I used to deliver newspapers – The Syracuse Herald Journal and the Sunday Post Standard. I started as an eight-year-old, making $20 a week. Back in the ’70s, that was a lot of money. I was able to buy a car when it was time for that, and other stuff, like a TV and stereo for my bedroom….
I always thought I’d be a writer, an artist too, but – I don’t know, I mean, I used to read the paper every day back then. Was I going to be a Lois Lane? Now the paper is a relic and maybe I am partly to blame because I write for fun, not for money. And you can read it for free.
Years ago, Tim Atseff was hired as an artist for the Syracuse Herald Journal. That job segued into political cartoonist and later upper management. He was more recently instrumental in creating the Central New York Magazine and other publications that focus on local interests.
He’s still very much an artist and this exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art is a powerful homage to his career. Atseff paints on bifold insulation boards in his basement studio. The artwork is enormous and yet easily transportable, which I find genius.
The work focuses on the current political climate and incorporates assemblage, collage, text and a vibrant color scheme.
The paintings succeed in joining technical proficiency with abstract and graphic devices, which manifests into a Robert Indiana/Larry Rivers-type vibe, something akin to a powerful Americana symbolism juxtaposed with a feeling of unfinished business.
As well, I recognized that the artists’ own political views are not unclear yet, like the propaganda of politics, the work can justly be claimed by the opinionated based on perspective alone, if that makes any sense.
I loved the scale of it all, the large headline texts and the humor (calling the paper in one painting “The Daily WTF”), the giant -30- indicating the end of a news story…. The installation elements are full of smaller items, like the sand on the floor in the Final Edition piece had pennies sprinkled in – this was not lost on my eagle eye. There is perfection in that rhythm.
There is such a strong message here about the loss of a media that at one time was our main source of information, given to us by just-the-facts-journalists. Now who are we supposed to rely on for that info? Lois Lane is out of a job and I am assuming there’s no pension. Thank goodness I went the teaching route so that my art and writing stuff can remain in the realm of for-fun.
This show is about the end of an era, an American institution in rags, in shambles. The newspaper thrown out like yesterdecade’s garbage. It’s bittersweet and beautiful, and larger than life. So SO GOOD!
Tim Atseff – Final Edition will be on view through December 29, 2024. The Everson Museum of Art is located at 401 Harrison Street, Syracuse, New York, 13202. See their web-site for further details including hours of operation and how to become a member in order to support the museum and keep up-to-date on future events..
