Crossover Maestro 2012

Kaloust Guedel made Crossover Maestro by using found or recycled materials, like paper or fabric, with paint. I imagine Guedel in the studio, layering, ripping, and pasting, trying to resolve the composition. He is literally building the painting from the ground up. There are so many decisions and revisions, a real density of thought and action. The artist is probably thinking about the history of collage and assemblage. What’s exciting is the way Guedel embraces the unexpected and the imperfect. The red lines are particularly compelling, maybe because they’re not quite straight. They've got a kind of vulnerability, as if to suggest pathways or connections. Guedel’s work reminds me of Kurt Schwitters, who pieced together scraps of everyday life into poetic constructions. Both artists invite us to see the beauty and potential in the discarded, blurring the line between painting and sculpture. We understand that the artist is involved in an ongoing conversation with those who have come before and will come after him.