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The Patch of Blue the Prisoner Calls the Sky

Cover image— "Untitled I," 2019

 

I am the artist Lance de los Reyes. I have a close brother Nemo Librizzi who has tolerated my flaws as I have matured into a man who loves his family/friends. Nemo had an idea for me to gather myself for a moment, as he gifted me the privilege along with office Magazine to write a POV on Julian Schnabel’s new body of work and what the name Julian Schnabel means to me. I love and understand the gifted curse of being an artist, living up to the challenge of chaos and order that entertains those amused by our faith. I have based the contents of the following text off of my personal connection with and within the myth of Julian Schnabel. I would not be an artist today without this story. 

 

Left— "Preschool and Afterschool," 2018; Right— "Lagunillas III," 2018

 

Julian has a name that echoes throughout the creative art world, and when I watch his interviews and films, I hear the artist saying things I relate to such as the time he said, “I don’t know what makes someone do something, but I believe probably the optimism, and love, and the blind faith that they had.” Schnabel’s new body of work at Pace Gallery is modern-day proof that a sophisticated renaissance master is among us. The paintings give birth to the idea of a human as a conduit and a conductor who is channeling landscapes that are represented by marks. These marks leave clues or hints of a conquest on the surface of the paintings, thus proving the legacy is fulfilled in this blind faith that Julian spoke about. I feel that Julian very much is proof that great forces are chosen to leave legacies. This is important to me as I constantly feel alone and, at the same time, protected by unseen forces. Julian Schnabel also said, “I mean I guess when god created the world, he maybe got a little tired at the end so he only put a certain amount of things in in the course of those seven days, and maybe poetry was something that he left out and he left that for humans to do.” Representing transformation as a contributor to the challenge of becoming an archetype, I would set off for New York in the early 2000s. Being misunderstood, loved and hated, I have always studied the names I find worthy and that seem to hold space as their work creates memories, basically spiritual weight, in my mental rolodex. A shaman once whispered to me in a ceremony, “Lance a Shaman is a showman.” 

 

Left— "Lagunillas II," 2018; Right— "The Patch of Blue the Prisoner Calls the Sky I," 2019

 

I believe that men and woman do the work of gods and that there are mothers who are guardians as none of us is greater than all of us. I also believe that the work proves love and life are to be shown the utmost respect as legacy, myth, and avant-garde are all being carried out and shown in humans through their work. I feel internally inspired by Julian as he also said in an interview, “It’s a privilege to actually have the opportunity to engage in something that is the antithesis of reason.” There is an innocence in the layers of paint gestures on these new paintings as ghostly forms seem to present themselves. The palette feels like the key to maps, as it is possible that there is a governing council above us, and they are amused by Julian’s contributions to our modes of creation and have chosen him to represent the archetype of a human who does the work of the gods. What the name Julian Schnabel means to me is that we follow the path of least resistance and that we relearn the obligation to within the work of our heart and, somewhere during the process of life, realize that it’s very simple. It is simply life and death, and everything in-between is the abstracted truth that gives birth to the spiritual territory we fight for to prove that legacy is a mere myth as we were once dared to create alchemy and, it's possible, we dared ourselves. As contemporary artists, it is important to pay respect to living masters while perfecting our own craft in contribution to the modes of creation.

 

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