Small Paintings in Miami
Joanne Mattera photoblogs images of the wide variety of small paintings on view at the Miami Art Fairs in 2012. Mattera writes: "Big paintings really did make an impact at the fairs, but it's eminently worth noting that there were a lot of strong small paintings and works on paper… After several days of the […]
Keltie Ferris: Collisions of Improvisation & Decay
John Yau reviews an exhibition of paintings by Keltie Ferris at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, on view through January 12, 2013. Yau writes: "Ferris isn’t a purist. She uses pastels, oil paint and acrylic. She applies paint with a palette knife or a spray gun for which she mixes her own colors. She builds […]
Inventing Abstraction: 1910 – 1925
Blake Gopnik previews the exhibition Inventing Abstraction: 1910 – 1925 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, on view from December 23, 2012–April 15, 2013. In addition to a slideshow of works from the exhibition, Gopnik posts: "At this moment we are officially in the middle of yet another abstract-art revival, according to dealers […]
Brett Baker: Paintings at Elizabeth Harris Gallery
Painters’ Table readers are invited to an exhibition of my new paintings at the Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York.
Jill Nathanson: The Air We Swim In
Mary Negro blogs about the exhibition Jill Nathanson: The Air We Swim In at Messineo Art Projects/Wyman Contemporary, New York, on view through December 20, 2012. Negro writes: "These ethereal paintings seem weightless in the way they evoke slow, sliding movement. She paints “the world of things,” in her own words, but her abstraction is […]
Jeffrey Kessel: Interview
Steven Cox interviews painter Jeffrey Kessel, whose work is on view at Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, through December 23, 2012. Kessel comments: "Despite the unrestrained spontaneity of my studio practice, the paintings can often be fairly tight and structured. It's true; I work intuitively and never plan paintings out in advance. I also work […]
Eugène Leroy: Subjects & Surroundings
Christophe Loizillon documents painter Eugène Leroy at his home and studio. The film is shot in the same chiaroscuro lighting characteristic of Leroy’s paintings.
Painting @ Art Basel Miami Beach
Joanne Mattera blogs an in-depth look at the painting on view at Art Basel Miami Beach 2012. Mattera comments: "There was more painting at ABMB than I can ever remember–and this was my seventh fair… The Tornabuoni Art booth dedicated to the work of Lucio Fontana was stellar. And wait until you see the geometry […]
Al Loving: Out of the Box
John Yau reviews the exhibition Al Loving: Torn Canvas, at Gary Snyder Gallery, New York, on view through December 22, 2012. Yau writes: "Made of strips of colored cloth that have been sewn together, and hang down from the wall, the torn canvas paintings are what Loving did to get outside of the box. He […]
Tal R @ Cheim & Read
James Kalm visits the exhibition Tal R: The Shlomo at Cheim and Read, New York, on view through January 12, 2013. In the Tal R's work, Kalm notes "connections to paintings by the Fauves or other early Expressionists like Klee, Kirchner or Macke. These images appear like pictures taken from a dream museum of early […]
John Bellany: A Passion For Life
Michael Spens reviews the exhibition John Bellany: A Passion for Life is on view at the National Galleries of Scotland through January 27, 2013. Spens concludes: "This Seventieth Anniversary exhibition for John Bellany constitutes a fine tribute to Scotland’s best artist today as many would argue: and arguably too one of Europe’s greatest, particularly in his […]
One-Half of a Vuillard
Mary Ann Caws recounts the story of how she fulfilled her dream of owning a Vuillard, having to part with another cherished painting, Robert Vonnoh, to do so. The Vuillard painting that caught her eye "was of a woman, turned slightly away — leaning over a table? A piano? (Was it Misia?) And toward the […]
Gregory Gillespie: Uncanny Realities
Greg Cook reviews the exhibition Gregory Gillespie: Transfixed at Gallery Naga, Boston, on view through December 15, 2012. Cook writes that Gillespie was a Massachusetts artist whose "geographical proximity might suggest a stylistic kinship with Boston Expressionists from Hyman Bloom to Henry Schwartz. But his hyper-real self-portraits, squirming landscapes, odd symbolic scenes, and Eastern mandalas […]
Sean Scully: Notations
Tim McFarlane blogs about a talk given by painter Sean Scully on the occasion of the exhibition Sean Scully: Notations at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, on view through February 24, 2013. McFarlane reports that "in the discussion [with curator Michael Auping] about his work with abstraction, Scully made an analogy that resonated with me. […]
Carroll Dunham @ Gladstone
James Kalm visits an exhibition of new paintings by Carroll Dunham at Gladstone Gallery, New York, on view through January 19, 2013. Kalm writes that in this new work, Dunham "takes up the female nude for investigation These beach-side scenes are less Pierre-Auguste Renoir and more Hanna-Barbera with their cartoonesque cavorting and goof-ball vegetation. A […]
Susannah Phillips: Growing To Know A Place
Beverly Acha reviews the exhibition Susannah Phillips: Paintings and Drawings at Lori Bookstein Fine Art, New York, on view through January 5, 2012. Acha writes: "The absence of representational details grants [Phillips'] landscapes an unexpected second life. They have the capacity to suddenly flip to abstraction, for a moment losing their pictorial depth. Yet the […]
Catherine Murphy: Object & Information
Catherine Murphy comments on her desire to make paintings that function simultaneously as abstraction and representation.
Painting & Performance
On the occasion of the exhibitions A Bigger Splash: Painting after Performance at Tate Modern (through April 1) and Explosion! The Legacy of Jackson Pollock at the Fundació Joan Miró (through Feb 24), Stephen Moonie considers the history of "painting and performance in relation to one another." He asserts that "it is evident that painting […]
Kelley Johnson @ Twin Kittens
Rachel Reese reviews the recent exhibition Kelley Johnson: Recent Paintings at Twin Kittens, Atlanta. Reese writes that Johnson's paintings "command the walls, creating a presence simultaneously functioning with playful gesture and skillful control. It is refreshing to view paintings as physical objects—while not slick or monolithic, they operate as flattened forms shaped by human touch. […]
Margaret McCann: Vision of Atlantic City
John Seed talks to painter Margaret McCann about the portrayal of Atlantic City in many of her recent paintings, currently on view in the exhibition From Rome to Atlantic City at the University of Virginia’s Ruffin Gallery, through December 7, 2012. Seed introduces the conversation: "Getting to know Margaret and her paintings was Faustian: the more I […]