened works caught my eye. As I approached the stone and bronze creations I noticed that old mythic friends had come into being, accompanied by new imaginative creatures and animals imbued with the possibilities of Fields’ unfettered imagination. Gathered together and arranged for presentation, these sculptures as abstracted, symbolic, figurative bronzes and works done in stone impressed me as masterful, artistic compositions. I can still remember the artist standing in her booth, connected to the atmosphere she and they created. I walked toward Ailene to introduce myself, as if the muses had called me to witness the parade provided by the cornucopia of Field’s imagination laid out for display. Halcyon, Leda, and Cassandra may have been among the early works I was viewing. For the moment, I was drawn into each one, participating in a symbiotic creative event between artist, artwork and art appreciator. As if they had arisen from the common ground of universal dreamscape, Fields sculptures came to life. All uniquely capturing the possibilities of Fields’ unrestricted imagination. Sculptures rooted in classical style and form became a composite of whimsy and elegance molded together—the expression of her line dancing as each piece spoke to the fancy of my own imagination. Personalizing her accented universal vision of metaphor is the defining genius of Fields pieces, which she couples with uncanny ability to breath animation into the inanimate form. I was mesmerized. Thus began my odyssey of learning about and from Ailene Fields directly; her love for sculpture and story telling as a mythic, symbolic, abstracted or figurative means of conveying personal messages of value resulting in a rich historical and individual experience all can share when connecting through sculpture as a complete visual metaphor of experience. As the artist defined her mission statement, I understood Fields’ work is set apart due to her enhanced technical prowess and connective story-telling ability. Fields’ sculptures offer a unique encounter she is sharing with the viewer as living experience. Each stone, when sculpted, speaks to her and unfolds its intend form. Fields, through her chisel, channels the messages contained therein. The works deliver a serious compositional concept, yet playful humor runs rampant, outlined in the messaging of the work, contained and easily seen 14 • SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY
In her studio, 2011
in most every piece. Birth Of Magic is Dragons in bronze dwarfed holding a massive Alabaster egg which has begun to crack open. In Conversation, a dragon has bent to converse with a waiting listener who happens to be a caterpillar. The plethora of beloved mythical and fabled friends alike unfold three dimensionally while storybook memories from childhood are channeled into sophisticated renderings of the classic sculptures like Beauty and the Beast. Elemental figures are explored in works such as Drawing Down the Moon, Sanctum Solar, Sun Set 2 with clarity and power. Julia’s Rose, Coral Flower, Cicada, and Blue Fish display a reverence seen and captured for the beauty in nature. The luminosity of the stones unfolding, as in Octopus, Orange Blossom, and Agate Cat are lent an ethereal quality by the way Fields’ carving has brought the light into them. A friendship was sealed that has run the course of time. I am honored as a professional to know such an outstanding creative and prolific talent as Ms. Fields. It has been my privilege to write about these works. As I was lucky enough to meet Ailene Fields that day over 27 years ago, I am still duly inspired by the messages of grace, creativity and beauty Ailene has shared with me—and the world—through her voluminous outpouring. Every time I see the works contained and published within the pages of her new book, my heart alights anew traveling down the path of imagination. Special kudos to CFM Gallery Director Neil Zukerman for his stalwart effort in compiling some 500 photographs of Ailene’s sculptures in this comprehensive survey. I am sure there will be many more works to come requiring a second volume. I will wait for mine with enthusiasm. Fine Art Magazine • Fall 2011 • 25
“Sometimes, if you are lucky, you meet someone with whom you share a passion and particular vision of how the world should be. Neil was my mentor, my critic, my confidant and my friend. I will always feel honored to have had him in my life. His professionalism, respect and true love of his artists and their work was truly inspiring.” – Ailene Fields, 2023
Ready for action!
Traditional Neils Angels Greeting: “HI NEIL!”or “Angels At Play” SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY • 15
Out of the Nowhere Into the Here
Ailene Fields Sculpture 16 • SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY
1
Foreword Unique: [yoo-neek] – adjective 1. Existing as the only one or as the sole example; single;solitary in type or characteristics 2. Having no like or equal; unparalleled; incomparable 3. Limited in occurrence to a given class, situation, or area 4. Limited to a single outcome or result; without alternative possibilities 5. Not typical; unusual 6. The embodiment of unique characteristics; the only specimen of a given kind 7. Ailene Fields
~
As a gallery owner who has the luxury of exhibiting and selling only the art I
personally love, I am frequently asked how I choose the art for the gallery. I can’t answer that. It is visceral. I usually reply that when my heart, head and groin converge the decision is made. The first time I saw Ailene Fields’ sculptures I was a private art dealer, selling from my home. I was captivated by the work but didn’t feel I had the venue that was best for her. Eventually I bought a few small pieces for my personal collection but, more importantly, came to know Ailene as a friend. When I opened my retail gallery in SoHo in 1992, it was a natural progression to bring her into the CFM family of permanent artists. The only negative turned out to be that I kept buying more and larger Ailene Fields sculptures for my home, to the point that I have become one of her biggest collectors! Rabbits, dragons, snails, sphinxes, flowers, dragonflies, frogs, monkeys and even a potato linger along the byways in my home. It is hard for me to turn around without my eye delightfully lighting on one of her creations. There is a sense of fun and what I call a ‘Pollyanna’ aura that surrounds Ailene and her work. She approaches life as if each new moment is a gift to be savored and embraced. This innocence finds its way into her progeny, causing what she thought would be a ferocious dragon to morph into Casper the Friendly Dragon or Mister Silly! Her genius is the ability to distill each sculpture to its essence; to bring the ‘story’ to that one magical moment when the flash of recognition ignites. Frequently having had the privilege of watching Ailene sculpt I am continually astounded at the hard work that goes into the simplicity which she brings to whatever she is doing. For me it is this very simplicity which exemplifies the crux of her talent. Working on this book has only intensified my sense of awe at what she has — and is continuing — to accomplish. — Neil Zukerman
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A
ilene Fields believes that if magic rules the universe at its most basic, then perhaps the rulers, the laws of physics, are elves and fairies. Perhaps, those we call magicians have learned to tap into the most basic forces of nature and apply them to every day life. While the ‘laws’ of physics are unforgiving, Magic allows for second chances and maybe, a kinder, gentler universe. Ailene Fields charms with her deliciously whimsical creatures. Her bronze and alabaster sculptures of real and imaginary animals impart a wonderful sense of playfulness and tongue-in-cheek humor. She creates a lighthearted satirical mood in her choice of titles, such as the bronze dragon with bones called “Home is where the Horde is” or the alabaster dragon titled “Do you mind if I smoke” - defying us to restrict his rights of fire-breathing dragonhood. The bronze “Cheshire Cat” slyly eyes us as it emerges (or disappears into) a rough base, displaying only a tantalizing grin and a flash of tail. “The Frog Prince”, complete with crown, invites a kiss – who knows what may happen? Fields’ approach to these animal forms is unique. She transcends the literal reality of each piece by selecting and registering only those aspects of personality that intrigue her. She presents this essence in a form that captures the viewer’s imagination. Her intent is not to precisely replicate nature, (as she says, “One simply cannot compete with God.”) but rather to freeze-frame the creature’s uniqueness. Referring to her alabaster sculptures, Fields maintains that each stone evokes nature in a different way. She respects the hard physical work that is a necessary part of the process and half-jokingly suggests that: “It is good for New Yorkers to bang on stone, it releases tension. More seriously, I find it truly exhilarating to peel away the layers and uncover the creature waiting within. I am always trying to determine how a piece will shift and change in the process of formation. I find this extremely challenging. Alabaster also affords me more time to change my direction and that lends itself to the greater spontaneity which I have always strived for in my work. You don’t have to rework every line
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Ailene Fields Sculptor of Observation and Contemplation… …and a Touch of Magic
Dadelus A bronze depicting the moment that Icarus’ father realizes that his son has plummeted to earth.
as you do with clay. It’s an immediate process. You just know where to go and have to let this part of you take over. It’s not an intellectual process; in many ways it is as if you are not in control.”
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he is currently working on a new, on-going, body of work which she calls “Temples of Contemplation.” “They are meant to be,” says Ailene, “a place of respite in a tumultuous world.” Each individual sculpture invites you to journey into the peace and stillness therein embodied. Stairs to nowhere and windows looking at nothing and everything dominate many of the sculptures. They are accessible to each viewer and offer a chance to escape to a safe, private, place where there is only room for thought or rest. When Fields first began working with stone she carved by hand, completing only two sculptures a year. Using the compressor, she is now able to convert her thoughts into pieces more rapidly and fluently. The artist’s dedication to the process is beyond question. Working from ten to six every day and sometimes on weekends at her city and country studios, Ailene Fields pays careful attention to every step of the process. She roughens each sculpture until no bruises appear in the stone; refining each
piece with sandpaper ranging in degrees of coarseness from 60 to 600 and, finally, polishing each piece for many days in order to achieve the desired effect. Fields enjoys working simultaneously on many different pieces at different stages so as not to waste time. Ailene was an English major at Lehman College in the early 70’s, intending to become a writer. However, she then enrolled in a pottery class at Earthworks in New York City and fell in love with clay as a medium. She pursued this experience at Teacher’s College at Columbia in 197879, and soon thereafter began exploring other media. Her formal training in sculpture began under the tutelage of Bruno Lucchesi with classes at the New School. Since 1985 Fields has taught numerous sculpture classes at both the Sculpture Center and currently at The Compleat Sculptor for both children and adults. Possessing that wonderful knack of appreciating and capturing the humor and tenderness in nature’s creatures filtered through the light of her soul, she presents us with the gift of laughter and delight. And now with the Temples of Contemplation, she adds reflection of the soul to her repertoire.
Frog Prince Bronze
“Sculpture is what people trip over when they step back to look at paintings.” —Ailene Fields
— NEIL ZUKERMAN
Do You Mind If I Smoke? Bronze casting from the original alabaster. Fine Art Magazine • • 19 SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY
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PHOTO BY CLAUDE BACHELIER
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Neil & Anne The Definition of Friends
The Definition of Friends: Anne Bachelier and Neil Zukerman
By VICTOR FORBES “Had a wonderful Friday with La Bachelier,” said Neil. “Lunch at Le Train Bleu, Seeing a fantastic Gustav Doree exhibition at the Musee d’Orsay, and a walk around Paris. A highlight was Anne’s bringing a number of drawings for use in the upcoming Wonderful Wizard of Oz!” When it came to art and his artists, Neil had a take no prisoners approach. Nothing was too good or out of reach for the collaborative efforts. Probably few artist/dealer relationships have been as fruitful as the ones fortunate enough to have Neil Zukerman as their champion. His role in the lives of his chosen few, his angels as he called them, will find a notable place in the annals of art history. Anne Bachelier — La Bachelier — represents the mind of Neil in her paintings and that is no mean feat. The two combined to produce a prodigious amount of work and as the printer of every book and catalogue they produced together, that combined energy of words, color and symbology is ingrained in my consciousness forever. Bravo my friends, brava! 22 • SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY
L’Ange bizarre (The Bizarre Angel) Oil on wood by Anne Bachelier, The Skylands Collection
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Angel of Music from The Phantom of the Opera, published by CFM in the Skylands Collection
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Anne Bachelier, Phantom Of The Opera, published by CFM in the Skylands Collection 26 • SKYLANDS/ZUKERMAN STORY
Cover of Alice In Wonderland by Anne Bachelier, published by CFM in the Skylands Collection
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Realism in Fabric The Art of
Lisa Lichtenfels
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SKYLANDS MUSEUM
JO-ELLEN TRILLING
SKYLANDS MUSEUM
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Cleoptra, Lithograph
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