Warren Isensee

WARREN ISENSEE

WARREN ISENSEE

520 West 21st Street New York NY 10011

tel +1 212 445 0051 www.milesmcenery.com

525 West 22nd Street New York NY 10011

WARREN ISENSEE

520 West 21st Street New York NY 10011

tel +1 212 445 0051 www.milesmcenery.com

525 West 22nd Street New York NY 10011

“WIGGLY WORLD: A CONVERSATION WITH MYSELF ABOUT WARREN ISENSEE’S NEW PAINTINGS”

By Ken Johnson

EGO: Do you like Warren’s new paintings?

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ALTER EGO: Yes, very much. They’re like the works of an expert sign painter on mushrooms.

EGO: They are trippy for sure.

ALTER EGO: With their emphatically flat, frontal, and symmetrical compositions, the repetition and recursion of blobby forms outlined in black and in a tasty range of hues, from chocolaty browns and mossy greens to neon-bright pinks and yellows, all painted, with a precise, silky touch, they are optically dazzling. They seem to throb and glow hallucinogenically. They’re funny, too, like amplified abstract cartoons. And there’s something numinous about them; they’re spiritually exciting.

EGO: Warren told me that a couple of years ago while working in the studio he was listening repeatedly to a song by Devo called “Wiggly World.” It includes these words:

“It’s never straight up and down It’s never straight up and down It’s never straight up and down It’s never straight up and down” ALTER EGO: It seems to have influenced his paintings. With all those curvy lines, they certainly are wiggly. Very different from the paintings he was making a few years ago.

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EGO: Yes. For about a decade before they started ge"ing wiggly, his paintings and drawings were composed mainly of straight stripes—up and down and this way and that—usually organized into pa"erns of concentric rectangles.

ALTER EGO: Looks as if he wanted to paint himself out of the box he’d painted himself into.

EGO: Before that, his paintings revolved around egg shapes. Retro-futuristic surrealism, you could call it. And before that, he made encaustic paintings of mysterious objects like pyramids, flying saucers and similarly esoteric signs and symbols. He was inspired by the mystical paintings of Hilma af Klint.

Warren told me that during the time he was listening to “Wiggly World” on repeat, he found out the probable source for the Devo song: a lecture given by Alan Wa"s.

ALTER EGO: Alan Wa"s, the philosopher, Buddhist, and professor, whose books about consciousness, religion, and reality made him a go-to guru for the hippie-mystical wing of the ’60s counterculture?

EGO: Yes. ALTER EGO: What did he say?

EGO: He said that reality fundamentally consists of wiggly stuff.

ALTER EGO: Like in string theory?

EGO: I don’t know about that. Wa"s talks about the difficulty of grasping wiggly things. He invites us to imagine trying to grab a live fish with one hand. Then he explains that it’s much easier to get hold of the fish by pu"ing a net over it. Which is to say, to get a grip on anything real, draw a grid over it.

ALTER EGO: Like in photo-realist painting.

EGO: Or a street map of Manha"an. Wa"s goes on to say that most people tend to favor one or the other of two possible ways of being: gooey and prickly. Gooey people adapt to the wiggly flow of things. They are intuitive and imaginative, and o$en irrational. Prickly people impose structure on the wiggly world. They are rational, analytic, precise, and logical. Artists are gooey; scientists are prickly.

ALTER EGO: I don’t know about Warren himself, but to me his paintings are both gooey and prickly. All the wiggly lines and shapes are arranged on a grid, a prickly structure. He titled one Prickly Goo. EGO: It’s like visual music. There’s the regular drumbeat of the grid, while the wiggly lines play melodies on and off the beat.

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ALTER EGO: But music happens in time; paintings exist all at once.

EGO: True, but they do take time to experience and comprehend.

ALTER EGO: How would you describe your experience of Warren’s paintings?

EGO: The best way is to sit in a comfy chair with the painting on a wall in front of me—not too close, not too far away. In this relaxed position I gaze without preconception or prejudice at what’s in front of me.

ALTER EGO: You’re in a gooey state of mind.

EGO: Hopefully. Take Interstellar Overdrive, for example. At first, there’s a dazzling onslaught of shapes and colors. Then I see an image: a quartet of blobby gear-like forms boldly outlined in black, each of which is recursively reiterated inward in a variety of close-valued ice cream colors.

Then my focus shi$s from the four big gears to the central squarish shape outlined in bright red and yellow, which seems to push toward me a white octagonal shape in the exact center, which is either a portal to infinity or a flat tile of white paint. Then I see four small diamond shapes outlined in powder blue and wedged in between the four big gears. This activates another way of seeing the wide black lines: They now define a squarish form in the middle that branches into four appendages culminating in blobby-diamond shapes. This wiggly figure seems particularly aggressive, as if it wants to hypnotize me or impress on me something of great importance.

Finally, at each corner of the canvas is a teardrop shape in bright red, yellow, blue, and white jammed between two teeth of each big gear. They seem to push diagonally inward as if to keep the whole assemblage from flying to pieces.

ALTER EGO: Is that it?

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EGO: No, there’s more. I also find myself oscillating between seeing the construction of paint and canvas objectively as fixed material and subjectively experiencing the painted image as disembodied and wiggly.

ALTER EGO: That’s a lot of ways of seeing.

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EGO: The thing is, each time I try to see the whole all at once, a different aspect comes into view.

The composition never se"les into just a single primary image. Also, the recursive pa"erning of forms within forms within forms causes illusions of depth and intimations of infinity. It seems to me that the different shapes and pa"erns succeed one another in waves, fading in and out and from foreground to background, never se"ling into a single, fixed image. To see the painting is to be in a loop, repeatedly cycling through the aspects. The looping is hypnotic; it entrances me. I’m in an altered state of consciousness.

ALTER EGO: I get an uncanny feeling from these changes—as if the painting were coming alive.

EGO: Me, too. And at the same time, I can be thinking about all this on a more intellectual level.

I can think about how I see and why I see the way I do.

ALTER EGO: What do you think?

EGO: I think that our eyes are restless scanners, and that’s because we can’t see everything in front of us with equal focus and comprehension. Once we get a fix on one thing in our environment, our eyes automatically look for things not yet seen and cognized. We zoom in and out and scan from here to there. Different parts go in and out of focus. Our eyes don’t want to miss anything that could be important: In some circumstances, this could be a ma"er of life or death!

ALTER EGO: You don’t want to overlook the snake hiding in the grass.

EGO: Yes. Ordinarily, our brains sort things in order of importance—some things are salient, some not. Snakes are salient, grass not so much. The beauty of Warren’s paintings is that they tend to deny a fixed order of importance while our visual apparatus keeps trying to find one, and that’s a big part of what keeps us engaged.

ALTER EGO: The title, Interstellar Overdrive, adds a sci-fi vibe. It’s the engine diagram of a starship bound for deep space—deep mental space, that is.

EGO: Warren recycled the title from that of a live version of a nine-minute instrumental by Pink Floyd in which Frank Zappa was featured. He’s a big Zappa fan.

ALTER EGO: He should provide soundtracks for his paintings. * EGO: Another thing to ponder is the compositional structure of the mandala, which many of Warren’s paintings present, including Interstellar Overdrive.

ALTER EGO: Mandala?

EGO: A circle or square divided usually into four equal sections, the mandala has been used as an armature for religious symbolism in countless places and times throughout human history.

Carl Jung considered it a universal symbol of integrated consciousness, in which ego consciousness and the unconscious are unified, and all the vexing dualities of living are reconciled: thinking and feeling, order and chaos, wiggly and fixed, gooey and prickly, male and female, and so

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forth. Meditating on a mandala in the external world awakens the mandala archetype, a psychic complex that lurks in our collective unconscious. The energized archetype moves upward from unconscious depths toward the light of consciousness, triggering release of feel-good neurochemicals, which in turn cause feelings of numinosity, transcendence, divinity, and so forth.

ALTER EGO: Not everybody loves Jung. Do archetypes even exist?

EGO: I think of them as useful fictions. For a biologically grounded theory, consider the eminent neuroscientist Antonio Damasio’s hypothesis that all life—all existence, actually—depends on processes of homeostasis.

ALTER EGO: What is homeostasis?

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EGO: It’s the optimal state of equilibrium among an organism’s internal bodily functions and between the organism and its environment. For example, when your blood sugar is low, you feel hungry, so you get something to eat, and then your blood sugar returns to its most advantageous level for survival and flourishing.

ALTER EGO: It’s like there’s a thermostat—a homeostatic regulator—for every process in and outside your body.

EGO: Right. Homeostatic processes are going on all the time in our minds and bodies as we breathe, eat, sleep, interact with other people, and make or otherwise engage with art. The ultimate homeostatic regulator would be God. ALTER EGO: The mandala is like a thermostat for the soul.

EGO: Yes. As an external symbol—in the form of Warren’s paintings, for example—it symbolizes a state of perfect homeostasis. It calls out to the mandala archetype in the viewer’s psyche, which effects a trend in consciousness from division and conflict to wholeness, harmony, and happiness.

ALTER EGO: I imagine it would be therapeutic to have one of Warren’s paintings in your home.

EGO: Definitely. If you’re feeling out of sorts, maybe you had a bad day at work or you had an argument with your spouse or the news of the day is making you crazy, you could sit and stare at it, and it would help to restore your equilibrium, refresh your soul and expand your consciousness a bit beyond the limits of common sense.

ALTER EGO: Everyone should have one!

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EGO: Absolutely.

Ken Johnson wrote art reviews for The New York Times from 1997 to 2016. He is the author of Are You Experienced? How Psychedelic Consciousness Transformed Modern Art (Prestel, 2011).

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Pillow Talk, 2018 Oil on canvas 40 x 52 inches 101.6 x 132.1 cm

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Deep Shit, 2018 Oil on canvas 48 x 48 inches 121.9 x 121.9 cm

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Rise and Shine, 2019 Oil on canvas 38 x 38 inches 96.5 x 96.5 cm

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Wild Kindness, 2019 Oil on canvas 42 x 56 inches 106.7 x 142.2 cm

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Prickly Goo, 2019 Oil on canvas 60 x 60 inches 152.4 x 152.4 cm

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Interstellar Overdrive, 2019 Oil on canvas 69 x 69 inches 175.3 x 175.3 cm

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Out of Touch, 2020

Oil on canvas 24 x 24 inches 61 x 61 cm

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LOL, 2020 Oil on canvas 40 x 45 inches 101.6 x 114.3 cm

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As Promised, 2020

Oil on canvas 50 x 50 inches 127 x 127 cm

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Black Magic, 2020

Oil on canvas 50 x 50 inches 127 x 127 cm

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Inner Outer, 2020 Oil on canvas 60 x 60 inches 152.4 x 152.4 cm

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Something Strange, 2020 Oil on canvas 65 x 76 inches 165.1 x 193 cm

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WARREN ISENSEE Born in Asheville, NC in 1956 Lives and works in New York, NY

2002 “Deja View,” Kevin Bruk Gallery, Miami, FL “Warren Isensee,” Massimo Audiello, New York, NY 2001 “Warren Isensee,” Massimo Audiello, New York, NY

EDUCATION 1978 BA, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

2000 “So$ Spot,” Tricia Collins Contemporary Art, New York, NY 1998 “Bait and Switch,” Tricia Collins Contemporary Art, New York, NY

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2020 Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY 2018 “A Decade of Drawings,” Danese/Corey, New York, NY 2017 “Warren Isensee: New Paintings and Drawings,” Danese/Corey, New York, NY 2015 “Warren Isensee: New Paintings and Drawings,” Danese/Corey, New York, NY 2012 “Warren Isensee: New Work,” Danese, New York, NY 2010 “New Work,” Danese, New York, NY 2008 “Warren Isensee,” Danese, New York, NY 2006 “Paintings and Drawings,” Danese, New York, NY “Warren Isensee: New Drawings,” Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY

GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2020 “20/20,” Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO 2019 “STARS,” Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO “Colored Pencil,” McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY 2018 “Casheesh,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA 2017 “Fool The Eye,” Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY “All Hell Breaks Loose,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA “The Warmth of Winter,” The National Arts Club, New York, NY 2016 “Black and Blue Plus Orange,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA “Dialogues: Drawings and Works on Paper,” Satellite Contemporary, Las Vegas, NV “Geometrix: Line, Form, Subversion,” Curator’s Office at Gallery 2112, Washington, D.C. “Manmade,” Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX “Hanging Paper,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA

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2015 “If Not For You” (curated by Sue and Phil Knoll), Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA “Infinity Mirror,” Herter Art Gallery, University of Massachuse"s, Amherst, MA “Twenty by Sixteen” (curated by Geoffrey Young), Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY “Geometric Obsession” (curated by Robert Morgan), Museum of Contemporary Art of Buenos Aires, Argentina “House,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA 2014 Twenty by Sixteen,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA “Allure,” Jamie Brooks Fine Art, Costa Mesa, CA

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2013 “AUGUST a Haze Amniotic Our Dream Aether & Lens of Distance,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA 2012 “The Beatles,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA “Grey Full,” Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY 2011 “Works on Paper,” Danese, New York, NY “Draw the Line,” Allegra La Viola Gallery, New York, NY “In the Presence of Light,” Danese, New York, NY “Notable Henchmen,” Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn NY “Drawing Crazy Pa"erns on the Sheets,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA 2010 “Works on Paper,” Danese, New York, NY “Ecstatic Structure, Bart Exposito, Warren Isensee, Stanley Whitney,” Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS

2009 “Legacies of Abstraction, Theresa Chong, Warren Isensee, and Katia Santibanez,” Esther Massry Gallery, College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY “Abstract Alternatives,” Nina Freudenheim, Buffalo, NY 2008 “It’s Gouache and Gouache Only,” Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York, NY “Exquisitude,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA 2007 “Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts,” American Academy of Arts and Le"ers, New York, NY “Lines” (curated by Susie Rosmarin), Texas Gallery, Houston, TX “Small Work,” Nina Freundenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY “Ornament, Ho Hum All Ye Faithful,” BravinLee Programs, New York, NY 2006 “Gray to Black,” Danese, New York, NY “Jack,” Roberts and Tilton Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Light in August,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA 2005 “Works on Paper,” Danese, New York, NY “Radical Vaudeville,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA 2004 “Finesse,” Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA “In Polytechnicolor,” Michael Steinberg Fine Art, New York, NY “Full Disclosure,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA “Colored Pencil,” KS Art, New York, NY “Painting by Design,” Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 2003 “Tastes Like Chicken,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA “Makeover,” Massimo Audiello, New York, NY “Inside Scoop,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA

2002 “Abstract Redux,” Danese, New York, NY “The Tipping Point,” Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA “Loss and Ardor,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA 2001 “Persistent Painting: Peter Coe, Warren Isensee, Kelly Spalding, John Tremblay,” Genovese/Sullivan Gallery, Boston, MA “Group Exhibition,” Fusebox, Washington, D.C. “Waiting List,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA

AWARDS 2007 American Academy of Arts and Le"ers, Art Purchase Program, New York, NY 1999 Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, New York, NY

SELECT COLLECTIONS 2000 “lala,” Tricia Collins Contemporary Art, New York, NY “To Detail,” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA “Summertime,” Tricia Collins Contemporary Art, New York, NY 1999 “Mod,” Tricia Collins Contemporary Art, New York, NY 1998 “Convivial,” Tricia Collins Contemporary Art, New York, NY

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX Collezione Maramo"i, Reggio Emilia, Italy Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina Neuberger Berman Collection, New York, NY

1997 “Pink and Innocent,” Tricia Collins Contemporary Art, New York, NY

Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY Wellington Management Company, Boston, MA West Collection, Oaks, PA

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Published on the occasion of the exhibition

WARREN!ISENSEE 16 July – 28 August 2020 Miles McEnery Gallery 525 West 22nd Street New York NY 10011 tel +1 212 445 0051 www.milesmcenery.com Publication © 2020 Miles McEnery Gallery All rights reserved Essay © 2020 Ken Johnson Director of Publications Anastasija Jevtovic, New York, NY Photography by Farzad Owrang, New York, NY Christopher Burke Studio, New York, NY Color separations by Echelon, Santa Monica, CA Catalogue layout by McCall Associates, New York, NY ISBN: 978-1-949327-31-1 Cover: Interstellar Overdrive, (detail), 2019