Milton Resnick The Elephant in the Room at CHEIM & READ

James Kalm was a young painter just arrived in New York when he discovered the work of Milton Resnick. Of course he'd seen articles in magazines like ARTFORUM on the artist, but nothing prepared him for the "real thing". "The Elephant in the Room" not only refers to the pachyderm like facture of these works, but to the aesthetic questions that this type of nonfigurative, nonspatial, nonillusional painting presents. Listed among the "New York School" painters by Irving Sandler with an asterisk (too young to be an Ab-Exer, and too old to be in the 10th Street School) and labeled a "Purist" and, "a school unto himself" by Connine Robins in The Plurallist Era, classifying Resnick is a problem. Even after his death in 2004, Resnick's work still presents challenges to the audience. Whatever one's opinion, this work is unquestionably unique in concept and profound in its ambition.