Josephine Halvorson: One Day Painting
A new video documents painter Josephine Halvorson painting on site in Connecticut. Halvorson comments: "I love stuff that shows you how it's made. I love being able to understand its construction just by experiencing it. And I've never liked in painting… the idea of deception or the idea of covering up something. For me, I […]
Nabil Nahas: Interview
Tabitha Piseno interviews painter Nabil Nahas on the occasion of the exhibition of new paintings at Sperone Westwater, New York, on view from April 5 – May 4, 2013. Piseno writes: "Ranging widely from densely textured works on canvas formed with layers of an acrylic and pumice mixture on top of silicon molds to abstract […]
Kiera Bennett: Box of Tricks
Ben Street writes about the work of painter Kiera Bennett for an exhibition at Charlie Smith Gallery, London, on view from April 5 -27, 2013. Street begins: "Instantly recognisable in Kiera Bennett’s paintings are the trappings and tropes of early modernism: the feathered lines of early cubism/late Cézanne, the vibrating geometry of Boccioni or Carrá, […]
Recent Painting in Chelsea
Elisabeth Condon photo blogs visits to recent and current painting shows in Chelsea including two shows at Gagosian, Jean-Michel Basquiat (through April 6) and Helen Frankenthaler (through April 13), Painting Advanced at Edward Thorp (through April 20), Al Held at Cheim and Read (through April 20), Susanna Heller at Magnan Metz (through April 20), Barkley […]
Vince Contarino: Studio Visit
Zachary Keeting and Christoper Joy visit the studio of painter Vince Contarino. Contarino remarks: "I feel more strongly about the structure of the paintings and how a painting is built versus the color… I have an idea of how I want a piece to feel, but as I'm working on a painting, I look for […]
John McLaughlin: Paintings 1947-1974
Robert C. Morgan reviews the exhibition John McLaughlin: Paintings 1947–1974 at Van Doren Waxter, New York, on view through April 19, 2013. Morgan writes: "As the desire to see flashy and exorbitant mannerisms in painting appears quantitatively present, yet qualitatively in decline, McLaughlin’s pristine rectangles within rectilinear formats, measuring roughly 48 by 60 inches, hold […]
Philip Guston: Problematic Centennial
Thaddeus Radell reviews the exhibition Philip Guston: A Centennial Exhibition at McKee Gallery, New York, on view through April 20th, 2013. Impressed by the show, though not by every picture in it, Radell writes that the exhibition "is an inspiring, if problematic, offering from one of the most pictorially demanding and ‘image-ridden’ painters of the […]
Anne Harris: Skin & Air
John Seed interviews painter Anne Harris on the occasion of her exhibition of new paintings at Alexandre Gallery, New York, on view from April 6 through May 11, 2013. Seed writes: "The gradual evanescence of Harris's imagery is occurring as a feature of what she acknowledges is a 'long standing evolution.' She confides that 'over […]
Six NYC Shows: April
James Panero reviews six exhibitions currently on view in New York: Thornton Willis: Steps at Elizabeth Harris Gallery (through April 13), Painted on 21st Street: Helen Frankenthaler from 1950 to 1959 at Gagosian Gallery (through April 13), Sanford Wurmfeld: Color Visions 1966–2013 at the Hunter College/Times Square Gallery (through April 20), Judith Braun: May I […]
Benjamin King: Studio Visit
Henry Samelson visits the studio of painter Benjamin King. Samelson writes that King's works "dig into metaphysical terrain, but are also firmly rooted in the materials and physical process of painting, not to mention the planet outside his studio." Describing works in the studio, Samelson notes: "A larger canvas against another wall extends the metaphor […]
Opening Up Painting
Christopher Joy talks to exhibition curators Dina Deitsch and Evan J. Garza talk about Paint Things: Beyond the Stretcher at the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, MA, on view through April 21, 2013. Garza comments: "This exhibition really originated, I think, with a conversation about Jessica Stockholder's work. Jessica has been working in a very […]
Brad Eberhard: Exploring the Depths
Christopher Knight reviews the exhibition Brad Eberhard (dis-solve) at Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles, on view through Apr 20, 2013. Knight writes: "'Way Out,' the most beautiful of the six [paintings on view], is a cave painting. Blood-red pigment was poured along the upper edge of the 4-foot-square canvas and ran down the surface, recalling […]
Brian Edmonds: Interview
Valerie Brennan interviews painter Brian Edmonds about his work and practice. Edmonds remarks: "I am currently working on a series of panels ranging in size from 12 x 12 in. to 48 x 48 in. The hard surface lends itself to mark making and aggressive methods. The paintings are loosely based on maps, historical references, […]
Abstraction: Image & Paint
Altoon Sultan vists two exhibitions of abstract painting: Painting Advanced at Edward Thorp Gallery (through April 20) and Andrew Masullo at Mary Boone Gallery (through April 27, 2013). The two shows, Sultan writes, "got me thinking about how important the quality of paint was to me: paint itself, how it looks, how it works, how each artist […]
Lucinda Cobley: Translucence
Virginia Billeaud Anderson interviews painter Lucinda Cobley on the occasion of the exhibition Lucinda Cobley: Sequence at Wade Wilson Art, Houston, TX, on view through April 27, 2013. Anderson writes that "Cobley is intellectually engaged with her process of painting and printing on transparent materials such as etched glass and clear plastic. The artist possesses […]
Catherine Murphy: Painterly Devotion
John Yau blogs about the work of Catherine Murphy, on view at Peter Freeman, Inc., New York thorugh April 27, 2013. Yau writes: "Murphy doesn’t generalize, doesn’t develop shorthand for her subjects, doesn’t use paint in any way that announces painterliness or style. Rather, she does something far more difficult and demanding — she remains […]
Matt Bollinger: Road of Ashes
William Eckhardt Kohler reviews the exhibition Matt Bollinger: Bed on the Floor at Zürcher Studio, New York, on view through April 28, 2013. Kohler writes that the works in the show (which include an installation and collage works) address "the theme of despair and loss… a slow moving katabasis; the dystopic descent of bottoming out, […]
Pre-Raphaelite Painting: Take a Closer Look
Sharon Butler posts a defense of the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, written by painter Thomas Germano. Germano questions the prevailing tendency to dismiss Pre-Raphaelite painting: "While some will dismiss Pre-Raphaelite art as illustrative because they were the first artists to employ the new technology of photography in their art, the use of photography today […]
Baker Overstreet: Presence of Paint
Thomas Micchelli reviews the exhibition Baker Overstreet: Frown Upside Down at Fredericks & Freiser, New York, on view through March 30, 2013. Micchelli writes: "Overstreet’s symmetrical designs, built up over time, with traces of previous decisions establishing the bases for further formulations, emerge as an infrastructure for channeling the wellspring’s flow. The paintings’ resemblance to 1980s-era […]
Matthew Neil Gehring: In Process
As part of his blog series In Process, Paul Behnke posts about the development of the recent painting And the Vital Vigor Stood it's Ground (2013) by painter Matthew Neil Gehring. Behnke writes that: "Gehring's use of color and form combine to produce a visual deception bordering on Op Art. However, these works offer more […]