Be humble. Be simple. Paint the obvious. This is the mantra that Brian Jermusyk, a lecturer in the Council of the Humanities and Visual Arts, picked up while pursuing his Masters degree at Brooklyn College.
But don't be fooled into thinking this means his work remains within the confines of genteel, uncontroversial subject matter. The most memorable work that Jermusyk showed during a slide lecture in 185 Nassau was anything but.
Having eased the audience into his lecture with landscape studies of his childhood farm on Long Island and figural compositions rich with symbolism, Jermusyk cautioned that he would soon be showing several sexually explicit pieces— and would not be insulted if anyone felt compelled to make an exit.
What followed his caveat were drawings depicting a man and woman engaged in various libidinous acts, in various positions and showing various degrees of explicitness.
It probably wouldn't be appropriate to describe it in any more detail. Here, one's imagination could be a useful tool.
But Jermusyk said he felt challenged to do these studies after seeing the erotic works of several other artists.
"I wondered could I address some of those issues in my own language. What would happen if I just began to draw what came out of my own erotic world?" he said.
These studies pulled him towards his current work, centered on a character meant to represent the drama critic Kenneth Tynan, who passed away in 1980. This body of studiesd included the sketch of a man under a dental lamp having his teeth worked on by a female hygienist.
"I'm pleased with this drawing because it seems to freshly compress so much of what have been my interests," Jermusyk said.
Those interests include the figure—the depiction of the body—narrative, forms of expression, compositions that are expressive and metaphoric, perception and gaze, penetration and desire and the encroaching awareness of one's own mortality, according to Jermusyk.
He showed another drawing of "K.T.," as Jermusyk liked to call him, having his prostate checked. Jermusky said he also planned to draw K.T. with his analyst and with his mistress, who, according to Jermusyk, he loves to spank!
Why has Jermusyk chosen Kenneth Tynan—or K.T.—as the character of these studies? After reading the recently published diaries of Tynan, Jermusyk said he realized the critic shared many of the same longings, frustrations and vulnerabilities as himself, as well as Tyan's awareness of the velocity with which life passes. Creating a character in "tragic-comic alter-ego" was a way to work through these issues, Jermusyk said.
Tragic-comic alter-ego? No, it's not pretentious art-speak. It's actually quite simple:
Jermusyk has cast K.T. as cartoon-like figure. He has used unconventional body proportions to caricaturize K.T. This cartoon-like figure is used to explore mores serious themes — hence the "tragic." And Jermusyk, himself, identifies with K.T. on some level — hence the "alter-ego." Tragic-comic alter-ego — yeah, it does make sense.
Jermusyk said, while he didn't pick up on it at first, he thinks his new body of studies— the K.T. drawings— has promise. Having seen what K.T. has already done— he has gone to dental appointments and prostate exams and been a naughty hedonist— Jermusyk's claim raises the question, "What will K.T. do next?"
These studies done in what Jermusyk describes as a cartoon-like, carnivalesque or antic style are part of a larger endeavor on his part: to create a formal language for himself—with emphasis on "himself."
"The reason I have selected to show you the work from my past was I think a lot of my life as an artist has been about trying to do the right thing — to be the tonal painter and to do the perspective and do the figure and know the anatomy, but I wasn't sure that was getting me any place."
"In some ways, what I'm doing know feels very fresh and kind of strange and a little bit scary because I don't know where it's going to go or who's going to be interested in it, but it's sort of like I need to do it," Jermusyk said.
This detachment from the tastes of critics in favor of personal exploration appears elsewhere in Jermusyk's work.
He was well aware that his studies of the female nude were "sitting ducks for feminist critical theory." He even conceded his figures probably did take on qualities of the still life and suggested a need for control and order. But Jermusyk said he continues to draw from the model on a weekly basis, if possible, because he enjoys it.
Be humble. Be simple. Paint the obvious. Jermusyk's mantra was echoed in his claim, "The seen, the ordinary, is good."
Erotic drawings that call for a warning and caricatures of a deceased drama critic are ordinary? Well, that seems to be up for debate.
But, without a doubt, Jermusyk's work is refreshingly adventuresome.
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