Edvard Munch’s Damaged Retina
Sharon Butler blogs about Edvard Munch's – on view in the exhibition Edvard Munch: The Modern Eye at Tate Modern through October 14, 2012. Butler writes that the show "focus[es] on the neglected aspects of [Munch's] often radical work, particularly his use of film and photography…" She also calls attention to a fascinating group of […]
Double Vision
Andy Parkinson blogs about the exhibition Double Vision, curated by Katrina Blannin, at at Lion and Lamb Gallery, London, on view through July 14, 2012. Parkinson writes that the show's title "alludes to 'notions of double layering in painting, whether material, compositional or theoretical.' It explores binary oppositions like figure/ground, surface/depth, symmetry/asymmetry and chance/system, oppositions […]
Valeri Larko: Keeping it Real
Bascove looks at the work of Valeri Larko whose paintings are on view in the exhibition Keeping it Real at J. Cacciola Gallery, New York through July 28, 2012. Bascove writes: "This exhibit particularly reflects the rich material Larko has explored in the Bronx. 'Bronx Drawbridge' is a powerful example of an image that evokes […]
Tom McGrath: Night Vision
Painters Greg Lindquist and Tom McGrath discuss their approaches to landscape painting and its place in a world dominated by technology. Responding to Lindquist's question about how his paintings relate to photography and technology, McGrath remarks: "Technology is everything. Photo-wise, it's the old cliche about Impressionism as the secret child of photo, and Pointillism being […]
Ted Gahl: In Conversation
Joshua Abelow interviews painter Ted Gahl about his work. Gahl remarks: "I enjoy the subtle palettes and pictorial simplicity in a lot of abstract/minimal work. At the same time, I am a sucker for purely figurative paintings. I continually employ elements of both to keep it interesting for myself, and hopefully, the viewer. I don't […]
Clyfford Still: A Tiger, Emancipated
Looking at Untitled, 1951, a largely monochromatic canvas by Clyfford Still, Chris Rusak finds clues to the contradiction between Clyfford Still's caustic rhetoric and the obvious "joy" he took in his work. Rusak writes: "when an artist decides to introduce a proportionally diminutive amount of color into an otherwise achromatic composition, the power of each […]
Jordan Wolfson: Interview
Elana Hagler interviews painter Jordan Wolfson about his work and process which includes "representational" and "abstract" paintings from observation. Wolfson notes that he is interested in "the twin attitudes of the visual and the tactile and how they align with a more representational or more abstract mode of working… all the work is done while […]
Will Fowler’s Craftwork
Yunhee Min writes about the value of craft as seen in the work of painter Will Fowler, whose work is on view through June 30, 2012 at David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles. Min writes: "Will Fowler's paintings are full of craft, a kind of craft that is peculiar to painting as an object and activity… […]
Mark Williams: Closer Look
Virginia Billeaud Anderson writes about Mark Williams' polypropylene paintings. Anderson writes that Williams' recent work "offers a restless geometric abstraction with ambiguous blurred elements that veer into gestural. You have to stand before Untitled, 2012 at Wade Wilson Art to see its vitality, this work's uneven paint, enhancing imperfections and overall translucence are not visible in a […]
Forgotten Women Artists of Vienna
Andrea Kirsh reviews the book The Memory Factory; The Forgotten Women Artists of Vienna 1900 by Julie M. Johnson (Purdue University Press). Johnson's book, Kirsh writes, calls attention to "a group of women artists who were active in Vienna's art world around 1900 but were entirely written out of later historical accounts." This, Kirsh notes, […]
Todd Chilton: Steady
A video walk-through of the exhibition Todd Chilton: Steady at Feature, Inc., New York, on view through June 30, 2012. Of his paintings Chilton writes: "The paintings exhibit imperfections that are a result of handmade patterns and geometry. This often heightens optical effects in the patterns, and serves to create a situation in which the […]
The Screen & the Workshop
David Sweet reviews two exhibitions Robert Holyhead at Peer Gallery, London (through July 7, 2012) and Geoffrey Rigden at Poussin Gallery, London (through June 30, 2012). Sweet writes that "outside of the issues of art criticism of a formalist sort, one might end up wondering about the contemporary positioning of these two painters and the […]
Nancy Spero: Collaboration
In a new video by Art21, Nancy Spero (1926-2009) works on prints and "discusses how collaborations with other artists activated her work by allowing for greater variation. In working with others and drawing from an extensive collection of acquired and original figural images, Spero was able to produce art late into her life. Spero's piece […]
Sharon Butler: Studio Visit
Paul Behnke photoblogs a studio visit with painter Sharon Butler. Behnke writes that in Butler's work "a mental and technical exactness are displayed as an idea is explored with a deft layering of forms and line that shows the maker's mind at work. This rigor is very often contrasted with the impulsive way the work […]
Catherine Lee: Interview
Katie Geha interviews painter and sculptor Catherine Lee about her work. Lee remarks: "I have a really strong belief in the power of abstraction. My work refers to things in the world tangentially, but it’s not at all representational. I have a very strong allegiance to abstraction and I think that comes from my early […]
The Vision of Things
An essay by Mark Stone on vision – the vital sign of contemporary painting. Stone writes "How we see things is the most important place to start. There are many of us who… want something more visually stimulating, thoughtful and resonant. We want to use our eyes informed by our technologies instead of relying on […]
Gregory Amenoff: In Studio
Christopher Joy and Zachary Keeting visit the studio of painter Gregory Amenoff. Showing many new works, Amenoff discusses how his recent paintings have developed and his interest in painting in-between states – twilight and the changes in the seasons.
Emily Carr: Theatre of Transcendence
Robin Laurence reviews the exhibition Emily Carr and the Theatre of Transcendence at the Vancouver Art Gallery, on view through September 3, 2012. Laurence writes that the show "examines how Carr, her contemporaries and present-day practitioners have all expressed an aspiration towards transcendence, towards a state or experience beyond the ordinary." Laurence continues noting that […]
Susanna Bluhm: Interview
Amanda Manitach interviews painter Susanna Bluhm about her work currently on view in the exhibition look at the crown with which his mother crowned him at Prole Drift, Seattle, Washington, through July 14, 2012. Manitach writes that Bluhm's "new work at Prole Drift cites the darker passages of the Song of Solomon and comprises fifteen […]
Denise Green: Studio Visit
Jonathan Goodman talks with painter Denise Green on the occasion of the publication of Denise Green: An Artist's Odyssey from the University of Minnesota Press. "In the beginning of the 1980s… I was supporting a new style of painting, one that turned away from the forms of representation in art. So my style changed significantly. My […]