Jonathan Goodman reviews Brice Marden: New Paintings at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, on view through June 23, 2012.
Of Marden's painting Ru Ware Project, 2007-2012, Goodman writes that the "monochromatic panels effectively join Marden's interest in historical Chinese culture with his minimalist work done two generations earlier. The painting exquisitely makes use of colors that come from a thousand years ago, in ways that dazzle through subtlety… at 526 West 22nd Street, there is a group of new works done on marble, which inevitably refer to the six-year period, 1981 through 1987, during which he painted on marble and bridged the minimalist paintings with the calligraphic ones. In the new group of paintings, it is possible to see how inventive the artist is; First Square (2011) looks like a transformation from the ancient to the very new."