Basil Beattie: Taking Steps
An excerpt from Nick de Ville's essay for the exhibition Basil Beattie: Onward and Upward at James Hyman Fine Art, London, on view through January 21, 2012. De Ville writes that "Since the late eighties Basil Beattie has been exploring something inimical to the strict tenets of the tradition of abstract painting out of which […]
Eva Hesse: Haunted
Robin Cembalest questions why the current exhibition Eva Hesse Spectres 1960 at the Brooklyn Museum "neglects the Jewish history that framed and influenced her art." Cembalest notes that the paintings themselves are "like de Koonings and Giacomettis with their flesh dripping, and their eyes gouged out. With anxious, messy strokes, Hesse conjured ghastly girlish faces […]
Beverly Fishman: Deceptive Pleasures
Donald Kuspit reviews the exhibition Beverly Fishman at Galerie Richard, New York, on view through January 28, 2012. Kuspit writes that Fishman's "patterns are transcriptions of EKG, EEG, and neuron spike readouts, with some bar codes thrown in to add a social measure to the disembodied bodily data. And, for good measure, some of the […]
Frank Wimberley: Ab-Ex Renewed
Piri Halasz reviews the exhibition Frank Wimberley at Spanierman Modern, New York, on view through January 14, 2012. Halasz notes that "in addition to using the brushes that Kline and de Kooning used, Wimberley…has adapted many devices that they never employed. His built-up surfaces are achieved with the aid of pumice, his brushes are sometimes […]
Mark Dagley: On Perseverance
Following Ad Reinhardt's dictum: "A good artist does not need anything," painter Mark Dagley provides a candid take on navigating career challenges in the arts. Dagley writes: "Anything to prohibit dependence on dealers, critics, curators, or collectors. Anything to keep hold of your creative ideals. Chances are, given enough time, they’ll come into vogue… […]
Vincent Hawkins: Liberating Forms
Paul Behnke photoblogs a studio visit with London-based painter Vincent Hawkins. Behnke writes that Hawkins' "work, seemingly playful and intuitive, rewards the attentive viewer as the aforementioned qualities give way to a painterly rigor and sophistication. The 'serious play' of Klee or Matisse is brought to mind but never overshadows Hawkins' own certain personality and unique […]
Brett Bigbee: Ingres Reflex
John Goodrich reviews the recent exhibition Brett Bigbee: Recent Paintings at Alexandre Gallery, New York. Goodrich writes: "The discrepancy between technique and expression is one of the fascinating paradoxes of art. Who would think that Ingres' corseted technique could lead to such expansive descriptions? … Like Ingres, Brett Bigbee brings formidable rendering skills to idiosyncratic […]
Byron Kim’s Night
Brian Dupont reviews the recent exhibition Byron Kim: Night at James Cohan Gallery, New York. Dupont writes that "Kim presents 9 paintings of the night sky, transcribed from memory. Their treatment is at once both abstract and literal, taking an effusive memory and attempting to faithfully record it in acrylic on canvas. Such a project […]
Thomas Cole & Rolph Scarlett: Allegro
Hylan Booker looks at "utopian romanticism and neoclassicism" in two paintings that share the title Allegro, one by Thomas Cole (1801 – 1848) and the other by Rolph Scarlett (1889 – 1984). Booker notes that "advantageously fit into the definitions of allegro: one being a mental state, the other a musical composition. And though broad […]
De Kooning: A Way of Seeing
Tom Ferrara remembers Willem De Kooning in words and photographs. Ferrara writes that "After meeting Bill de Kooning, one thing that first became apparent was that he had amazing skills of observation. Not only was he more visually active than everyone else but he also appeared to enjoy the act of seeing more than anyone. […]
Luminous Modernism: 1912
Caleb De Jong blogs about the exhibition Luminous Modernism: Scandinavian Art Comes to America 1912 at Scandinavia House, New York, on view through February 11, 2012. De Jong writes that the show is "Based around a traveling exhibition from 1912 that highlighted Scandinavian artists, the show acts today as a chapter in nationalist artistic progression, […]
Real Problems in Painting
As part of his blog series Paintings I Like Paul Corio reflects on the de Kooning retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and on how seeing the full range of de Kooning's oeuvre illuminates the "real problems" in painting. "The real problems painting faced after Ab Ex and Color Field were […]
Miami Art Fairs: Focus on Painting
Joanne Mattera's excellent art fair coverage focuses in on painting. Click through for a thorough look at the paintings on view in Miami. Mattera notes that "There’s a lot of big at the fairs, but the small paintings I saw really held their own. I expect to see smaller work at the smaller venues, but […]
Rembrandt and Degas: Two Young Artists
Gregory Scheckler reviews the exhibition Rembrandt and Degas: Two Young Artists at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, on view through February 5, 2012. Scheckler writes: "This new show reveals a young Degas at a time of transition between traditions (French Academic versus Dutch Realist), revealing much about how Degas navigated the […]
Bob Thompson: Looking to Poussin
David Carrier reviews the exhibition Bob Thompson, Drawings at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, on view through January 8, 2012. Carrier notes that the diversity of approaches in Thompson's drawings gives the impression of "at least five draftsmen, each one excellent but all very different, a prismatic reflection of an excited painter exploring several different […]
George Grosz: Book Covers
Will Schofield photoblogs images of book covers illustrated by painter George Grosz. The collection showcases the wide range of Grosz's drawing technique.
Alexandre Hollan at the Morandi Museum
Judith H. Dobrzynski visits the Morandi Museum and discovers the work of lesser known Hungarian painter, Alexandre Hollan. Dobrzynski writes: "while strongly influence by Morandi, Hollan remains original. Hollan's colors are every bit as subtle, but somehow are also richer. Many of the works are still lifes that overflow the boundaries of the paper, edging […]
The Spanish Line at the Courtauld
Chloe Nelkin blogs about the exhibition The Spanish Line: Drawings from Ribera to Picasso at The Courtauld Gallery, London, on view through January 15, 2012. Nelkin writes that "This is the first exhibition in London to focus on the tradition of Spanish draughtsmanship and marks the culmination of a major, four-year, research project; one of […]
Palma Blank: Studio Visit
Christopher Joy and Zachary Keeting visit the studio of painter Palma Blank. During the conversation Blank notes that: "I do like using neon colors… they're kind of what gives the painting that inner light… that electronic… buzz… if you can get past [the optical effects] and into them, I think there is a space […]
Wondrous Color of Indian Painting
Altoon Sultan blogs about color in the exhibition Wonder of the Age Master Painters of India, 1100–1900 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on view through January 8, 2012. Sultan writes that "many of the works [in the exhibition] we had assumed were painted by anonymous artists were in fact by well known masters, who were 'wonders […]