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Updated October 12th , 07

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Wiener & Ivanov - "Cross Narratives"
Essay by Linda DiGusta


Catalogs and guides at museums love to remind us that art reflects the times. Visual artists have through the ages used their skills and prominence to disseminate their observations and opinions of the society in which they live. And the tendency among those of us who discuss art in these terms is to emphasize the negative statements, the angst, the disillusionment, the protest, that are so often embodied in the works of individual and groups of artists and presented under that banner. The value of such work and its exhibition is indisputable - democracy thrives on dialog - and some of the keenest, most eloquent observers speak in visual terms.

Life, as we experience it, is more than a dynamic of a society and its current events. The fact is that most of our time is recorded as a synthesis of myriad details - what we see, hear, hold, smell, taste, feel - in the series of moments that comprises our existence and composes our consciousness. It requires courage and confidence in an artist to approach the complexity underlying the apparent simplicity of this subject - one must first be absolutely clear in visualizing the sensation of the moment and certain of some facility in translating the visual idea into a material expression before the delicate impression is lost - and the courage to present such finely nuanced work to an audience without the obvious hook or genre that pre-selects a direct, albeit limiting, point of entry for the viewer.

We all know those moments, standing before an exhibited object and thinking, "I wish I understood..." But when it works, it works, and when 2 artists who dedicate themselves to creating this connection from one inner life to another collaborate, the concept reaches a new level - the intrepid viewer can not only react to each individual expression, but share and respond to the way each artist perceived the form and content set down by the other, and the response he created in turn.

"Cross Narrative," the collaborative series recently begun New York artists by Iliyan Ivanov and Mark Wiener, invites us to jump into the feelings of the artists in a literally big way. By choosing to create the work on 30-foot long sections of paper 36 inches high, the artists have given themselves time and space to develop the work not only from their original conception, but from new ideas that evolve in their mutual process of marking and viewing the piece in sections and as a whole. Friends as well as colleagues, they began the series when, having been offered a dual exhibition, the decided the best way to celebrate their camaraderie would be to create pieces together that reflected the shared sense of rhythm that runs through their different stylistic choices.

Another passion that both artists share is music. Ivanov, a musician himself, declares as an objective the infusion of his art with the same spirit and energy that drives his music, his visual improvisations consisting of an interplay between abstract and figurative imagery. Wiener incorporates music into his process, always painting to a recorded soundtrack in the studio, seeking out sessions with live performers and, when attending concerts, filling a sketchbook with his abstract response to the music, in ink on paper.

Sometimes working together and others, alone in their separate studios, in the course of a few weeks and many sessions, Ivanov and Wiener decided the first piece was ready for presentation. At its debut, "Cross-Narrative" is a complex work - simultaneously monumental and intimate - that addresses the viewer in 2 distinct voices (with a cameo appearance by Ivanov's 6-year-old daughter, Hannah) - Wiener's light, gestural touch with the brush, dancing in and out, over and under the Ivanov's strong expressions in charcoal, ink and acrylic.

The dialectic here has generated a visually tantalizing work, with deep points of focus to match the extreme width of the paper, abounding in detail, approachable in sections, but unified in impact. Two styles, here in harmony, there in counterpoint - returning to the musical model, invite the viewer to listen to one, to both, to their favorite song, or the whole "album."

While visual artists often present their works together, and some are identified as pairs or team, it is still not the norm to find 'solo" artists collaborating on a project. The beginnings of the "Cross-Narrative" project show the promise of a future that could spur more interest in working in this way, a step in the evolution of the way fine art will be made, presented and appreciated as we move through the 21st Century.

To view additional works please feel free to request a studio visit by e-mail mwienerarts@gmail.com

The Studio is located on Park Avenue and 79th Street