The Ghosts of Abstraction
John Haber reviews the exhibition "…" featuring paintings by Scott Reeder, Sam Moyer, Kadar Brock, and Matt Jones, recently on view at The Hole, New York. Haber writes that the artists in the exhibition "are haunted. Not so much by the ghosts of abstraction past, although they will surely haunt the viewer. Who left so […]
Simon Gouverneur
John Yau revisits the work and life of painter Simon Gouverneur. Yau writes: "Gouverneur sought to author a universal language of signs and symbols, which makes him an heir to Hilma af Klint, as well as places him in the company of artists that includes Forrest Bess, Alfred Jensen, Jess, Myron Stout and Charmion von […]
Provisional Painting: Part 2
The must read follow up to Raphael Rubinstein's influential essay "Provisional Painting." Starting with James Lord's observations of Giacometti's intense process, a process that ended in abandonment, Rubinstein tests the theory of "provisional painting," asking: "What does it mean to believe that in order to create a work of art one must entertain the 'permanent […]
Van Gogh’s Close Up
Bob Duggan previews the exhibition Van Gogh: Up Close at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, on view through May 6, 2012. Duggan writes that "The mad, sad, and dangerous to know Vincent seen through the telephoto lens of legend gives way here to a clear-eyed view of an intensely focused artist who, despite personal difficulties, […]
Gordon Moore: Illusive Reality
Sharon Butler visits the exhibition Gordon Moore: Paintings and Photo-Emulsion Drawings on view at Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, through February 11, 2012. Butler notes that "Juxtaposing dimensional space with drawn and painted shapes, Moore's reductive paintings reflect his interest in the illusions perpetrated by photography and linear perspective. Within a single canvas he combines […]
Who’s Afraid of…
Dougal McKenzie considers origins (and possible origins) of Barnett Newman's Who's Afraid Of… titles, noting connections to "Jasper Johns' use of the primary colours and stencilling of the words onto his paintings around the same time," as well as to a play and a film, by Edward Albee and Mike Nichols respectively.
Daumier: Definitively Unfinished
Terry Greene discovers an interesting passage by painter Merlin James about Honoré Daumier's "unfinished" paintings. Greene posts James' quote that Daumier's "definitively unfinished pictures….end up being about suspense itself: their own suspension of meaning, the dependency of content upon form, the artist's grim determination to hold to a thread of narrative and the viewer's inevitable […]
Daniel Richter
Geoff Tuck reviews the exhibition Daniel Richter: A concert of purpose and action at Regen Projects II, Los Angeles, on view through February 18, 2012. Tuck writes that: "the paintings in this show alternate between the quiet and the chaotic: landscapes that are represented like in comics and topographical maps – on a soft colored […]
Dorothea Tanning (1910 – 2012)
Andrew Russeth reports on the death of Surrealist painter and poet Dorothea Tanning. Russeth writes that "Ms. Tanning, active as an artist for some eight decades, is perhaps best known for the Surrealist paintings she produced in the 1940s and ’50s. Like Magritte, her work often took the form of realistic depictions of disturbing, surreal […]
Susanna Heller: In Studio
Robert Berlind visits the studio of painter Susanna Heller. Berlind writes: "Perhaps because she draws so much from the experience of walking, Heller constructs her paintings in such a way that the eye travels from foreground into deep space, often following a line that refers to nothing but the movement itself, always with a particular […]
Alex Kanevsky: Interview
In a fantastic interview, Neil Plotkin talks to painter Alex Kanevsky about his work and studio process. Kanevsky addresses the "difficulty" of painting: "Well, it is the road with no end. As your skills inevitably get better with time, you expect more from yourself. Skills in themselves, beyond certain serviceable level, don’t matter very much, […]
Connecting the Dots
Joanne Mattera blog-curates an extensive gallery of works by painters who use dots or circular marks in their work. The post demonstrates the astounding range of form and feeling that can be conveyed using a "simple" geometric motif.
Philip Guston: Abstraction vs. Realism
Gary Schwartz reflects on his time as Philip Guston's student at Washington Square College. Schwartz remembers: "What we discussed was Guston’s big question: the relative primacy in art of abstraction versus realism. Guston insisted that abstraction came first… Our discussions always took the same turn. Guston attempted to convince me that artists like Piero della […]
David von Schlegell: Paintings
In David von Schlegell’s final paintings, material is subjected to both a physical and philosophical alchemy that returns the sculptor to his romantic, painterly roots.
Deborah Dancy: Interview
Christopher Joy and Zachary Keeting visit painter Deborah Dancy's studio to view and discuss her work and process. Dancy has stated that her paintings "are about color, surprise, absurdity and encounters with the self. Forms collide and transformed fragments merge to become new elements as I investigate the world of space and place. Jettisoned in […]
Molly Herman: Interview
Valerie Brennan interviews painter Molly Herman about her work and studio practice. Herman notes that "I tend to create work in series, though not necessarily on purpose – by this I mean, I don’t wake up one day and set out to make a body of work, on 'plant life,' but I actively invite and […]
MIC: CHECK @ Sideshow Gallery
Paul Behnke posts a great photo blog of this year's epic salon style exhibition MIC: CHECK (The: human mic) (OCCUPY) at Sideshow Gallery, on view through February 26, 2012. Behnke's post includes images of the impressive salon installation as well as a selection of individual works. This year's installment of the annual survey of painting […]
Squeak Carnwath in Studio
Painter's Bread
Michael Rutherford posts a video of painter Squeak Carnwath working in her studio and discussing the process of painting. Carnwath says: "I never know what I'm going to do… I like not knowing because then I'm going to find something out instead of it being a set product where it has an end goal. I […]
David Hepher
Chloé Nelkin visits several exhibitions including David Hepher: Lace, concrete and glass, an elegy for the Aylesbury Estate at Flowers, London, on view through February 25, 2012. Nelkin notes that Hepher's paintings explore "take something ugly and imbue it with a sense of carefully considered beauty. The façades may have once been uniform but by […]
Between Painting & Sculpture
John Yau reviews the exhibitions David Goerk: Recent Works at Howard Scott Gallery (through February 25, 2012) and Martha Clippinger: Hopscotch at Elizabeth Harris Gallery (through February 4, 2012). Yau writes that "While their work and praxis are very different, Goerk and Clippinger make objects that are neither – technically speaking – sculptures nor paintings, […]