Looking & Seeing: Neil Farber

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Neil Farber

Upon first introduction to the artwork of Neil Farber, one may immediately notice a sense of fun brought on by the cartoon-like drawings and bright colors. When inspected more closely, however, the viewer will find that the compositions often evoke a feeling of sickness or impending doom. Farber's work often employs horror vacui (the often disturbing method of meticulously filling empty spaces), which adds to the darkness and disorientation. In one piece, a sea of people is literally a sea.

Untitled, 2005

In Neil Farber's artwork, one will most often find the repeated motif of a black haired male figure. These repeated figures seem to represent the human condition as an anonymous experience with the goods and bads of life sparing no one.

I am reminded of an image that was on the wall of my childhood home for years and years. It is an image of an acrylic painting by Mark Sabin.

Mark Sabin
Rush Hour, 1979

Though Sabin's piece focuses more definitively upon business men crowded into the streets of New York City, the feeling is similar. The viewer is situated in the midst of an anonymous crowd. Though surrounded by people, one feels isolated and alone.

The repeated male figure is sometimes a Dracula (see below). This is at once hilarious while simultaneously creepy. These denote a somewhat sinister view; that perhaps of a capitalist society where the business-suited individuals are frowning, bloodsucking monsters, only out for their own gain.

Untitled, 2005

The multiplicity of the black-haired male in so many of Farber's compositions may be a reference to our modern, technological age. An age in which there is an explosion of population and where distances between peoples are rapidly shortening. People are crowding into cities and becoming reliant on technology, but somehow there is a vast sense among individuals of isolation and depression. Be it to technology, expansion, exploitation, or trade, there is a shrinking of differentiation between peoples and cultures around the world, which seems as though it can only lead to very nefarious ends.