Simon Dinnerstein’s Irregular Grid
Daniel Maidman blogs about Simon Dinnerstein's painting The Fulbright Triptych, on view at the German Consulate, New York through March 31, 2014. Maidman writes: "Apart from its structural delights, the grid has a human dimension which appeals to me. It speaks of the yearning for completeness. He who begins a grid wishes to say everything […]
Conversation with Alfredo Gisholt
Gisholt paints timeless, poetic worlds where the everyday and the grand tradition of painting merge.
Eric Fischl: Interview
Julie L. Belcove profiles painter Erich Fischl about his work on the occasion of the exhibition Eric Fischl: Friends, Lovers and other Constellations at the Albertina, Vienna, on view through May 18, 2014. In the show, Belcove reports, "there are plenty of nudes and high-tension scenes among the nearly 90 works. For Fischl, the body […]
Thorton Dial: In From the Cold
Richard Benari considers the work of Thornton Dial whose work is on view in the exhibition Outside/In at Life on Mars Gallery, Bushwick, on view through March 2, 2014. Benari writes that there’s "no question that locking Mr. Dial’s work into the 'outsider' narrative diminishes it, turning it into artifact instead of art–into evidence of […]
Reconsidering the Big Picture
Howard Hurst reviews the exhibition The Big Picture at the New York Academy of Art, on view through March 2, 2014. Hurst writes that "we’ve been desensitized [to large-scale art work]. And because it’s so often overdone, I find myself increasingly critical of it. Yet, I walked into the exhibition space at the New York […]
Peri Schwartz @ Perimeter Gallery
Chris Miller reviews an exhibition of paintings by Peri Schwartz at Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, on view through February 28, 2014. Miller writes: "Schwartz’s rectangular containers are tightly ordered, but still there’s a restless quality suggesting that she’s never quite satisfied with them. What really excites Schwartz is the studio—a large, high-ceilinged workspace. Daylight pours in […]
Kristin Calabrese: Interview
Julia Schwartz interviews painter Kristin Calabrese about her work and career. Calabrese remarks: "For me, painting is a concrete monument to the thoughts, ideas, and feelings that I put on the canvas. The viewer cannot say something isn’t there or true or didn’t happen because it’s right there in plain sight." Commenting on "the formal […]
A Dialogue with Nature: Romantic Landscapes
Emily Spicer reviews the exhibition A Dialogue with Nature: Romantic Landscapes from Britain and Germany at The Courtauld Gallery, London, on view through April 27, 2014. Spicer writes that the "tendency towards introspection was a common theme in Romantic landscape art and, as A Dialogue with Nature illustrates, so too was the direct observation of […]
Valerie Brennan: In Process
As part of his series "In Process," Paul Behnke posts a photo blog documenting the development of a new painting by Valerie Brennan. As noted in the press release for her recent exhibition No Chance of Rain at Giampietro Gallery, New Haven: "For Brennan every panel is an adventure in paint. The images are often […]
Abstract Painting in NYC
Paul Corio surveys a selection of current and recent abstract painting shows in New York including: Michael Brennan at Minus Space (through Feb 15), Lori Ellison at McKenzie Fine Art (through Feb 16), Anoka Faruqee at Koenig Clinton (through Feb 22), Melissa Meyer at Lennon, Weinberg (through Feb 15), Mike Childs at Robert Henry Contemporary, Things Still Left […]
Lauren Luloff: Pineapples & Teapots
James Kalm visits the exhibition Lauren Luloff Pineapples and Teapots at The Hole, New York, on view through March 1, 2014. Kalm notes: "Employing a mixture of fabrics and meshes, using bleach to white out brush drawn images, and exploring the violation of the picture plane, Luloff brings a large scale ambition to collage. Having […]
Cézanne And Gauguin: Theoretical Brutality
Donatien Grau considers the very different aesthetic paths followed by Gauguin and Cézanne. Grau writes: "Cézanne and Gauguin made two antagonistic choices—while they had actually started on common ground, both were fascinated with literature very early on… [Cézanne ]strove to become another Poussin, and to change painting from the inside only, to leave aside all […]
Daniel Levine: Interview
Brent Hallard interviews painter Daniel Levine on the occasion of Levine's exhibition The Way Around at Churner and Churner, New York, on view through February 22, 2014. Levine comments: "When monochromes are successful, they are sincere, well painted, intelligent, and transcendent. As much as the work incorporates my own experiences and the world around me–I […]
Iva Gueorguieva: Interview
Arthur Peña interviews painter Iva Gueorguieva whose work is on view at Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, New York, through March 8, 2014. Gueorguieva comments: "There is a muscle memory that becomes alive in the act of painting and I feel it… In painting there is a gradual buildup of layers. It gives me tremendous […]
Lois Dodd: Nature, Reduced But Full
John Goodrich reviews the exhibition Lois Dodd: Recent Paintings at Alexandre Gallery, New York, on view through March 1, 2014. Goodrich writes: "Something mysterious happens when a painter commits impressions of nature to canvas. Even though the act of painting involves reductions—simplifications of form, omissions of detail—expressiveness is liable to expand. For an artist liberated […]
Suzanne Laura Kammin: On Process
Richard Benari talks to Suzanne Laura Kammin about process in painting on the occasion of her two-person exhibition with Marianne Gagnier at The Painting Center, New York, (Ro Lohin in the Project Room) on view through February 22, 2014. Kammin comments: "My painting process requires intuition. Just like in life, the magic comes from letting […]
Spanish Drawings: Visions & Nightmares
Allison Meier reviews the exhibition Visions and Nightmares: Four Centuries of Spanish Drawings at the Morgan Library, New York, on view through May 11, 2014. The show includes works from the 16th to the 19th century and features drawings by Goya, Ribera, Murillo, Vicente Carducho, Alonso Cano, Eugenio Lucas, and others. Meier writes: "Given that […]
Loren Munk: Studio Visit
Maria Calandra visits the studio of painter Loren Munk, whose show You Are Here will be on view at Freight + Volume Gallery, New York from February 13 – March 15, 2014. Calandra writes that during the visit she took "some time to imagine what an undertaking it must be for him to plan one […]
Sam Francis @ Crocker Art Museum
David M. Roth reviews the exhibition Sam Francis: Five Decades of Abstract Expressionist Painting from California Collections @ the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, on view through April 20, 2014. Roth writes that "this exhibit makes clear, some of the strongest influences on Francis’ approach to painting were his own near-death experiences. They arrived at regular intervals. […]
Julie Heffernan on Pierre Bonnard
Julie Heffernan considers Pierre Bonnard's Large Yellow Nude (1931). Heffernan interprets the foreground of the painting: "If you look closely you can see inchoate thumbs and scribbled knuckles that are holding some obscurely drawn, scribbley thing. Suddenly we realize that those thumbs and knuckles function pictorially as our own… We become Bonnard looking at his […]