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The Strong Man and the Enigma of the Self Frank Hyder
Ira Upin
I have known Philadelphia artist for more than 35 years as both a man and an artist. I have spent hundreds of hours engaged in intense conversations about politics, religion, morality, architecture, films, family life and art, standing in his studio surrounded by boldly executed images in all stages of development. So one would imagine writing about this powerful, forceful man, who it would seem was so familiar to me, would be a simple task. Alas, therein lies the first enigma. The more you know him offers no clue to decoding his images. I do know his processes and his sources and his models and methods; and yet, the enigma sticks even more persistently. To quote Upin, “A work of art should have a quality
of craft, a clarity of purpose and meaning.” But then there is this, “It’s about randomness and our inability to control that randomness. Things happen,
anything can happen and we want somehow to control it. But in the end we really can’t. The tightness of the way I work seems a futile attempt to exert that control.” Does one read an image such as “Hot Dog” as a literal narrative? Are the images presented to be taken at face value? Or are they poetic substitutes for a hidden
language, as hieroglyphics or cuneiform scripts create a satisfying image in and of themselves; but by using a key, the reader is able to find another level of insight with completely different meaning. I would argue at times they are both, another enigma. The use of paint in these works is intense and highly resolved, rewarding the viewer with an image crafted with flawless photorealistic readability; yet, the images are arranged as if in a montage or tableau, frequently ignoring logic and traditional photorealistic compulsive relationships. The color is vivid, at times even fluorescent. The relationships are sharp as one would find in an image made for advertising; and yet, each work stubbornly returns us to the photographic reference. So now we see that many of the clues presented by Upin are in fact contradictions. The fact that they have meaning actually separates this artist from being a “photorealist” concerned only with visual data for its own sake. Is Upin a neo-realist in the pantheon of David Salle? Again I think not as his constructed images lack any randomness. In fact, it is easier to think of Jacques-Louis David and the “Death of Marat” when studying a Upin image than the helter skelter of a David Salle. No, Upin is far more poetic in his choices and far more committed and intense in his realizations.
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