Monique Prieto on John Altoon

Painter Monique Prieto responds to John Altoon's painting Ocean Park Series #8, 1962 in the collection of the Norton Simon Museum. Prieto remarks: "I perceive a temperature in the magenta that comes up from behind the forms – like hot-white L.A. air. He has somehow nailed down something very ephemeral and fleeting, and that's beautiful. […]

Vasari’s Tuscan Masters

Daniel B. Gallagher reviews a fascinating exhibition, Il primato dei Toscani nelle ‘Vite’ del Vasari at the Basilica inferiore di San Francesco, Arezzo, on view through January 9, 2012. Gallagher writes: "This exhibition in the lower Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo includes sixty-five works by fifty-two of the greatest Tuscan painters and sculptors appearing […]

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Genieve Figgis posts about painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Figgis writes that Yiadom-Boakye is "Clearly influenced by old masters like Goya and Valazquez, she hints only slightly at a narrative. Her use of light and dark creates a theatricality that conveys a familiar mood."

Barnet Rubenstein

Larry Groff blogs images and an essay by Richard Dean on the late painter Barnet Rubenstein (1923-2002). Dean, a former student of Rubenstein, remembers that "Barney became a model for what a real artist should be. Real artists should work hard, should be open to ideas and experience, should ask questions and look for answers. […]

Colour and Substance

Sam Rose reviews the recent exhibition Colour and Substance at Poussin Gallery, London featuring paintings by John McLean and William Perehudoff paired with sculptures by Tim Scott and Willard Boepple. Rose writes that "there is a feeling of assured calm to these works that belies their bright colours and apparently experimental nature."

Florine Stettheimer: Crystal Flowers

A fascinating multi-media presentation of the poetry of painter Florine Stettheimer, introduced by Nick Mauss, with readings by Karl Holmqvist, Dignity Sister, and Dan Fox.

Ingres in Detail

Charley Parker blogs some detailed images of drawings by Ingres. Parker notes that Ingres' "portrait drawings have that amazing character of faces rendered with such skill that they have a palpable personality, but lead your eye into economically rendered bodies and hands that are clearly lines on paper. Ingres at the Morgan is on view […]

Peter Shear: Interview
Studio Critical

Valerie Brennan interviews painter Peter Shear about his work and process. Shear remarks that “Sometimes images are allowed to evolve organically but more often I’ll paint everything out that isn’t working. The discarded image is still there; the memory is still there influencing the painting but it informs indirectly… It’s become increasingly important to leave […]

Ellen Lanyon & Philip Pearlstein: Objects / Objectivity

Diane Thodos reviews the recent exhibition Ellen Lanyon & Philip Pearlstein: Objects/Objectivity at Valerie Carberry Gallery, Chicago. Thodos writes that "While Lanyon has always expressed an overt emotional attachment to the items that populate her fantasy-based imagery, Pearlstein renders his antiques and toys with a harsh objectivity that can sometimes exuding unsettling feelings lurking behind […]

Joan Mitchell: Fierce Lyricism

Altoon Sultan blogs about the exhibition Joan Mitchell: The Last Paintings at Cheim & Read, on view though January 24, 2011. Sultan writes that Mitchell's "marks – vigorously moving, paint dripping, thickly layered in places, open to the white of canvas in others – show the natural world in a splendor of color but with […]

Karl Benjamin: Interview

Karl Benjamin and the Evolution of Abstraction, 1950-1980 is on view at Louis Stern Fine Arts, Los Angeles, on view through December 24, 2011.  (See David Pagel's L.A. Times review here). In this 2008 interview with painter Julie Karabenick, Benjamin reflected on his long career noting that "My development is not characterized by one thing […]

Deborah Zlotsky: Interview

[VIDEO] Zachary Keeting, Christopher Joy, and Deborah Zlotsky discuss Zlotsky's recent exhibition Adjacent Possibilities at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts.

The Greatness of Matta

Donald Kuspit reviews the exhibition Matta: A Centennial Celebration on view at Pace Gallery through January 28, 2012. Kuspit writes: "Matta's last cosmic paintings are less emotional than they seem — that an emotional reading of them sells their intellectuality short. They are not about the 'mindless' feelings of a surreally deranged and delirious self, […]

Andrew Masullo at Zevitas

Greg Cookland blogs about the exhibition Andrew Masullo: Recent Paintings on view at Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston through December 3, 2011. Cookland notes that "Usually this sort of hard-edged abstraction is painted smooth and flat, but Masullo… brushes on the oil paint at a fluid, opaque consistency, something like house paint, with it building up […]

Elizabeth Gilfilen: Pugilist painter

Sharon Butler blogs about the work of painter Elizabeth Gilfilen. Butler notes that for Gilfilen "painting is a collision, an aggressive search in which the object and maker are intimately, irrovocably entwined." Elizabeth Gilfilen: Two Moons is on view at Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ through December 17, 2011.

Bruegel’s Islands of Consciousness
Rebecca Harp

Inspired by a visit to the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, Rebecca Harp muses on the paintings of Bruegel. Harp writes: ” I am not sure if there is anything quite like coming across a Bruegel painting when visiting a museum, being both very poignant and invigorating for the eye and mind at the same time. […]

On John Twachtman’s Springtime

Painter Emil Robinson muses on John Twachtman's painting Springtime in the Cincinnati Museum of Art. Robinson writes: "Paint is clearly paint in this work, but is also so clearly a wet humming spring morning. Strange that these are dependent on one another. The effect is so convincing as to seem inevitable, as if oil paint […]

Integrity and Finesse: Pat Passlof (1928-2011)

David Cohen provides a moving tribute to painter Pat Passlof who passed away on November 13, 2011 at the age of 83.  An exhibition of her recent work will be on view at Elizabeth Harris Gallery from November 19 – December 23, 2011. Cohen writes: "The world has lost a very remarkable painter in Pat […]

Karel Appel: In Studio

Painter Brian Edmonds blogs a vintage video of CoBrA painter Karel Appel working in his studio. Edmonds writes: "I enjoyed watching Karel attack the canvas with such verve."

Celebrating One Year of Painters’ Table

Painters’ Table is one year old today!