Henry Taylor Paints a Picture
Michael H. Miller profiles painter Henry Taylor. A retrospective of Taylor's work will be on view at MoMA PS1 from January 29, 2012—April 9, 2012. Miller writes that "Mr. Taylor conflates abstraction and realism in his work, giving it the feeling of bluntness (and mischief) found in someone like Alex Katz, but the way he […]
Painting Canada
Sarah Milroy reviews the recent exhibition Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. Milroy writes that "Ross King [recently] debunked the popularly held Canadian view of these artists as pioneer woodsmen-savants, revealing instead their ties to the painterly traditions of Britain, France and Holland. This well-timed exhibition thus […]
Wendy White: Interview
Oliver Kann and Frederik Frede interview painter Wendy White. The post also includes an extensive photo gallery by Fette Sans. White, who began her career as a sculptor, comments "I started painting in the early to mid 90's. I just fell in love with the problems of painting, the problems of surface, and capturing things […]
Paint & Process: Philip Guston
Frank Hobbs blogs some thoughts about the painting process by the painter Philip Guston as well as a link to a video of Guston in his studio painting and discussing his work. Hobbs quotes Guston: "Destruction of paintings is very interesting to me and almost crucial. Sometimes I find that what I destroyed five years […]
Vita Petersen: In Pursuit of Sensual Form
David Cohen remembers Vita Petersen (1915-2011) on the eve of the exhibition Vita Petersen: In Black and White: The Last Works at the New York Studio School, on view from January 27 – March 10, 2012. Cohen writes that Petersen, "one of the last survivors on the New York School, died this last October in […]
Jack Chambers: Lunch
Sara Angel reports the story of painter Jack Chambers (1931-1978) and his unfinished masterwork Lunch. Angel writes that Chambers was encouraged by Picasso to study painting in Spain and became enamored of "baroque masters Juan Sánchez Cotán and Francisco de Zurbarán, whose works became a continuing inspiration and influenced his development of perceptual realism." She […]
Adolph Gottlieb: End of the Underground
Sharon Butler posts thoughts from the painter Adolph Gottlieb on the loss of a "tradition of revolution in modern art." Butler quotes an interview Gottlieb gave to the Washington Post in 1966: "The tradition of modern art is a tradition of revolution: there’s one revolution after another – for better or for worse. And I […]
Dan Yellow Kuhne
Mark Dagley profiles a little-known body of work, the "Dog-Eared" paintings of Washington D.C. based painter Dan Yellow Kuhne. Dagely writes that the "Dog-Eared" paintings, which date from 1970 – 1974, "introduce the modern viewer to a young artist not just proficient at assimilating style… but also interested in the structural and behavioral elements of […]
Gauguin’s Freundschafts- bild
Leslie Anderson blogs about Paul Gauguin's Still Life with Profile of Laval, known as a Freundschaftsbild, a picture exchanged between artists to "demonstrate friendship and, often, artistic allegiance." Anderson cites "evidence that van Gogh proposed a portrait exchange to foster the Gemeinschaft (sense of community) between himself and fellow artists Gauguin, Laval, and Émile Bernard… […]
Sol LeWitt Here & There
Mass MoCA blogs a compendium of Sol LeWitt wall drawings, highlighting the rich and varied possibilities allowed by LeWitt's instructions. "Every time a Wall Drawing is put on display, a group of draftsmen paint or draw a new interpretation of the piece… Only one official interpretation of a Wall Drawing can exist at one time; […]
Painting’s Uncomfortable Armchair
Lee Triming reviews the exhibition The Indiscipline of Painting: International Abstraction from 1960 to Now, on view at Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre through March 10 2012 (formerly at Tate St. Ives) . Triming writes that the show "builds the kinds of polyvalent and open relationships between works that I look forward to in an […]
Rubens: Samson and Delilah
Sheldon Tapley takes a close look at the painting Samson and Delilah by Peter Paul Rubens in the Cincinnati Art Museum. Tapley writes that "Rubens created flesh masterfully, so that it seems supple or firm, ruddy or pale, wrinkled or smooth, as he needed. Where it is illuminated, it has substance, in contrast to the […]
George McNeil
Paul Behnke photoblogs a visit to the recent exhibition George McNeil at Ameringer McEnery Yohe, New York. Behnke's photos, including closeups, portray the tactility and varied touch in McNeil's paintings. The gallery notes that the works on view were from "1957 and 1969. This period demonstrates an important transitional period for McNeil from his signature […]
Siri Berg: All About Color
Conceptual restriction, in Siri Berg’s hands, adds up to exuberant expression and has a painterly feel.
Medieval Methods, Materials & Meanings
Caleb de Jong reviews the exhibition Late Medieval Panel Paintings Methods, Materials & Meanings at Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York, on view through January 27, 2012. De Jong writes that "the central focus [of the exhibition] is on Central and Northern Europe, particularly Switzerland and the German City-States. For reasons both cultural and […]
Carel Fabritius
Charley Parker blogs about painter Carel Fabritius. Parker writes that Fabritius is "generally considered to be Rembrandt's most talented pupil, and the only one to really break free of the master's influence and develop his own style. This is notable in particular in the contrast of his color and texture filled portrait backgrounds with Rembrandt’s […]
Benjamin La Rocco: Interview
Zachary Keeting and Christopher Joy visit the studio of painter Benjamin La Rocco to discuss his work and studio practice. La Rocco remarks: "I always want to surprise myself with what I make which is why there is so much variability. I always want to do that. It gets harder to do because you get […]
Joyce Pensato: Batman Returns
Video walkthrough of the exhibition Joyce Pensato: Batman Returns at Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York, on view through February 25, 2012. The gallery notes that "Pensato's resurrection of this iconic image [Batman] sixteen years later marks an additional shift in her practice as it will be the first time that she has added various colors […]
Martha Clippinger: Hopscotch
Kris Chatterson photo blogs images from the exhibition Martha Clippinger: Hopscotch at Elizabeth Harris Gallery, on view through February 4, 2012. The gallery notes that Clippinger works "reside somewhere between painting and sculpture. Inherent imperfections of her reclaimed materials provide a rich framework for playful constructions characterized by wonky geometries and irregular symmetries." Mario Naves […]
Matta Digested
After attending a roundtable discussion on the paintings of Roberto Matta, Eric Sutphin reconsiders the artist's work. Sutphin notes that "the current exhibition of the artist's late works shows Matta at his most volatile. Six decades of influence and practice show through the impossibly complex surfaces of the paintings presented, architectural and geomorphic forms thrust […]