Welcome to One Fine Show, where The Observer highlights a recent exhibition at a museum outside of New York City, a place we know and love that has received widespread attention.
I recently rewatched it angry bull (1980) pushes this into my top three for Martin Scorsese. Despite being shot in black and white – either because it’s a period piece or as a homage to Federico Fellini because it really feels like something he could have made – the film explores a range of colorful themes ranging from twisted male sexuality to the all-out nature of American entertainment. Actually, it has nothing to do with boxing, although Robert De Niro’s Jake LaMotta is so self-destructive that you start to welcome scenes of other people abusing him.
A lot can be done with the boxing theme, as evidenced by the recent opening of “Fast Strikes, Light Dance: Boxing Artists” at the Norton Museum of Art. The group show features over 100 works of art, most of them contemporary, although the exhibition harkens back to the days of boxing as one of the major entertainments, including some beautiful Eadweard Muybridge ) and the rich, lonely watercolors of Edward Hopper. Before we move on to older artists, we have to mark George Bellows. It’s hard to take your eyes off his otherworldly body Introduction to John Sullivan (1923).
This is one of those museum shows where the subject matter and curation are so broad that there’s no real chorus, just a bunch of really cool guitar solos. Ed Paschke Boxer with mask (2004) threatens to be swallowed up by the falling wallpaper behind him, and given his sickening color palette, psychedelic tattoos, and weird stuff on his face, he might have just been knocked out. Jonas Wood’s killer (2012) also created a cool character, with belts on belts and textures on textures in his smug, veiny-arm warrior body. I prefer these to the bland ones produced by the likes of Sean Leonard. Isn’t Ed Ruscha a jerk? In this program, he has a work called I told you no one should ever fight him (painted for John Steinbeck) (2023).
See also: An observer’s guide to the must-visit January art fairs this year
Of course, women can do a lot on this topic. One of the best works in the exhibition is art forum Judy Chicago’s 1970 ad. In the video, Chicago leans against the ropes wearing gloves and a sweatshirt emblazoned with her recently changed name. Her new dealer, Jack Glenn, had one foot in the ring and looked on. She’s a worthy bet, as evidenced by the carefully chosen image of the boxer in the background and the perfect composition of the photo.
The exhibition does not feature any work by my favorite boxing painter, Leroy Neiman, whose foundation I have worked with. Remember how Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed ended up beating each other up? rocky iii (1982) and become a painting? Neiman painted that picture. He was ringside at Madison Square Garden whenever there was a boxing match, his swirling paint having a hidden depth that showed how deeply he had studied a boxer’s moves. One wonders if we will ever get an artist who can capture the UFC with such grace.
“Fast strikes, light dance: the boxing artist” will be on display at the Norton Museum of Art through March 9, 2025.
