Marie Koetje: All In
John Motley reviews an exhibition of paintings by Marie Koetje at Nationale, Portland, Oregon, on view through July 7, 2013. Motley writes that Koetje's paintings "pull out all the stops. The hyperactive surfaces of these canvases are crowded with ideas — geometric planes of oil painting, goopy squiggles of impasto, hazy scrims of spray paint […]
Anne Russinof: Interview
Valerie Brennan interviews painter Anne Russinof about her work and process. Russinof comments: "Color is the instigator. Glimpses of things I see trigger the physical sensation of wanting to paint, which is in turn very much tied to my love of gesture, and long ago, of figure drawing. My desire is to create form out […]
Painting on the Cusp
Thomas Micchelli reviews the exhibition Reinventing Abstraction curated by Raphael Rubinstein at Cheim & Read, New York, on view through August 30, 2013. Examining the show in the context of curator Rubinstein's previous critical interests (particularly Rubinstein's coining of the term 'provisional painting') Micchelli writes that "the genome of this generation of post-minimal abstractionists, who […]
Impressionism, Fashion & Modernity
John Goodrich reviews the recent exhibition Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Goodrich's review considers the cost of "combining major and decorative arts." He writes: "Some exhibitions have featured conscious pairings of 'high' and 'low' art. Many have contextualized masterpieces with examples of decorative arts. This is the first […]
Ellsworth Kelly At Ninety
Nadiah Fellah reviews the recent exhibition Ellsworth Kelly At Ninety at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York. Fellah writes: "Ellsworth Kelly has recalled of his early development as an artist: 'I didn’t want to paint people. I wanted to paint something I had never seen before. I didn’t want to make what I was looking at. […]
Sedrick Huckaby & Romare Bearden
Peter Simek reviews two exhibitions at the Amon Carter Museum of Art, Forth Worth: Sedrick Huckaby: Hidden in Plain Site (through October 31) and Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey (through August 11). Simek writes: "Huckaby’s act of repainting quilts disarms them as fetishized aesthetic objects while folding their weighted cultural meaning into the history of […]
Titian & Modern Abstraction
Robert Linsley looks at aspects of Titian's paintings that anticipate modern abstraction. Linsley writes: "The art historian would explain Titian’s break with the arrangement of the traditional altarpiece… by pointing out that it is part of a larger strategy to raise the status of the artist from medieval craftsman to independent inventor—and Titian was the object […]
Wassup Painters
Painting in L.A.
Photo blog of the exhibition Wassup Painters, curated by Pavan Segal, at Anat Egbi Gallery, Los Angeles, on view through July 20, 2013. The show features works by Kerstin Brätsch, Paul Cowan, Cynthia Daignault, Liam Everett, Henrik Olai Kaarstein, and Molly Zuckerman-Hartung. The press release notes that the show features “contemporary artists who approach painting […]
Russell Tyler: Studio Visit
Zachary Keeting and Christopher Joy visit the studio of painter Russell Tyler. Tyler comments: "I want [the paintings] to have an old, modernist feel, but also looking at abstraction, not from a Greenbergian perspective… but from a nostalgic perspective… it's adding a more personal perspective… the way we see an image is a little different […]
Marc Chagall: Life Transformed Into the Theatrical
Blog post considering the work of Marc Chagall in relation to his Russian heritage, posted on the occasion of the exhibition Marc Chagall: Modern Master at Tate Liverpool, on view through October 6, 2013. From the post: "Yet here is a paradox: as the Russian avant-garde consolidates its place in the story of twentieth-century art, […]
Russell Shoemaker: Interview
Chris Lowrance talks to painter Russell Shoemaker on the occasion of the recent exhibition Russell Shoemaker: Cosmic Joke at The Late Show Gallery, Kansas City. Shoemaker remarks: "… it feels like my process is always oscillating between control, accidents, and momentary decisions. Getting something ‘Right’ to me is treating each painting from an individual standpoint. […]
Reinventing Abstraction
James Kalm visits the exihibition Reinventing Abstraction curated by Raphael Rubinstein at Cheim & Read, New York, on view through August 30, 2013. Kalm notes that the show "takes a look at some artists who pushed the boundaries of abstraction, and reasserted its validity as a realm of intellectual investigation. Raphael Rubenstein has collected together […]
Seven On Site
Martha Hoppin reviews the recent exhibition Seven On Site at Oxbow Gallery, Northampton, MA, featuring paintings by Martha Armstrong, Sasha Chermayeff, Jane Culp, Judy Koon, Ro Lohin, Lynette Lombard, and Megan Williamson. Hoppin writes that the "unconventional works emphasize expressive form and brushwork over changes in light effects, weather, and time of day, the more […]
Donald Martiny: Interview
Valerie Brennan interviews painter Donald Martiny about his work and process. Martiny comments: "I am constantly experimenting with gestures and forms, relationships and color. I usually make small paintings first. I think of them as finished paintings but they also inform the larger works. My large paintings are a huge investment in time, effort and […]
Steven Charles at Associated Gallery
Zachary Keeting and Christopher Joy talk to painter Steven Charles at his recent exhibition Things That Fell Out of My Pocket at Associated Gallery, Bushwick, Brooklyn. Charles remarks: "I am avaricious about seeing. I am an absolute cannibal. It's not just painting; it's music; it's books… I'm trying in my paintings, I think, to approximate […]
Pete Hoida
Ben Wiedel-Kaufmann reviews two concurrent exhibitions of paintings by Pete Hoida: The Black Morar Series 2010-2012 at The Museum in the Park, Stroud and Pete Hoida: Paintings 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s at St Mary of the Angels, Brownshill, Stroud (both through July 7, 2013). Wiedel-Kaufmann writes: "Caught up in the backlash against Greenbergian aesthetics, a tendency […]
Jeff Elrod & Jeremy DePrez
Debra Barrera reviews the exhibition Jeff Elrod and Jeremy DePrez: Fantasy Island at Texas Gallery, Houston, on view through July 6, 2013. Barrera writes: "Elrod’s and DePrez’s works don’t fuse together… Yet, the juxtaposition amplifies each artist’s strengths. Elrod’s meticulous surfaces and precise color choices are undeniable, while DePrez’s sincerity is emphasized next to Elrod’s […]
Patrick Jones @ Hillsboro Fine Art
John Yau reviews the exhibition Patrick Jones: Survey at Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland, on view through July 16, 2013. Yau writes that the show "ended up whetting my curiosity more than satisfying it, especially as it became clear to me that the exhibition was not about to offer anything near a comprehensive view of […]
Other Objects @ Lion and Lamb
Andy Parkinson reviews the exhibition Other Objects at Lion and Lamb Gallery, London, on view through July 13, 2013. The exhibition features works by Karl Bielik, Alice Cretney, Vincent Hawkins, Caterina Lewis, Wendy McLean, Gwennan Thomas, and David Webb. Parkinson notes that "the works, whilst coming from varied places of logic around abstraction, at some […]
Peri Schwartz: Interview
Cody Upton interviews painter Peri Schwartz, whose work was recently on view at garvey|simon art access in New York. Schwartz comments: "The grid is a fluid thing. I’ve learned, that when you paint over something that is good, the new version is often even better, because you let the old layer come through. A lot […]