Housing as a Recurring Dream (Nightmare)
Last year, we had a wedding in Chicago.
Between the rehearsal dinner Friday night and the actual affair Saturday night, we found ourselves with some time to kill. We are in Chicago every year for Thanksgiving, so we know our way around town pretty well. So we grabbed some of the cousins and headed towards the gallery district.
I found myself intrigued by works by an artist named Amy Casey at ZG Gallery. For somewhat obvious reasons, it just spoke to me.
Mrs Big Picture must have noticed my interest, cause when we exchanged gifts on New Year’s Eve (that’s another long story), one of my presents was an original work of art called “Coalescing.” (You can see it below).
If you click around Amy Casey’s site, you will notice that over the past few years, much of her work involved the fragility of the Real Estate market. She had been doing these sorts of paintings before the housing crisis (her comments are after the jump).
Anyway, I found the work fascinating. I suspect you will also . . .
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click for larger image
Amy Casey:
For about the last ten years, I’ve been experiencing a sporadically recurring dream about the end of the world. Animals stampeding and buildings falling into dust around me, I wake up in a panic and with a heavy sense of inevitability. Although I’m not trying to recreate this dream in my work, I think that like my dream, my paintings reflect my view of the nervous state of affairs the world seems to be in.
Inspired by natural and unnatural disasters, personal fiascoes and the never ending stream of bad news coming in from the media, a relentless mob of curious plant-like creatures and other disasters have swarmed over the painted landscapes, threatening the creatures and life within. Like us, the creatures in my work stumble through the best they can; given their circumstances. Acting out of vulnerability they try to create security but sometimes, like us, end up kicking their own asses. I am fascinated by the resilience of life. Every disaster is followed by rebirth, where we hike up our boots, duct tape our lives back together and try to cobble together a “plan b” out of what remains.
My paintings document my love of both the urban landscape, and small twisted creatures.
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January 5th, 2011 at 10:08 am
Are they heading up, or falling down?
January 5th, 2011 at 10:35 am
The initial impression is of an giant unseen, flying jellyfish drawing up structures with its tentacles but the second impression is of assembly, a cellular automata building itself by binding houses and other structures into its own matrix.
Interesting. I like it.
January 5th, 2011 at 10:53 am
Economic event when enters art
It is over done.
I think housing bull has started.
January 5th, 2011 at 11:56 am
That is an intriguing concept
Is there any data to support it ?
January 5th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
That it is a painting actually caps the entire economic impression. The housing market stands suspended in mid air, held up by the Fed. The houses should come tumbling down by there they stay, unnaturally held in place by all the funny money ‘with strings attached’.
Here we all stand gazing at it, dumbstruck by the spectacle and wondering if the houses are going to come down or be pulled up by their strings. The final insult to injury is some economist clown comes along and say, “Monetary policy is more art than science.”
January 5th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
That it is a painting actually caps the entire economic impression. The housing market stands, suspended in mid air, held up by the Fed. The houses should come tumbling down but there they stay, unnaturally held in place by all the funny money ‘with strings attached’.
Here we all stand gazing at it, dumbstruck by the spectacle and wondering if the houses are going to come down or be pulled up by their strings. The final insult to injury is some economist clown comes along and says, “Monetary policy is more art than science.”
January 5th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
You never lose money in real estate
January 5th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
“Every disaster is followed by rebirth” if you are a banker.
January 5th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
A nightmare is coming home from vacation and finding ice dam damage to your house.
January 6th, 2011 at 11:30 pm
Congratulations! It’s a very good painting.
January 7th, 2011 at 1:27 am
I do like the mystery this painting communicates. Up or down? The fact is that people always cry and scream when the housing market comes down. But it always comes down. It also comes back up as well. Housing is an investment where you have to be prepared to hold onto it for a hibernation season until you can again, sell it for more than you bought it for. SIMPLE.
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