URANIAN MUSINGS 09

Showing at P.C.S.80

 

Uranian Musings – Art Works by Raymond Majerski

November 16th – December 5th, 2009

Opening Reception – November 21st, 6 – 9pm

Farewell Closing – December 5th, 6 – 9pm

Adult Content, Must be 18 or older

 

Holyoke, MA, provocative gay artist, Raymond Majerski, will be having a retrospective of the last twelve years of his art works at the Paper City Studios 4^th floor Gallery (P.C.S. 80). Majerski is well known for his sexually charged and evocative, paintings, drawings, collages and relief sculptures which will be onview at this show.

Raymond Majerski is an American, gay, Roman Catholic artist that views his artwork as storytelling about the human condition through his own unique perspective and interests. Finding universal connection through his multi-layered pieces. Pulling from many sources like history, art history, literature, film, photography, music and pop culture, Majerski creates his own unique world and invites viewers in to visit. Majerski is a representational, figural artist that has been influenced by the masters of the Renaissance, in particular those of Giotto, Masaccio, and the Mannerists as well as the works of modern masters like Rivera, Cadmus, Mel Roberts, Tom of Finland and John Currin. Raymond Majerski received his BFA in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art and his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art where he studied at the Hoffberger School of Painting with the world-renowned artist Grace Hartigan.

You can see Majerski’s work online at:

http://www.raymondmajerski.com or email belegul66@aol.com or call (860) 289-2396 for additional informationb

Raymond Majerski

 

belegul66@aol.com

www.raymondmajerski.com

As an artist I am a storyteller. Painting and drawing and collage are vehicles for ideas. All seem limitless in their ability to convey information. I am a gay, American, Roman Catholic. Anybody can relate to isolation, joy, self-consciousness and lust, or identify with loss, hope, desire, inadequacy or injustice. One need not be gay and/or Catholic to have a sense of humor about the world and our place in it. The best art is multi-layered and open to interpretation. Like the works of Giotto, I want my pieces to intrigue beyond an underlying narrative. They must listen as well as speak.

I am committed to representational art because it is a powerful conveyance for expressing human experience. As the artist I have the option to be the “unmoved mover” of my own universe, free from the dictates of nature. Many of the artists I admire express this freedom, such as Masaccio, Bronzino and the Mannerists, Cadmus and Currin. There is honesty in allowing my hand to be discernable on the two-dimensional surface

I find icons and archetypes fascinating. When confronted with representational images, the audience relates it to their own experience, transforming viewing into an exchange. I am interested in the reassignment of meaning and interpretation of symbolic imagery. Canonical artists breathed new life into traditional subjects through their own personal experience. I want convey some measure of my feelings about the male figure and the male role: It can be powerful or weak, desirable or repulsive, rigid or fluid, spiritual or spiritless, sensuous or sexless. All aspects of my work engage this multiplicity: Things are not what they seem.

I have mostly worked in series. The paintings I made are in the classical language of painting that I see as my Catholic cultural inheritance. These are metaphorically charged images, which seem to reveal scenes from an undiscovered epic. Analogous to viewing stills from an obscure film, or panels from non-existent comic books, or a modern tableau vivant, the viewer is granted the freedom to create his or her own narrative. My “Tyranny of Hypocrisy” drawings are based on the horrific treatment of homosexuals by Nazi Germany. A regime that had, especially during its early existence, many homosexuals in high-ranking, powerful positions. I use the aesthetics of propaganda posters and old, deteriorating photographs and diseased flesh to suggest era, age and decay. These drawings are not only historical records but also metaphors for the stringent rules of conduct, acceptability and conformity in modern gay male society. They also explore the darker desires of belonging, the appeal of the uniform, and the roles of dominance and submission often associated with gay male culture. A group that is its own worst enemy. My “Heroes for Boys” drawings hark back to the spontaneous and innocent time of unrestrained art-making from childhood. They have a freshness and anxiety of youthful interests while keeping themes of the exploration of male roles and power relationships. I have always been fascinated by collage. The creation of an image or a surface through the adding and/or subtracting of materials are very similar to my painting process. I make collages that have history or an implied history or archeology. Each one enables me to explore the many subjects I am interested in with immediacy and uniqueness. My entire body of work is always evolving.

Continual self-interrogation is essential to my art-making process. I am constantly grappling with issues of intent and meaning. Right answers are seldom as important as the right questions. Is representational art the best path for me? How valid are traditional images today? In what way does my experience have meaning for others? How can I invest more of myself in these pieces to give them greater relevance? Each question leads to others. I will continue to question. I will continue to learn. I will continue to grow. I will always make art.