Mark Bradford

Mark Bradford's paintings fill me with the kind of excitement that can only come when viewing a true masterpiece. They lead contemporary art by the hand as if it was a lost child in the supermarket. Think about it: when have you ever seen something so fundamental as repeated rectangles? Gestalt is the key here; there's a lot of small elements, but its how they come together. His paintings come from that special place where hang ups and imitation move aside to let pure creativity pour forth; they are like the discarded snakeskins of his own consciousnesses. Also note Mark's use of white. Before I said black makes colors scream, Mark Bradford's white spaces are like floodlights from the heavens. Look at all the texture he gets in there with his power sander--never before had I considered the process of collage and decollage until I saw this stuff.

Anthony Lister

Anthony Lister has risen to the top because of his ingenuity. He is the first artist I'm aware of that combines neo expressionism with pop art. Tony the Tiger, Homer Simpson, Yoda, super heroes of all sorts are the subjects of his paintings, executed in a furiously spontaneous manner. My favorite works of his, however, is when he ditches the cute stuff. I tire quickly of one trick ponies, and I thought he was heading that direction, especially after seeing that same joker style face on his murals over and over. But, when I saw these new works, I was really wowed. They're weird, they're colorful, they're exciting, and they've never been done before. My favorite is the bottom painting, which only hints at the super hero stuff. Mostly we have this strange devil creature in repose on a cross, a parrot mask over his face and perhaps a last supper flanking him, adding a real nice randomness along with a strong composition. Keep it up Anthony, don't give me anymore stuff I've already seen you've got the talent to keep it fresh every time.

Anton Henning

Anton Henning is definitely up on his art history--I can imagine his paintings being featured along side Braques and Picasso's debut show and no one thinking 'hey waita second this shoulda been painted 100 years from now.' The paintings aren't completely yesteryear style though, there is a certain freshness about them and they're prehaps less contrived than the early modernist paintings--I think he works from automatic scribbles which inspires me. The bottom painting is brilliant because he's combines a Cezanne landscape with this strange scribbly creature which I love. Look how he puts a little shadow behind the creature, which is a really nice contradiction to perspective based landscape. This one has got a birds eye view on the others.

Andre Butzer

Andre Butzer: this youngish, German painter has shown the art world that a formal education isn't always prerequisite to making dazzling, bold paintings. What I love most about his work are his colors--the way he combines these bright, elementary school colors with a thick turd of muddy purple or dirty pastel. His use of black is interesting too; he reminds us that any colors placed on top of black will scream. Butzer's cartoon imagery in tandem with pure abstraction is a very clever, why-didn't-I-think-of-that move--the two harmonize like two analogous colors, and by distorting his cartoons and maintaining his thick application, its more like two analogous colors blended into each other on the border. Thanks Andre keep up the great work.