ROMANCE AND ALL THAT JAZZ: STEVEN HIRSCH’S LOVE PORTFOLIO

ART BORN OF LOVE. ART THAT SOMETIMES REFERS TO LOVE AND INTIMACY. WE CHECK IN ON ONE OF OUR FAVORITE, MOST IMPULSIVE CREATORS AND HIS MUSES.

by Edward M. Gómez and Steven Hirsch

Edward: With Valentine’s Day looming and old Barry White records blaring in the background (“Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Baby,” “Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up”), our thoughts are turning to romance, amour, chocolate, bouquets of roses (red ones, please), and the fact that, today more than ever, what the world needs now is a tsunami-size outbreak of love, sweet love.

Steven Hirsch, “Ken and Barbie Walk in the Park,” 2023, finger-painted acrylic and pencil on paper, 18 x 24 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist

Love for and toward other members of the human family is a very formidable force, of course, but what strikes us at the moment is the power of free-floating, abundant love, love, love as an all-around tonic for what ails us feeble, foible-prone human creatures.

If, as ancient Greek philosophers posited, beauty is an expression of truth, and truth embodies a certain kind of beauty, and as later legions of poets have suggested, love may be seen as a form of truth expressed, then what’s the link between love, truth, beauty, and art?

“How do I love thee?” the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) asked in her greeting-card-worthy “Sonnet 43.”

Steven Hirsch, “Love,” 2023, acrylic on paper, 18 x 24 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist

Looking at brutjournal contributing photographer-artist Steven Hirsch’s (Instagram: @stevenhirsch) always vivacious paintings, which are packed with delirious energy and quirky charm — his subjects have included serial killers, pole-dancing strippers, and rich dames with too much plastic surgery — we cannot help wondering: What kind of unconditional affection for the human family in all its wonderfully dumb, surprisingly enterprising, predictably unpredictable meshuggaas does Hirsch possess?

Or what kind of love for the wacky spectacle of the human comedy his pictures so enthusiastically portray is it that motivates him in the first place?

To examine Steven’s paintings, with such thoughts in mind, is to ask:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love you like a comfortable old shoe. I love you like a slice of deep-dish pizza. I love you like the smell of a new car on a Friday night at the drive-in.

Steven Hirsch, “Besties,” 2023, Sharpie markers, acrylic watercolor, pencil, and mixed media on paper, 17 x 22 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist

I love you like a freshly declogged drain, a pink flamingo, a well-mixed gin and tonic, old Miles Davis records, a kitty cat’s purr, a flawlessly stolen third base, the call of the cuckoo in the rainforests of Borneo, and a skinny-dipping jump in a lake on a sweaty summer afternoon.

I love you like fresh paint oozing out of the tube in a declaration of color, glorious color. I love you like I love this magical goop’s slimy, viscous goo.

I love you like an exit ramp on the Pacific Coast Highway. I love you like the crunch of popcorn and the slither of a Chinese noodle. I love you like the sculpted tail of a tiny French poodle. I love you like the state anthem of Connecticut, “Yankee Doodle.”

I love you like the sun coming up on an autumn morning. I love you like an icicle melting on a winter afternoon. I love you like the sight of a falling star. I love you like a feather brushed across my naked butt cheek. I love you like the roundness of my bicycle’s tires and the ribbons dangling from our hot-air balloon. I love you like a hobo in repose, aimlessly riding the rails.

I love you. Get it?

Now leave me alone so I can paint!

Steven Hirsch, “I Love Being a Model,” 2023, acrylic, pencil, and Sharpie markers on paper, 12 x 9 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist

Steven: My partner Christina, a therapist, is the love of my life who makes me more aware of who I am — more aware of the deeper Steven the gruff and tough, visible Steven has trouble showing. With this sense of self-reflection and general thoughts about love and art in mind, here are two different statements, one from each of the Stevens who, together, are me. Here are some reflections about love and art:

(1)
Love. I never paint thinking the finished work will be about love.

I might recognize love in my works after I’ve made them, as I have in the selection of my paintings we’re publishing here, but that’s never my intent. Instead, I paint intuitively from my memory and informed by my perspective on the world.

I don’t like clichés and I find that love — emotional love — comes in all forms. I create my work organically and spontaneously with a sense of purpose but only when I’m finished do I truly understand what my intention might have been, if, in fact, I’m ever able to do so.

Steven Hirsch, “Turtle Baby,” 2023, colored pencil on stretched canvas, 16 x 20 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist

(2)
Love. I’ve been wrapped and enveloped in layers of love my whole life.

I rarely paint thinking that a finished work will be about love, but love is foremost in my heart.

I paint intuitively from my memory, personal experiences, fantasies, and my perspective on the world. Love has formed who I am. I don’t like clichés and I find that love — emotional love — comes in all forms. I create my work organically and spontaneously with a sense of purpose but only when I’m finished do I truly understand what my intention might have been, if, in fact, I’m ever able to do so.