Robert Davidson: Abstract Impulse
John Seed interviews painter Robert Davidson whose exhibition Abstract Impulse is on view at the Seattle Art Museum through February 16, 2014. Seed writes: "When artist Robert Davidson — a Canadian artist of Haida heritage — talks about his reverence for the Old Masters he isn't referring to Rembrandt or Titian: he is referring to […]
Abstraction @ Marcia Wood Gallery
Dona Mintz reviews the exhibition Abstract Part 1 at Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, on view through December 21, 2013. The show features works by Sydney Cohen, Jeff Conefry, Kim Piotrowski, and Barbara Campbell Thomas. Mintz writes that Piotrowski's works "approach the possibility of narrative, though the artist deftly pulls back just in time" Conefry, Mintz […]
Leonora Carrington: Celtic Surrealist
Darran Anderson reviews the exhibition Leonora Carrington: Celtic Surrealist at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, on view through January 26, 2014. Anderson writes that the show "demonstrates how Carrington, with reference to her Irish background and Mexican surroundings, embraced the possibilities offered by an art that we are continually reimagining. Nothing is fixed, […]
Sangram Majumdar: Studio Visit
Zachary Keeting and Christopher Joy visit the studio of painter Sangram Majumdar whose exhibition Peel is on view at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, New York through December 22, 2013. Majumdar comments: "I'm toying with the appearance of accessibility that representation carries with it… The question of why paint something that exists or why paint […]
David Hockney: A Bigger Vision
Hearne Pardee reviews the exhibition David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition at the de Young Museum, San Francisco, on view through January 20, 2014. Pardee writes that the show "is expansive and multifaceted, driven by Hockney’s unflagging curiosity about picture-making and his relentless rhythm of production. Like Claude Monet, Hockney works in series; his paintings address […]
Jake Berthot: Interview
Jennifer Samet interviews painter Jake Berthot about his work and career. Berthot comments: "when I started working with grids. I discovered that every rectangle in the world has this gestalt: vertical and horizontal axes and then tension points that come from those. Through geometry, if I worked and measured, these notches could shift our focal […]
Wols’ Religiosity
Michael Bise reflects on a perceived religiosity in the work of Wols, on view at the the Menil Collection, Houston, through January 12, 2014. Bise writes that looking at Wols paintings "was [like] looking at religious icons—an impression I never have after looking at Ernst, Magritte, Pollock or even Rothko? … I see Wols as […]
Arthur Peña: Interview
Benjamin Terry interviews painter Arthur Peña whose exhibition slight shift, steady hand will be on view at Dallas Contemporary from January 11 – March 30, 2014. Peña comments: "My take on (intuition) is that when I’m working within the visual language I’ve set up for myself and my work for a certain amount of time there […]
Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson
Eliot Markell blogs about an exhibition of works by Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson at Pocket Utopia, New York, on view through December 15, 2013. Markell writes: "Jónsson’s pieces could be considered subverting painting not only by their pale, unbrushed chroma, but also by the craft technique used to fabricate them. These are not extroverted works. Infused […]
Julian Schnabel @ The Brant Foundation
Odette Gregory reviews an exhibition of works by Julian Schnabel at The Brant Foundation Art Study Center, Greenwich, CT, on view through March 2014. Gregory writes: "Wax paintings, plate paintings, works on paper, sculpture and works on novel materials like Kabuki screens are held together through conversation the pieces have with each other, rather than […]
Patience & Painting
Brendan Carroll exhorts contemporary painters to embrace more patience in the studio. Carroll writes: "Productivity, redundancy, and professional practices can be confused with smart and successful art. But it’s more than okay to be patient. Patience can be necessary for a piece to be worked to its natural completion… In the studio, a painter might […]
Wols @ the Menil Collection
Betsy Huete reviews the exhibition Wols: Retrospective at the Menil Collection, Houston, on view through January 12, 2014. Huete writes that it "becomes clear within moments that Wols, while being influenced by the people of his time like the Surrealists and Paul Klee, was clearly looking introspectively, producing innovative works that seemed to be speaking […]
Maya Hayuk: Studio Visit
Maria Calandra visits the studio of painter Maya Hayuk. Hayuk's mural works will be on view at Wynwood Walls, Art Basel 2013. Calandra writes: "While I was in [Hayuk's] studio she was working on four separate paintings on panel which where similar to her murals except for their size. With each painting in a different […]
Helmut Federle: The Ferner Paintings
An excerpt from "Inner Seeing," Erich Franz's text for the exhibition Helmut Federle: The Ferner Paintings at Peter Blum Gallery, New York, on view through January 11, 2014. Franz writes: "If one intended to classify in words that which is visible, just a few would suffice, and they would be the same for every painting: […]
Lisa Adams: Aesthetic Dimension of Melancholy
Lita Barrie writes about the paintings of Lisa Adams whose works are on view at Miami Project, CB1 Gallery, booth #215, December 3-8, 2013. Barrie notes that "Adams’ recent melancholic paintings, do not represent melancholy in obvious themes and iconography they exhale it through enigmas – created by combining different emotions and different painting styles […]
Diana Horowitz: Interview
Larry Groff interviews painter Diana Horowitz about her work. Horowitz remarks: "I tend to be an intuitive person and painter. I often find that careful measuring takes me away from my natural way of seeing so I tend to avoid doing too much of it… I usually don’t invent things or move things, but I […]
Anoka Faruqee: Substance & Accident
Rob Marks reviews the exhibition Anoka Faruqee: Substance and Accident at Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, on view through December 7, 2013. Marks notes that "the perception that Faruqee’s patterns are self-evident—arise only because the conventional idea of moiré-ness, like an insidious stereotype, may distract viewers from the particular conditions that characterize Faruqee’s expression of the […]
Andy Parkinson: Interview
Valerie Brennan interviews painter Andy Parkinson about his work. Parkinson comments: "The grid is nearly always my starting point because that seems the most rational way of dividing the surface to create a pattern that relates to the dimensions of the support. I think in terms of pattern and surface as opposed to ‘picture’. If […]
Materiality & Transcendence
Considering works by Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra, Dan Colen, Botticelli and others, Martin Mugar examines the differences between materiality and transcendence in painting. Mugar writes that works such as Richter's abstract paintings "risk and do at times descend into pure materiality. This embrace of the material results in what I would call art that is […]
Jim Byrne: Interview
Victoria Webb interviews painter Jim Byrne about his work on the occasion of his recent exhibition at Tew Galleries, Atlanta. Byrne remarks: "At the start of a painting I am often thinking of a kind of gesture or relationship between people or between a person and an object or a space that resonates with some […]