James Little
Mario Naves writes about painter James Little on the occasion of the exhibition James Little, Ex Pluribus Unum on view at June Kelly Gallery through June 21, 2011. Naves writes: “Favoring tradition over novelty and dogged persistence over glib nihilism, [Little] insists on the viability of modernism as a living resource.”
Fade Away / Art of Transition
A short essay by Barry Schwabsky written for the exhibition Fade Away curated by Alli Sharma. Fade Away explores "paintings that oscillate between representation and abstraction." Schwabsky writes: "the fact that so many painters today are working along the broad and very porous border between abstraction and images is a sign that this boundary is, […]
Alan Shields
Steven Alexander visits the exhibition Alan Shields, Something Goin' On & On on view at Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York through June 24, 2011. Alexander writes that Shields' work is " …deeply rooted in a ritualization of the painting process and an assertion of art-making as an ancient practice… the large paintings possess a […]
Wayne Thiebaud on Morandi
Painting Perceptions
Larry Groff posts a video of Wayne Thiebaud discussing his work and the work of Morandi. In addition to revealing the direct influence of a Morandi painting on an early painting of sandwiches, Thiebaud discusses a variety of topics including caricature: "If you take something like caricature for instance, which is very much a central […]
Painters’ Table Most Popular Posts: April
Artist interviews were popular in April, particularly those between artists – painters talking to painters. Interviews in a variety of formats are some of the most interesting posts on art blogs these days. Some artist blogs focus specifically on interviews. Gorky's Grandaughter, a video blog, records studio visits, two others (standard) interview and Studio Critical […]
Karl Bielik
Standard Interview with painter Karl Bielik about his work and creative process. "The feeling that painting is a frustrating and fruitless exercise is never that far away – but when one comes together it makes the hanging-in-there worthwhile."
Erik Saxon
Sharon Butler posts about the exhibition Erik Saxon: Select Works, 1973-2011 on view through June 11, 2011 at Minus Space, Brooklyn, NY. Butler writes that "Saxon was a core member of the Radical Painting Group active in NYC during the 1970s and 1980s. The RPG stressed a return to the core concerns of painting, focusing […]
Charline von Heyl
Christopher Knight reviews an exhibition of new work by painter Charline von Heyl on view through June 18, 2011 at 1301PE Gallery, Los Angeles. The exhibition includes drawings and paintings. Knight writes that in von Heyl's work "Mediums… get mixed — usually oil, acrylic and charcoal, which don't blend but do bleed, clot and scumble, […]
Gabriel Metsu
Bob Duggan reviews an exhibition of paintings by Gabriel Metsu (1629–1667) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Duggan writes that the exhibition provides "a glimpse of a contemporary and rival of Vermeer, who seems so unique in the public's imagination." Duggan continues "[Vermeer] sought a 'painterless' style with no visible brushstrokes, Metsu […]
Illusion and Materiality
David Moxon posts about an exhibition of 23 artists that "demonstrates the recurring relevance of illusion and in counterpoint, materiality… the productive play between these two qualities of a marked surface… has brought this group of works together." The exhibition, A Sort of Night to the Mind, A KIND OF NIGHT FOR OUR THOUGHTS, which […]
Rhomboids
In a great post of curated work, Joanne Mattera presents a 'show' of "squares turned on their axis, along with some elongated parallelograms of the shape you might describe as harlequin…[that] reflect a variety of ideas: tectonic shift, Archimedian displacement, spiritual thinking, a textile sensibility, references to the body, constructivist principles, optical challenge, formal push/pull, […]
Megan Euker: Reenactments
Jeffery McNary reviews Megan Euker: Reenactments at Linda Warren Gallery in Chicago on view through May 14, 2011. McNary notes: "The artist brings a determination, an almost obsession to her work in seeking ways to, 'document the moment'… [her] work develops into an intimate rapport. Nothing lurking in the shadows of surrealism…nothing hiding…nothing seething with […]
Formal Portraits: An Alternate Art World
Carl Belz, Director Emeritus of the Rose Art Museum, provides fascinating insight into "portraits of dignitaries… an art world that orbited in tandem with the art world [he] knew but never intersected…" Belz tells the story of how he facilitated portrait commissions from the painter George Augusta for Brandeis Univeristy. Augusta, Belz writes, "allowed his […]
Time & Timelessness
In a post entitled "Functional Splendor" Sarah Osborne Bender blogs about a visit to see August Vincent Tack's (1870 – 1949) last abstract painting – a mural. She writes: "In 1944, as a commissioned project facilitated by Duncan Phillips, Tack created a beautiful mural, called Time and Timelessness (Spirit of Creation), to be used as […]
Painting in Brooklyn
Painter Paul Behnke tours several painting exhibitions in Brooklyn including: Louder Milk: Tom Burckhardt at Pierogi Gallery (closed May 8, 2011), One Dozen Paintings at The Journal Gallery (with work by Peter Coffin, Jacob Kasssy, Sam Moyer, Joshua Smith, Sarah Braman, Olivier Mosset, Tauba Auerbach, Dan Walsh, and Leif Ritchey – through May 20, 2011), […]
Alchemy & Inquiry: Taaffe, Tomaselli, Winters
16 Miles of String
Andrew Russeth visits the exhibition Alchemy and Inquiry: paintings by Philip Taaffe, Fred Tomaselli, and Terry Winters at Wave Hill Estate in the Bronx. Russeth writes: “With each artist featured in a separate room, it’s easy to see their three distinct visions clearly. My favorite in the tripartite melee is Taaffe, whose paintings are populated […]
John McLean
Alan Shipway reviews a monograph on UK painter John McLean. Shipway writes that McLean's paintings "have an open-ended feeling, seeming to lay bare the mechanisms of painting itself, and therefore contributing something very particular not only to British painting but to art as a whole. All ambitious art has this quality of open-endedness – of […]
Provisional Painting
[IMAGES] Installation photos from the exhibition Provisional Painting on view at Modern Art London through May 25, 2011. The exhibition, curated by Raphael Rubinstein, takes it's title and premise from Rubinstein's 2009 essay "Provisional Painting" in which he writes: "Provisional painting is not about making 'last paintings', nor is it about the deconstruction of the […]
Brett Baker: Interview
Interview with Painters' Table editor Brett Baker about his work and studio practice. "Studio spaces have definitely impacted my work. In 2003 I moved from a huge, dream studio in upstate New York to a tiny New York apartment… I still wanted to make large paintings and thought I could, perhaps, make 'big' small paintings. […]
Soutine/Bacon at Helly Nahmad
Laura Gilbert reviews the exhibition Soutine/Bacon on view at Helly Nahmad Gallery through June 18, 2011. Gilbert writes: "Like a good museum show, it's tightly focused. It pairs paintings by Francis Bacon… with those of Chaim Soutine… whom Bacon considered a 'formative' influence — a fresh context for both."