Ross Bleckner Examines Contemporary Art

The painter sees a wealth of art, but Sugimoto and the German school of photography really stand out.

Question: What's most exciting trend in art today?
Bleckner: Unfortunately, I kind of... you lose touch a little.  You know, you can't go in and out.  You know, when I move to my studio in Chelsea, I thought I would see more and kind of get back in touch with stuff and the opposite happen.  I go to my studio and I leave my studio and I don't see anything 'cause I think, oh, I'll do it tomorrow.  When I use to go there, I use to go just to look at stuff.  I mean, again, I have to go back to... There are painters that I see, whose names I can't recall but... You know, I leave this question off on a kind of a very big and very hard to define word.  Which there's work [conceptually], there's work that I think as being very soulful, very filled with a lot of feeling.  And that's the work I responds with the most.  Who could I think of?  I mean, it could be hard-edged, it could be... You know, there're so many different variations on that.  But... I mean, you know, very young painters, someone like [Dana Shute] is, to me, a really terrific painter.  Someone like... What have I say?  I mean, I just saw [Sugumi Sagamoto] show, which I thought was really beautiful.  [IB] new paintings has... As he gets older, his paintings get more magical.  They, in a way, kind of begin to lose their anchoring.  A lot of, you know, photographers that I see, I like.  Some of the German photographers, Jim Welling... Man, I still like Barbara Kruger's work.  I like work that's direct, work... You know, I mean, there's a... The work that really delivers the... [IB].  The work that delivers the experience, you know, emotionally, perceptually, historically, and talks about this contemporary life.