Link to Post:
http://www.artcritical.com/2012/08/11/claudia-chaseling/
Christina Kee reviews the exhibition Claudia Chaseling: Infiltration at SLAG Contemporary, Brooklyn, on view through August 30, 2012.
Kee writes that Chaseling's "small but ambitious show consists of a video, a handful of canvasses and a large, vaguely squid-shaped wall painting that appears to be divulging, or perhaps digesting, a number of discrete miniature paintings from within its unruly parameters. Strong looping forms, deadpan-color contrasts and decisive execution formally define an exhibition that initially seems engaged in a playful riff on contemporary abstraction. The more slowly absorbed narrative and imagistic elements of the show point, however, to an unexpected cluster of concerns: chance, anomaly, violence and the imaginings of post-apocalyptic experience."
Link to Post:
http://danielgalas.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-new-favorite-artist-wu-guanzhong.html
Daniel Galas blogs about the work of Wu Guanzhong, recently on view in the exhibition Revolutionary Ink: The Paintings of Wu Guanzhong at the Asia Society, New York.
"What is so striking about Guanzhong's work is that it is so fresh, simple, modern, and ancient. It is amazing how he has transformed traditional Asian art practices into modern masterpieces without being self conscious or straining too hard to do so. Wu's art effortlessly switches back and forth from impeccable draftsmanship to total abstraction... Wu Guanzhong's art has a very calming and refreshing effect and it demonstrates the possibility of an expert representational painter successfully integrating abstraction."
Link to Post:
http://www.furiousdreams.com/blog/?p=12673
Victoria Webb interviews painter Ryan Coleman about his work and process.
Discussing influences Coleman remarks: "I tend to lean toward abstraction and obscuring the subject matter or imagery into something which contains a shroud of mystery. I’m drawn to work that has a bit of this mystery in it, and one artist in particular who comes to mind in regard to this is J.M.W. Turner. I saw an exhibition of his a few years ago at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and was deeply moved by his paintings. I was also struck by the size and commanding presence they emit, and that they teeter between abstraction and representation."
Link to Post:
http://artnewengland.com/blogs/altoon-sultan-a-studio-visit/
Craig Stockwell visits the Vermont studio of painter and blogger Altoon Sultan.
Stockwell writes that Sultan "has moved into a rich, connected and powerfully self-directed engagement in a wide field of artistic endeavor and questioning. She is living art rather than simply going to the studio... At present there are several different projects going on, all purposeful and all ardently communicated through postings on Facebook: First, there are the paintings. The paintings are small tempera-on- parchment formal studies of the color and forms of machinery. The paintings are vivid in their clear presence and are evidence of a love of close-slow observation. Then there are sets of textile abstractions that have developed using traditional rug-hooking techniques with hand dyed wool; here abstraction sings simply and boldly. The textiles are both accomplished and casual in a blend that recalls Richard Tuttle."
Link to Post:
http://mnaves.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/painting-on-paper-josef-albers-in-america-at-the-morgan-library-museum/
Mario Naves reviews the exhibition Josef Albers in America: Painting on Paper at the Morgan Library, New York, on view through October 14, 2012.
Naves writes: "The majority of Josef Albers in America is dedicated to informal studies on paper. Covered with scrawled notations, flurried applications of color and grease stains, they reveal Albers’s rigorous methodology at its most approachable. No Platonic exegeses here, thank you; instead we have the remnants of work-a-day life in the studio. The Morgan show allows us to experience Albers as a man given to curiosity and play—and it prompts double-takes."
Link to Post:
http://bombsite.com/articles/6728
Richard J. Goldstein looks at the recent work of Stephen Posen which merges painting and photography.
Goldstein writes: "Access and memory are two words that come to mind when viewing Posen’s work. His initial question of communication in turn became one of recognition. How does the viewer comprehend recognizable space through added layers of concealment? This comprehension is all about access to the recognizable ground which, when visually obstructed, relies upon memory and intuition to complete the picture... Through the years, the strategies may have changed but the game is still the same for Posen: how one accesses meaning in the languages of paint and photography via memory."
Link to Post:
http://youtu.be/a1AntEoZ7S4
Painter Mike Cockrill discusses his new work with James Kalm.
Kalm notes that "After nearly forty years of working as a figurative painter, with a background of training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, and battling notions of aesthetic good taste with his own weird version of 'bad painting,' the unexpected has happened. Cockrill has begun a series of semi abstract works. Declaring 'I was tired and sick of my own work' the artist begins painting and thinking about classic Modernism, and how he could use it" to move his work in new directions.
Link to Post:
http://www.gorkysgranddaughter.com/2012/08/franklin-evans-july-2012.html
Christopher Joy and Zachary Keeting visit the studio of Franklin Evans. Evans discusses multiple elements of his art practice including abstract painting, trompe l'oeil, collage, and installation, and sound works. The video includes a sample of one of Evans' sound pieces playing while the camera pans the studio.
Evans' exhibition eyesontheedge was recently on view at Sue Scott Gallery.
Link to Post:
http://art-rated.com/?p=544
Jonathan Beer and Lily Koto Olive interview painter Kristine Moran about her work and process.
Moran comments: "...because my work depends largely on the painting process itself, even the most detailed sketch will at times translate into something completely different on canvas. For the most part, the paintings tend to morph into unexpected territory as they evolve. I find that if I try to stick too closely to the original intent, my paintings become didactic or too illustrative for my liking. On the other hand, if I’m able to stay completely open, the subject matter emerges through painting. A certain brush stroke or gesture will make me suddenly shift the direction of the work into a new direction, and it’s imperative that I stay open to these unexpected turns."
Link to Post:
http://anaba.blogspot.com/2012/08/brenda-goodman.html
Martin Bromirski photo blogs installation photos from the recent exhibition Brenda Goodman: Paintings at John Davis Gallery in Hudson, New York.
In a 2007 interview with David Brody, Goodman said about her work: "I... move back and forth between abstraction, figuration and the combination of the two a lot in my work as well as changing scale from very small to very large….power in the small painting and intimacy in the large ones. All these things are part of me now and they inform each painting I do... I try and stay with the intensity and the emotion, the feeling, without making it ironic... Every square inch has to mean something. There’s no corner of the painting that doesn’t have the same amount of conviction andintegrity as another part. Every square inch should be important and full."
