The Lush, Gooey Passion of Chaim Soutine

Most painters I know get all gooey when Chaim Soutine's work is mentioned. The lush gooeyness of his paint has something to do with it, but more importantly the passion and exuberance of his regime is what most inspires such awe.

Life in Death: Still Lifes and Select Masterworks of Chaim Soutine is a small exhibit, just sixteen paintings, of grand importance, up now at Paul Kasmin Gallery's alternate space on 27th Street in Chelsea. Kasmin's space is small but museum quality and a perfect venue for an intimate experience with these rarely seen paintings.

To see these works on loan from private collections and not for sale, several artists were visiting the gallery on the day I was there, just a nose length away, inhaling the lush paint of this crazy wonderful artist. Soutine will do this to us. His brush was loaded with medium soaked paint and he worked fast. The slaughtered poultry seems fresh even to this day.