Jean-Frédéric Schnyder at the Swiss Institute
This week at The L Magazine I discuss the paintings of Jean-Frédéric Schnyder at The Swiss Institute. It’s a fantastic show so there’s a lot to talk about — paint handling, subject matter, and kitsch — and I try to work a little of all that in. The teaser below:
“Wow, they're serious about the white cube here,” a friend whispered to me as we entered the Swiss Institute. He wasn't kidding. The former Deitch Projects space is exactly square, totally white (shiny floors and all), and raised enough to make you feel like you're walking on a stage.
This kind of presentation is a little much for the small work currently on display; it makes their show of Jean-Frédéric Schnyder's landscape paintings Landschaft (Landscape) I-XXXV (through February 26) look like postage stamps in a space capsule. It's no deal-breaker, though, thanks to the work: one three-channel video projection of toy wooden horses carrying airline-sized booze and 35 paintings, each 8.3 x 11.8 inches, most slightly cartoonish. Nearly every piece is successful.
Read the full piece here.
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