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I’m debating whether or not to go and see the Barnaby Furnas the MCA (Museum of Creative Arts) Here in Denver…the description of the show has piqued my curiosity: “Barnaby Furnas creates monumental images dripped, splashed and poured with a dark visceral red paint that suggests the bloody remnants of war. His creations are biblical in scale and intent, occasionally exceeding 30 feet in length. Born in 1973, his early artistic inclinations found him spray painting graffiti in the subway tunnels and rooftops of his native Philadelphia. His work blends this spectacular aesthetic with the traditions of Abstract Expressionism. To create his monumental Flood paintings, Furnas props and suspends his canvasses to create sloped planes. Balanced on a scaffold over the work, Furnas then douses, flings and pours paint across the surface. Furnas selected a group of Flood paintings for this exhibition at MCA Denver and will be creating a new work that he will paint on-site in the gallery. “
OK, on that blurb alone, I am reminded of the silly 1996 romcom (Starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Elle Macpherson in what should have been her last acting role) “If Lucy Fell” where the hilarious Ben Stiller stars as “interpretive artist” Bwick Elias who paints canvases in his SoHo loft with his own body parts.
How does an artist like Furnas get started? Did his parents give him free reign in his basement or bedroom to practice his art? As a teenager, did they rent a self-storage unit for him to use as an art studio (I mean, before he hit the subways…)?
If we did a spot check today, how many Furnas wanna-bes would we discover in our safe and secure climate-controlled self-storage units: suspended, swinging and swaying – all in their pursuit of art? Maybe I’ll skip the Furnas exhibit and just tour Extra Space Storage instead…
Tags: Extra Space Storage, self storage