This show tied with Greg Simkin's show, ranking top-of-the-mark on recent NYC art offerings. Seeing Judith's work in person, after viewing it on a computer all these years, was a revelation. Most art is always better in person but glass works benefit especially from the glistening light and the bare eye. Judith's art is vividly saturated with the glorious colors only stained glass can emit. Juxtapose that with it's subject matter and you get killer art. No typical church art here, just pure beastly beauty. Painterly and dripping, scratched and rubbed - the glass becomes layered worlds upon worlds under her labors. Darkly human, innovative, emotive and lustrous.
Way too many beautiful images to post them all here, so just a select few, some cropped and some showing just the devil in the wondrous details.
The exhibit was at the Claire Oliver Gallery which is a nice space, however the peeps there were full of attitude. Refused to let my tired kid lie down for a second on their un-upholstered bench. I mean, come on... it's not like we were setting up a homeless encampment or even taking a nap. The snotty ambiance in some galleries really goes a bit too far, showing a little humanity sometimes can be a good thing. Judith's art made the rudeness all worthwhile.
"Another major reason I stick with stained glass is because I think the raw material is pretty. The uncut sheets of colored glass are really seductive, awesome, and unarguably lovely things. Naturally, the temptation to cut and damage all that pristine beauty is too much for me to resist."- Judith Schaechter, excerpt from a great statement, well worth a read, to be found here.
Schaechter's "Late Breaking Noose" here.
