Eliot Markell blogs about the recent exhibition Arnold Mesches: Eternal Return at Life on Mars Gallery, Bushwick.

Markell writes: "In the tradition of socialist atheism, Mesches embraces a secular perspective. His paintings do not indulge in speculative metaphysics. They are festooned with feisty decorations that may not soothe the soul, but are soulful… Mesches’s art is laden with character metaphor. This cogent ability to infuse compositions with symbolic versions of person and personality lend a kind of veiled intimacy to his representational prowess. But you don’t really get to know the artist, so much as respect him. Cryptic revelations imbued with fire conjure up Charles Burchfield’s burning houses without the spiritual ascendancy. This conflagration consumes an artist consumed by a desire to paint succinctly forceful gestures."