Velázquez, Restored
New York Times interactive feature on the Metropolitan Museum's restoration of Velázquez's, Portrait of Philip IV. "[C]urators and conservators … now believe that a full-length portrait of Philip IV that has been in the Met's collection since 1914 is by Velázquez and not his workshop." The feature includes interactive images and a podcast.
Nancy Spero @ Centre Pompidou
ArtKritique's John Matthews writes about the Pompidou Center's Nancy Spero exhibition. Matthews writes: "It's an enormous credit to an artist so easily identified with the pop-art, feminism, ant-war protest and all sorts of counter cultural reference that the visual and physical presence of Spero's work can stand outside and above the biography, theory and reportage […]
A Cure for Impatience – Drawing
By way of looking at a Rembrandt drawing, painter Philip Koch examines drawing as a way to slow down. Drawing "involves taking the time to see something more clearly. Doing drawings of your idea before you paint it can be a way to slow yourself down. We need time to notice the things others overlook."
Beyond Pollock’s Drip Paintings
On the occasion of MoMA's exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York, Daniel Larkin considers the total accomplishment of Jackson Pollock's oeuvre. Pollock's "paintings are often crudely divided into two categories. On the hand, there are the mighty drip paintings — where splatters and splotches of paint dance across the picture plane. Then, there is everything else."
Gauguin’s Myth Making
Bob Duggan previews the exhibition Paul Gauguin: Maker of Myth which will travel from London's Tate Modern to the National Gallery in Washington D.C. on view February 27 – June 5, 2011. The exhibition "picks up the pieces of what seems to be Gauguin’s shattered psyche and reveals the method behind his madness. Both a […]
Rare Tony Smith Drawings
All Art News reports that an exhibition of "rarely-seen drawings explore noted sculptor, Tony Smith’s early work at the Menil Collection in Houston… Created between 1950 and 1955, the 30 drawings on display encapsulate a dramatic turning point in Smith’s artistic career, as he shifted from his professional architectural work towards painting and sculpture.
2010: The girls Are All Right
Two Coats of Paint posts links to a variety of exhibitions by women artists in 2010 that led the New York Times Roberta Smith to conclude that "Roberta Smith in her year-end overview, one of the bright spots of 2010 was the visibility of female artists."
Ronnie Landfield
Painter Matthew Beall posts a video about painter Ronnie Landfield. Landfield, interviewed in his studio speaks about his work, the experience of abstraction, and motivation.
Brian Sharp at ACME
Contemporary Art Daily features installation photos of Brian Sharp paintings at ACME Los Angeles.
Mira Schor at CB1 Gallery
Culture Monster's Christopher Knight reviews Mira Schor paintings at CB1 Gallery. Knight writes "Language is a common image, especially in the earlier work, in which words such as "lack," "trace," "sign" and "silence" meditate on the range of qualities a painted object can and cannot accommodate."
Picasso Paintings & Sculpture
Art Observed's 'Go See' features Picasso works at Gagosian. The exhibition "titled Important Paintings and Sculpture, Pablo Picasso‘s latest solo exhibition … is a diverse collection spanning roughly 20 years of his work.
Margrit Lewczuk’s Patterned Abstractions
Hyperallergic's Hrag Vartanian's post about painter Margrit Lewczuk's solo exhibition contains great installation photos of the entire show including shots of the phosphorescent paintings and a link to Lewczuk's June 2010 interview with the Brooklyn Rail's Phong Bui.
Rauzier’s Labyrinths
Spread Art Culture reports on the work of French photographer Jean-François Rauzier. With a painter's eye Rauzier creates fascinating large scale, painterly photographss that mix photography, collage, and technology. "Rauzier’s technique is to photograph his subjects for as long as two hours, capturing different areas in progression, the parts of a figure or a building […]
Otto Dix Q&A
Leah Sandals interviews Montreal Museum of Fine Arts curator Anne Grace about painter Otto Dix on the occasion of the exhibition Rogue Cabaret: The Terrifying and Beautiful World of Otto Dix. Grace says of Dix: "[He] isn’t a moralist; he’s not necessarily an anti-war artist. What he does is present us with images of what […]
Closer Look: Prado’s New Bruegel
New York Times
The Prado, home to so many masterpieces now houses one more “The Wine of St. Martin’s Day” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The painting has been in the Prado’s collection but was recently re-attributed. The New York Times has a nice interactive feature where you can mouse over the painting to zoom in for a […]
Life Magazine & Loren Munk Paintings
Becoming Modern in America is an intriguing exhibition of "more than 20 vintage issues of Life magazine spanning the years 1936-1972, as well as two recent paintings by Brooklyn, New York-based painter Loren Munk." Munk makes "impastoed information paintings mapping the history of New York City’s artists, writers, venues, and movements." The paintings are paired […]
de Kooning “Figure & Light”
Culture Monster's Christopher Knight reviews "Figure and Light" works by Willem de Kooning at L&M Arts. "Sixteen drawings and paintings on paper chronicle the evolution of his signature "women" from 1947 through 1962. A second room jumps to eight, late abstract paintings made between 1980 and 1985."
Jasper Johns, ‘Drawing Over’ at Castelli
It's the last weekend to see Jasper Johns Drawing Over at Castelli Gallery. Art Observed reports that Drawing Over is "an exhibition of Jasper Johns drawings from the last four decades at the Castelli Gallery – of which many pieces have never been exhibited … Chosen by the artist from across his lengthy career, the […]
Nassos Daphnis Dies at 96
Artist Nassos Daphnis died November 23, 2010 in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He was 96 years old. The New York Times writes that Daphnis was "a Greek-American artist who deployed brilliantly colored geometric forms in precise formal relationships to create nervous, dynamic paintings on a heroic scale." The Times also has a photo gallery of Daphnis' work.
Are Artists Bored by Their Work?
Art Historian and critic James Elkins ponders how and if boredom, fostered by today's skittish, impatient cultural environment, impacts today's artists. He writes "I'd like to pursue slow looking, and think about it as carefully as I think it deserves. One way to pursue this subject is to ask how long it took the artist […]