Art Lies, Volume 34, Spring 2002 Page: 71
77 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
was indeed, since his early years, a great music
lover, and musical analogies go a far way
towards illuminating that all-pervasive quality
of his canvases: drama, movement, rhythm,
and mood. Whether rock-music, John Cage
(from whom he gathered the importance of
chance), or Bartok, Magar always painted by
the sound of music. Some of his early pieces
bore rock music titles. More recently, he paints
Bdrtok (1992) which exhibits a severe formal
order: a cottage-blue background bordered
with black, upon which are projected, in rhyth-
mic fashion, purplish red stripes, posted at
well-defined angles.There is rigorous drama in
this composition, a classic concentration and
severity of beat, and it admirably conveys
Bartok's modernity; the gravity, the impact of
his deep timber; the muted clash of antipodal
colors that seems an allusion to the com-
poser's love for dissonance.
One piece of sculpture, Park Place style, a
compact cube of wood painted minium red
with aluminum underside, adorns a corner of
the gallery.
There are several exceptionally dynamic
drawings (1983) containing dispersions of half-
silhouettes, among which a blue horse emerging
from the fog: fleeting moments in an airy
medium, where light itself seems to amplify
velocity. Thus, Bicycle Race (1982) figures a vor-
tex of wheels flying at a maddening angle.
In one of the poetic pieces, Once it was the
color of saying: Dylan Thomas (2001), mauve-
lavender blues, surrounded by traces of orange
yellows and rusty reds, literally join in a cho-
rus of joyous song, accented by sundry black
strokes. For Rousseau ("le Douanier, "not Jean-
Jacques, even though it could well be both)
(2001), Magar adopts a slightly squinted
structure, as if implying that Rousseau's myth-
ical distortions of nature hold, for him, an
intense poetic valence. A thin swath of yellow
light overhangs the composition. It appears
made of fresh trees and charcoal black and
blue trunks bathed in luscious greenery. The
historical allusion intensifies the evocative
value of this abstract landscape.Tony Magar, For Rousseau, 2001
Oil on canvas, 68 x 64"
Courtesy of New GalleryWeather Report is a humorous composition
of warm and cool hues, simulating a self-con-
fident meteorological map. Endless Days
(2001) is a mass of purplish blues flanked by
blacks and topped by yellow oranges; the
monotony in the distribution of colors signals
perhaps a protracted sorrow. Illumination II
(2001) offers the locus for a typical, recurrent
Magarian red (which is a mix of dark and light
cadmium reds). In Triumph, (2001) the same
color seems swallowed by a mass of blues at
left, and a horn of black at right.
With colors cast in reverse order (blues at
right, reds at left) appears Phoenix, piece deresistance of the show, composed in 2001,
shortly before 9/11. A tricolor composition: a
black and blue feathered creature emerges
above a bloodily aggressive red mass that
impinges upwards upon a peaceful off-white
expanse... Premonitory, this resurrection of
the Phoenix bird from the ashes-or just a
formidably strong, illuminating archetype?
Tony Magar's euvre may not be devoid of
its somber moments, but his latest show exudes
through all its pores the purest joie de vivre.ARTL!ES Spring 2002 71
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Bryant, John. Art Lies, Volume 34, Spring 2002, periodical, 2002; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth228063/m1/73/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .