James Kalm visits two concurrent New York exhibitions of works by Joan Mitchell: Trees at Cheim & Read (through August 29) and Black Drawings and Related Works at Lennon, Weinberg, Inc (through June 28).

In the catalogue essay by John Yau for the Trees show at Cheim & Read, Yau quotes Paul Schimmel: "Never randomly placing lines, Mitchell precisely constructs a picture. Her works are 'about making a picture' (cubism) and not 'letting it happen' (automatism). Her works epitomize a shift in abstract expressionism from chance, hazard and the uncontrolled freedom of the unconscious to a new direction with breath, freshness and light within a highly structured armature…"