David Rathman at Figge

" I Threw Away the Rose "

























" You Do Hold Onto Your Misery, Don't You? "


Minneapolis artist David Rathman has a solo show up at the Figge right now, and i highly suggest seeing it. i had not heard of the gentleman before seeing his work yesterday, but upon doing some research i see he had a two-person show with Amy Cutler at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. very nice. but who cares about credentials and scene cred; let the work speak for itself, right?

The show consists of about 30 pieces that i'm pretty sure were all watercolor on paper - none larger than say 30 x 40 inches (most were about 18 x 24). he works in a monochromatic tone of a dark sepia color. hell, maybe these were ink drawings of some kind; i'm not sure. the content? sad cowboys. postmodern ennui meets western flicks. evidently, he takes polaroids of cowboy movies off of his television and uses that as a starting point for the imagery. and also, i've read he gets inspiration for the titles (or titles/quotes within) for the pieces from anywhere from the same movie genre, to philosophy writings, to the playwright Beckett. not unlike someone like Mark Tansey's modus operandi, but still... pretty sweet stuff. and always underhandedly funny.

I found a description of a piece that i'm pretty sure is not on view at the Figge, and it may describe what might be my favorite piece in the show, if included. a gun fighter is featured front-and-center. underneath the silhouetted form reads, "Today's Schedule." then:

11:00 a.m. Get up
11:00-11:30 Sober up
11:30-Noon Eat
Noon-10:00 p.m. Work like hell
10 p.m.-3 a.m. Get drunk
3 a.m.-3:15 Beat hell out of them that's got it coming
3:20 Go to bed

heh heh. excellent.
by far my favorite show i've seen at the figge. kudos, michelle robinson.