Assael's Superman

Steven Assael is a painter of fine portraits. He paints crowded buses, waiting rooms and singular portraits of the people he knows and sees.  His subjects pose in varying degrees of dress and undress. They range from  regular folks to trendy; heavily tattooed and pierced to those in ornate costumes. He is among the best of our times and a personal favorite. Assael recently chose to paint an ordinary man in a mock Superman costume; it is fabulous in it’s simplicity. He wanted to depict a Superman of non- extremes. His Superman as presented as a typical man becomes unique as a depiction of
Superman. It goes against all previous depictions of the character. The ordinary is certainly extraordinary in this case. It is also masterfully executed.

Why even think about Superman (as a comic book character) or the concept of a superman? Great minds like Friedrich Nietzsche have explored the ubermench (over man) as something greater than mere man. George Bernard Shaw’s play “Man and Superman” explores the subject of the eternal pursuit by man and woman to produce a superman. There is currently a movie “Waiting for Superman “that is another variation and inquiry into the idea of the quest and need for a superman in today’s society.

Humanity has the constant need to compare and to rate itself. We will always have “top ten Lists” and”the best of” compilations. We want to know who is the fastest, the most beautiful, the richest and the smartest. We once celebrated the biggest winners and now we even laud the biggest losers. This, if for  no other reason than we are  imperfect creatures and we do need to continually  improve , to want more and to be more in every possible way. We need standards to set as goals to reach. Something like an ultimate being such as the superman is inspired because it is unattainable. We are always striving for but we will never reach that summit of perfection.

Jerry Seinfeld is a huge comedic talent (a superman among comedians) and considered by many to have co-created the funniest sitcom of all time. He is also a huge fan of the Siegel and Shuster character we recognize as Superman. In 2002 Jerry‘s picture book “Halloween” was released. It is based on his childhood holiday experiences and at the center is his ultimate costume choice; the packaged official “Superman Costume”. The text and the illustrations are dead on. I read it every year and it never ceases to amaze and thrill; it is hilarious. “.  I won’t be revealing too much but I do agree with Seinfeld: In that Superman does live potentially within us all.

  The legend of the superman has lived through out all histories and cultures. There are both religious and secular versions. Our vision of Superman; “The Red/ Blue Blur” as he is called on the “Smallville” TV show, was born in the late 1930’s; the dream of two High School students. It was a dream that has fathered many other dreams. It was a dream worth dreaming in the 1930’s and it is still worth dreaming today.

Sin-KEV-Itch

A few years ago I had the pleasure of showing at the Jacob Javits Center in New York. I was one of about five hundred exhibiters from all over the world for “Art Expo New York”. The works were primarily from contemporaries with different degrees of noteterity including Jane Seymour and Paul Stanley of Kiss. There were original pieces by Chagall and castings from Rodin. Animation artist and director Eric Goldberg was there showing exclusive animation shorts and doing drawings.  There was one artist that I was very much interested in that was exhibiting; Bill Sienkiewicz. He was one of three comic illustrators whose original work was to be displayed. The other two were Alex Ross and a new guy, Simone Bianche.

The night before the opening I asked a man behind the comic artist’s desk; who happened to be Bill’s agent, if Bill Sienkiewicz would be making an appearance. My pronunciation was something like Sink-O-Vicks.  He handed me a business card with the correct pronunciation spelled phonetically on the back: Sin-KEV-Itch. “No… but I’ll tell Bill how you murdered his name” he said with a bit of laughter. I had at least made an impression and learned how to pronounce Sienkiewicz.

My first exposure to the immensely popular and talented artist’s work was in the pages of a black and white magazine from the Eighties featuring The Incredible Hulk. At that time Bill was doing an amazingly convincing homage to Neal Adams. I never purchased a copy of the magazine. This guy was good but not original, the equalivant of a cover artist in music. Sienkiewicz would later prove to be a phenomenal cover artist in the graphics arts field but that has a whole other meaning. Sienkiewicz would begin to speak in his own unique voice around 1984 in the pages of “Moon Knight” and “The New Mutants”. I don’t know what it was like when he decided to break apart from everything that had gone before but I think it must have been a sort of Dr. Frankenstein moment for him. “IT’S ALIVE…IT’S ALIVE…” I can imagine Bill screaming insanely and having to be restrained as he completed each page. I know that’s what Iwas experiencing from these totally unlikely, intrinsically beautiful pages. Like his predecessor; Neal Adams, he was doing everything wrong within the medium.  He was doing what looked like watercolors, collage and mixed media stuff along with his drawings. Things no one was doing with comic books. Some of the character drawings were expressionistic studies; without true form, to be interpreted by each reader in their own fashion. It was Post Modern. It- was- glorious!

In the years to follow Sienkiewicz was impressing, while inventing the graphic novel industry with works like “Electra Assassin “, “Dare Devil: Love and War” and “Stray Toasters”. Some of his projects he wrote himself, others were by illuminates like Frank Miller.

His most remarkable work on “Voodoo Child: the Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix” is considered to be legendary among the legends. The Classics Illustrated adaption of Melville’s “Moby Dick” is simply the best to date in the history of that epic magazine series. It is Sienkiewicz’s masterpiece.  Sienkiewicz has crossed over many times to illustrate for main stream magazines, albums and DVDs. Not long ago he collaborated on live performance video projection with his early inspiration Neal Adams.  Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters commissioned the two for his “Leaving Beirut” shows. 

He has picked up a few awards in his career including the “Eisner” and “Kirby”. 

There is nothing typical of the work of Bill Sienkiewicz. His is a style that is unmistakable but without a definitive label. That is a good thing. It is the luxurious elegance of his work that places Bill Sienkiewicz   in his own league and our pleasure to attend each performance.

The Imperalist

It was not a good night by anyone’s standard unless you were perhaps someone that thought war was a good thing. The debates had gone on for months and in some ways years. “Saddam Hussein had to be taken out; we will have to deal with him eventually, it might as well be now. He has those monstrous weapons of mass destruction and he will use them….” On that March night in 2003 the second George W. Bush War Campaign would begin with a little something called”Shock and Awe.” We would have the pleasure of seeing it televised safely at home. A kind of macabre, historic, media event that was “Must See TV.” As I waited for the event I began a painted.

George Bush had been convinced by members of his administration principally Donald Rumsfeld and Paul   Wolfowitz that because of the collapse of the Soviet Union we were without a compelling rival and thus unbeatable. The war on terror made it convenient and seemingly necessary to bomb Bagdad. It was time to extend the empire; America’s time for sole world domination was here. As the “Bush Doctrine” took effect I continued to paint. The painting I worked on during the premiere night continued to develop and I now called it “The Imperalist”.

Since that initial night which turned out to be neither especially shocking nor awesome we have moved on to other things along with the Bush administration (and Saddam). The wars have not.  We now have a new administration; that isn’t exactly new anymore and with his book that is new Bob Woodward has dubbed Iraq and Afghanistan;  “Obama’s Wars”. 

Woodward wrote four books during Bush’s years and this is his first during Obama’s tenure. Woodward is becoming the principal presidential scribe of the twenty-first century. His is a true insider and highly respected.

The job description of the American Presidency though seemingly the same changes with each president. Things are inherited and new events change what is asked of each man while in office. Aside from “The Party Agenda”; personal policies and personality determine what we expect from each man in the oval office.  Health care, the economy and the wars are defining Obama. The first drafts of his presidential histories are being written.  Obama continues, health care, the economy and the wars continue; Bob Woodward continues. I continue to paint though I may change the title of “The Imperalist “to “The Inheritance”.