Raoul de Keyser (1930 – 2012)
On the occasion of Belgian painter Raoul de Keyser passing at age 82, Sharon Butler posts a video of de Keyser's March 2001 artist talk at the Renaissance Society in Chicago. Writing about de Keyser's 1981 Hill Series, Barry Schwabsky notes that one painting "contains a single large five-sided shape in black ink, its edges […]
Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void
Christopher Knight reviews the exhibition Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void 1949-1962 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, on view through January 14, 2013. Knight writes: "Abstract painting's bodily metaphor was the vehicle for a wide variety of artists. For the 26 represented in 'Destroy the Picture,' destruction was their chosen strategy…. Punctured, […]
Amy Lincoln & Rousseau
Thoughts on connections between the paintings of Amy Lincoln and works by Henri Rousseau: "There are some striking formal parallels between [Lincoln's] and Rousseau’s work. The luscious plants bursting with color (Lincoln’s more so) and elegantly oscillating between flatness and roundness… Every single leaf that we see in 'Spring Trees with Rain' has been modeled […]
Mantegna to Matisse @ the Frick
Art Unwashed
Laura Gilbert reviews the exhibition Mantegna to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Courtauld Gallery at the Frick Collection, New York, on view through Janaury 23, 2012. “As might be expected in a show that covers art from the late Middle Ages to the early 20th century, the styles and purposes of the drawings are all […]
Chris Martin: Studio Visit
Maria Calandra visits the studio of painter Chris Martin. Calandra writes: "Chris' paintings and drawings already seem to come directly and generously from his life, calling on both his memory and immediate reality. Sometimes he does this by merely hinting at a landscape that he has experienced and physically attaching images or objects he has […]
Frank Auerbach: Profile
Jackie Wullschlager visits the studio of painter Frank Auerbach. Wullschlager writes that Auerbach's "working pattern has been unchanged for decades. He rises with the dawn, goes out to draw, returns to the studio “where I will have a painting on the go. Instead of staring at this painting and making aesthetic decisions, I look at […]
David Campbell: Interview
Larry Groff interviews painter David Campbell about his recent work. Campbell remarks: "I’ve always been torn between the Formal and Narrative. At different times the Formal issues has captured more of my interest, which is great, but then I’ve had times where I’ve wanted to tell more of a story in my work. Deep down […]
Ferdinand Hodler: View to Infinity
Thomas Micchelli reviews the exhibition Ferdinand Hodler: View to Infinity continues at Neue Galerie, New York, on view through January 7, 2013. Micchelli writes: "Parallelism was Hodler’s personal brand of Symbolism. It can be characterized as a mutation of the neoclassical principles of balance and symmetry into a relentless mirroring of the right and left […]
Rodney Dickson: Interview
Valerie Brennan interviews painter Rodney Dickson about his work and studio practice. Dickson comments: "These days I am using a lot of paint, not because I set out with an ambition to have that look of thick paint but because I am constantly changing the painting, in every session I paint the entire surface so the […]
Manet: Portraying Life
On the occasion of the exhibition Manet: Portraying Life at the Toledo Museum, Ohio (on view from October 7, 2012–January 1, 2013), Tyler Green talks to exhibition co-curator Lawrence Nichols and Gary Tinterow, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The segments include a discussion of Manet's interest in portraiture, his subjects, his interest […]
Louise Fishman: In Conversation
Sharon Butler interviews painter Louise Fishman on the occasion of three exhibitions: Louise Fishman at Cheim & Read, New York (through October 27), Louise Fishman, Five Decades at Tilton Gallery, New York (through October 13), and Generations: Louise Fishman, Gertrude Fisher-Fishman, and Razel Kapustin at Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia (October 13, 2012 – Janury […]
Luc Tuymans: Loosening Up
Gary Wiseman interviews painter Luc Tuymans at Tuyman's studio in Antwerp. Luc Tuymans Allo! will be on view at David Zwirner Gallery, London from October 5 – November 17, 2012. Asked about his process Tuyman's replies that "the paintings are all made in one day. It can be a long day, or it can be […]
Mali Morris: Back to Front
Andy Parkinson visits the exhibition Mali Morris: Back to Front at Eagle Gallery, London, on view through October 13, 2012. Parkinson writes that it is "ambiguity that I appreciate so much in Mali Morris paintings. What’s at back could just as well turn out to be up front, the edges might become central, an area […]
Robin Bruch @ Mathew
Beautiful image gallery of paintings on paper by Robin Bruch on view at Mathew Gallery, Berlin, on view through October 20, 2012. An essay by David Reed accompanies the exhibition. Reed writes: "The painting I saw by Robin Bruch [at Bykert Gallery in the mid-70s] offered new possibilities by combining geometric forms with rough direct, […]
John Golding: Working Space
C Morey de Morand visits the exhibition John Golding: Working Space at Annely Juda Fine Art, London, on view through October 4, 2012. De Morand writes: "The works are not demanding our attention they simply have it, but quieting us, surrounding us as an installation like a draught of clean fresh water. Peaceful, restful, respectful, […]
Andrea Joki: Dancing Paint
Jenniffer Omaitz reviews paintings by Andrea Joki recently on view at William Busta Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio. Omaitz writes: "The new paintings in Joki’s ongoing series of work evoke a simultaneous effect of close and far, like a sun-induced mirage. They appear as compressed yet densely layered paintings up close, and from a distance of 10 […]
Dan Roach: Interview
Valerie Brennan interviews painter Dan Roach about his work and process. Roach comments: "I seldom have a pre-conceived idea of what any painting will end up looking like. Paintings are started then paintings falter or grind to a halt altogether; this prompts a continual adjustment and re-evaluation of compositional concerns as well as issues regarding […]
Painting in Toronto
Arianna Perricone reports on several painting exhibitions currently on view in Toronto including: Maya Hayuk: Multi Versus at Cooper Cole Gallery (through October 6), Kim Dorland: I'm An Adult Now at Angell Gallery (through October 27), Douglas Copeland: Slogans for the Twenty-First Century at Daniel Faria Gallery (through October 6), and Rachel Vanderzwet: New Works […]
Power of the Fixed Image
An argument for painting's ongoing potential as a medium for social commentary. "There is no reason for today’s painting – even in the age of multi-media, performance or interdisciplinary artists – to step down and limit its activity to what is believed to be its unaltered or eternal essence. The fixed image, may it be […]
In Plain Sight
Hesse Caplinger reviews In Plain Sight at McClain Gallery, Houston (thorugh October 20, 2012), an exhibition of 40 paintings by 40 Houston artists, organized by Aaron Parazette. Caplinger writes that the show's "thematic heft… follows the tune of the new normal in contemporary painting, in which all is permissible, painting has outlived the kangaroo courts […]