Morandi & the Ethics of Abstraction

Reflecting on Barry Schwabsky's recent article of Giorgio Morandi (October 2013 ARTFORUM), Robert Linsley muses on Morandi and "abstraction as an 'ethics of the real.'" He writes: "The ethics of art, abstraction above all, are found in the right attention to the work, and Morandi could certainly manage that. That human realities (meaning politics) are […]

Justine Frischmann: Battle of Faith & Doubt

Matthew Marchand reviews painter Justine Frischmann's exhibition The Battle of Faith and Doubt at Unspeakable Projects, San Francisco. Marchand writes that "there is a balance sought by the work in the show … at one end is intention at the other chance, between them is an engagement with the everyday… The paintings appear aloof and unhurried; they are […]

Ellen Lanyon (1926 – 2013)

Jason Foumberg remembers painter Ellen Lanyon (1926 – 2013). Foumberg recalls that Lanyon "was more than willing to open the encyclopedia of Chicago art history that resided in her head and relate its content—but when it came to talking about her own art, she liked to keep things a little mysterious. Like the Victorian-era gadgets […]

Jane Fox Hipple: Corresponding Selves

Brian Fee reviews the exhibition Jane Fox Hipple: Corresponding Selves at DODGE Gallery, New York, on view through October 27, 2013. Fee writes that Hipple "contorts and pushes the limits of painting and total composition… [she] stretches relationships furthest with a duo of two-part works, including always on the lookout & Honeypot, positioned near the […]

Amy Sillman: One Lump or Two

Leah Triplett reviews Amy Sillman: one lump or two at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, on view through January 5, 2014. Triplett writes that "Sillman’s work is rooted in the 'triumph of American painting,' witnessed mid-century with the height of abstract expressionism, and cultivated in an environment of painterly dissent that characterized the 20th […]

Cubism & Its Legacy

Altoon Sultan blogs about the exhibition Cubism and Its Legacy at the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH, on view through December 20, 2013. Sultan writes that the works on view, "drawn from the museum's extensive collections, [are] a fascinating survey showing the enduring interest in cubism's way of… taking apart of the visual world […]

Janice Nowinski’s Trustworthy Image

Daniel Maidman visits the studio of painter Janice Nowinski on the occasion of the exhibition Janice Nowinski: Recent Paintings at John Davis Gallery, Hudson, New York, on view from October 10 – November 3, 2013. Maidman writes: "Nowinski works, at the ground level, moment by moment, through artistic intuition. She works on her paintings forever: […]

The Many Faces of Abstract Painting

Howard Hurst reviews the exhibition Color Line, curated by Rico Gatson, at Outpost Artist Resources, Ridgewood, Queens, on view through October 25, 2013. The show includes works by Liz Atzberger, Robert Otto Epstein, Rico Gatson, Ben Godward, Alex Lee Harris, Bjoern Meyer-Ebrecht, Brooke Moyse, Ellie Murphy, Ursula Schneider, Patrick Todd, Siebren Versteeg, and Tamara Zahaykevich. […]

Mira Schor: Resonances & Influences

Sharon Butler posts a conversation between Mira Schor and Stuart Horodner from the 2013 College Art Association Conference. Schor's solo exhibition Chthonic Garden will be on view at CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles, from October 19 – December 8, 2013. In the CAA interview, Schor discusses her development as a artist and speaks about choosing to paint: […]

Louise P. Sloane: Interview

Valerie Brennan interviews painter Louise P. Sloane about her work and process. Sloane comments: "I approach each painting as though I have never painted this image before, allowing the works to evolve organically… Every work has a grid drawn onto the surface. Laying in the texture is physically challenging. I like to put down each […]

Process and Synthesis

Anne Russinof photo blogs installation images from the exhibition Process and Synthesis at FiveMyles, Brooklyn, curated by Susan Smith and Hanne Tierney, on view through October 20, 2013. The show features works by Emily Berger, Nicholas Constantakis, Iona Kleinhaut and Kimberly Mayhorn.

Balthus at the Met

John Goodrich reviews the exhibition Balthus: Cats and Girls – Paintings and Provocations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, on view through January 12, 2014. Goodrich writes: "As the subtitle suggests, the exhibition concentrates on Balthus’ images of nubile girls and eerily knowing cats. Though alternately entertaining and unsettling, they represent only one […]

Paul Reed & the Shaped Canvas

On the occasion of the exhibition Paul Reed and the Shaped Canvas in the 1960s at D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York (through Novemebr 16), Deedee Wigmore writes about the shaped canvases of Paul Reed and the Washington Color School painters including: Gene Davis, Kenneth Noland, and Thomas Downing. Wigmore notes that "unlike New York’s […]

Honoré Daumier: Radical in the Making

A moving account of tribulations of Honoré Daumier, whose "most fertile years as a painter were the most disastrous of his outward career," published on the occasion of the exhibition Daumier: Visions of Paris, Royal Academy of Arts, London, on view from October 26, 2013 – January 26, 2014. The article begins noting that Daumier […]

Sarah Lutz: Interview

Jennifer Samet interviews painter Sarah Lutz. Speaking about her process, Lutz comments: "There are rules you are taught in art school that you eventually can give up. For instance, you are taught that you’re not supposed to paint right out of the tube. Now I often do that. It is another device for getting paint […]

Regina Bogat @ Zürcher Studio

James Kalm visits the exhibition Regina Bogat: The New York Years (1960 – 1970) at Zürcher Studio, New York, on view through November 2, 2013. Kalm notes: "With 'The New York Years 1960-1970' viewers will have a chance to see a major portion of [Bogat's] production, and decide for themselves it's aesthetic and innovative merits. […]

Paul Osipow @ Galleri Riis

Photo blog of the exhibition Paul Osipow: New Paintings at Galleri Riis, Oslo, on view through October 6, 2013. The gallery press release states that Osipow's new work "returns to one of his favoured themes the last decade, the study of miscellaneous ruins from Ancient Greece. In 10 medium to large size paintings in oil […]

Andreas Fischer: Interview

Caroline Picard interviews painter Andreas Fischer, co-curator of the recent exhibition Rehearsal Attire at Slow Gallery, Chicago. Fischer comments that painting "is a kind of materialization of reception or reaction — action painting in a sense, but not as a statement — maybe more like the way an electronic instrument might monitor a changing environment… […]

Hurvin Anderson @ IKON Gallery

Mark Sheerin reviews the exhibition Hurvin Anderson: Reporting Back at IKON Gallery, Birmingham, on view through November 10 2013. Sheerin writes: "Anderson might be a realist; or he might be an expressionist. He might even represent a new breed of realist expressionists. But colour is not the only way he lures the eye. He also […]

Brenna Youngblood: Activision

Ed Schad reviews the exhibition Brenna Youngblood: Activision at Honor Fraser, Los Angeles, on view through October 26, 2013. Schad writes that Youngblood's paintings "speak of memory, of the business of old sheds, woodshops presided over by tinkers and gypsy poets far from anything glossy and even farther from fashion. [Her] added bits of photos […]