It does recall the work of Otto Dix in that there are elements of that same durable classical element. But, a classicism that is ill-proportioned, off balance, off kiltered and ready to leave the riverbed and pounce. Its the underclass which has been borrowed, bartered and exploited as waste material and not the green and clean of politically correct culture. The absence of harmonized and stylized formed physical features also situates its spirit in the anti-Italian Renaissance character and more in the Northern European realism meets American West coast graphics of a Crumb and Zap but transposed to the visual language of a fine art idiom.
---Chris Mars' painting style, examples of which graced all of his album covers, is marked by nightmarish landscapes and grotesque, distorted figures. He draws inspiration from his older brother's struggle with schizophrenia. "...From my hands, my mission: To free the oppressed; to champion the persecuted, and the submissive; to liberate through revelation the actualized Self in those proposed by some to have no self at all. It's in every single one of us, somewhere underneath that word on our chest. In my hands, my version: All art is political in some sense, be it through conformity, reflection, propaganda or rebellion. My paintings are rallies and trials, photographs of a moment when Truth was made public, and Mercy known. Question why a villain is villainized, a victim martyred. Ask why a group is demonized, and the motives for control. See for yourself what the truth looks like in your hands. Dig it up and hold it for a while. This work you see, it's my Truth. But please don't take my word for it." --- Read More:http://www.lastgasp.com/d/32124/ image:http://www.lostateminor.com/category/art/page/58/
Mars’ technical control is breathtaking. His Social Expressionist paintings contain the meticulous detail of Salvador Dali, the political incisiveness of Otto Dix, and the emotional gut-punch of Francis Bacon…Mars hopes his work causes the viewer to question the nature of evaluation and labels, be it by investigating the meaning of beauty, or by casting aside the exclusion of the meek, the forgotten, or the enemy. Like many artists, Mars seeks to know Truth. In his canvases are villains and angels, though one’s initial demarcation may, as in life, prove false. Read More:http://beinart.org/modules/Word-Press/2008/05/22/chris-mars-monograph/
In The End of Art, Donald Kuspit argues that art is over because it has lost its aesthetic import. Art has been replaced by 'postart', a term invented by Alan Kaprow, as a new visual category that elevates the banal over the enigmatic, the scatological over the sacred, cleverness over creativity. Tracing the demise of aesthetic experience to the works and theory of Marcel Duchamp and Barnett Newman, Kuspit argues that devaluation is inseparable from the entropic character of modern art, and that anti-aesthetic postmodern art is its final state. In contrast to modern art, which expressed the universal human unconscious, postmodern art degenerates into an expression of narrow ideological interests. In reaction to the emptiness and stagnancy of postart, Kuspit signals the aesthetic and human future that lies with the New Old Masters. Read More:http://www.cambridge.org/aus/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521540162 image:http://beinart.org/modules/Word-Press/2008/05/22/chris-mars-monograph/
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