Happiness for Instance I

One of the leading neo-expressionist artists, Bleckner has already had a major retrospective of his works at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. He has had numerous solo exhibitions in major museums throughout the world. An honorary alumnus of New York University and CalArts, Bleckner continues to enthrall art enthusiasts with abstract works that continue to reach the high expectations of his audience. It is well known that much of Bleckner?s work makes references to AIDS and the deaths related to this disease. In this recent work titled Happiness For Instance #1, the cell-like images could also be mistaken for jellyfish. One of the images near the bottom of the work resembles the puffball fish also found in the ocean. Since the major thread throughout this artist?s work has been AIDS, the likelihood that these shapes are cells is highly probable. If so, perhaps the title and the pale grays, greens and yellows relate to hopeful new discoveries in the treatment of AIDS. No matter what these images represent, the artist still shows us his usual expertise in blending the abstract with the representational.