David Molesky on Titian’s The Flaying of Marsyas
David Molesky considers Titian's The Flaying of Marsyas which is on view in the exhibition Unfinished at the Met Breuer, New York, through September 4, 2016. Molesky writes: "Did this painting put a spell on me? I am not sure, but it certainly has made me feel more open to the possibility that within the mysteries […]
A Conversation with Eleanor Ray
Gwendolyn Zabicki interviews painter Eleanor Ray. Ray comments: "I like the idea that the small painting is kind of monumental rather than miniature – that it can contain a bigger space, like the imaginative space of a book, and that you can get back from a smaller painting more easily. So you can see more […]
Jake Berthot: Silence Like a Sense
Tim Keane reviews Jake Berthot: in Color at Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, on view through April 23, 2016. Keane writes: "We could call these works action paintings for prolonged meditation. For Berthot, like the poet Wallace Stevens, planes of aesthetic knowledge — such as origination, composition, cohesion, rumination — should be art’s primary subjects, […]
Grace Hartigan: The Real Thing
Jenni Quilter reviews Restless Ambition: Grace Hartigan, Painter by Cathy Curtis, published by Oxford. Quilter notes "When Hartigan had used oil paint in the 1950s in New York her ideas about colour were articulated by the texture of the paint and her brushstrokes. You couldn’t speak of a white or red without noticing her application […]
Thornton Willis @ Elizabeth Harris
James Kalm interviews artist Thornton Willis at Willis' show Step Up at Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, on view through May 7, 2016. In the video Willis discusses his new work as well as his experiences as a young artist in New York.
Tim Tozer: Interview
Michael Hopkins interviews painter Tim Tozer about his recent work. Tozer comments: "Initially the idea of mass [in the paintings' titles] refers to visual weight (or the lack of it), although I’m aware it could also have religious connotations; I wouldn’t desire or reject that connection if it were made. I think part of what brings […]
Edgar Degas: Intimate Impressions
Phyllis Tuchman reviews Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, on view through July 24, 2016. Tuchman asks: "… was Degas more interested in making works that verged on abstraction or in communicating something more temporal and spatial, say, the swooshing of time and place passing? Once we […]
Newness: Melissa Meyer @ Lennon, Weinberg
Sharon Butler reviews Melissa Meyer: New Work at Lennon, Weinberg, New York, on view through May 7, 2016. Butler notes: "My favorite piece in this absorbing show is a small diptych called Double Nature. … The symbols themselves seem less tidy than those in earlier work, with one thin, dark, elongated zigzag mark on the […]
Katrina Blannin: Annodam
Andy Parkinson reviews Katrina Blannin: Annodam, recently on view at Jessica Carlisle Gallery, London. Parkinson concludes: "The question [Blannin] now seems to be asking in relation to this new source [Piero della Francesca's Madonna del Parto (c.1455-60)] might be 'what (geometric) system underpins the construction?' The task of deciphering the connection to the source is […]
Nancy Princenthal on Agnes Martin
Carolina A. Miranda interviews art critic and Agnes Martin biographer Nancy Princenthal about the artist on the occasion of the upcoming Agnes Martin retropsective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The show will be on view from April 24 – September 11, 2016. Princenthal comments: "I think — and this is subjective […]
Nice Weather @ Skarstedt
Katelynn Mills reviews Nice Weather, a group show curated by David Salle, at Skarstedt Gallery, New York (Chelsea and Upper East Side locations), on view through April 16, 2016. Mills observes: "One cannot help but feed off the vitality of the paintings in 'Nice Weather,' … Taking it all in, I was reminded of [curator David] […]
Mark Lewis: Interview
Sam King interviews painter Mark Lewis. Referring to his earlier still life paintings Lewis comments: "I’ve always thought of the tabletops as stage sets (but not in an obvious way) and now I think of the streets as stage sets too—a place where I enjoy observing daily life… I like to discover places to paint. […]
Raoul De Keyser’s Poetry
Altoon Sultan blogs about the exhibition Raoul De Keyser: Drift on view at David Zwirner Gallery, New York through April 23, 2016. Sultan notes: "For Raoul De Keyser (1930-2012), paint is a subtle medium, carrying a delicate expression, fluid and free, and at the same time concise and spare. His paintings are like brief poems, […]
Bill Scott: Interview
Jennifer Samet interviews painter Bill Scott whose exhibition Imagining Spring is on view at Hollis Taggart Gallery, New York through April 16, 2016. Scott comments: "I think I paint bittersweet fictions. I don’t believe the imagery I paint exists. I am not so removed from the world that I think it is pleasant out there. […]
Joseph Ablow: Qualities of Stillness
Kate Butler reviews Joseph Ablow: Qualities of Stillness recently on view at Boston University's Stone Gallery. Butler observes that in Ablow's paintings: “We see … tables—as well as cups, pitchers, bowls and the occasional napkin or wrench—animated with the intimacy and loneliness, the attraction and repulsion, of the human beings who are absent from their […]
Tess Bilhartz: Interview
Sheryl Oppenheim interviews painter Tess Bilhartz whose exhibition Purple Nights was recently on view at Arts + Leisure, New York. Bilhartz remarks: Narrative is something that I’ve always been interested in. I read a lot of fiction and movies and dramas, but I never really found a way to make it a part of my […]
Carrie Moyer: Sounding the New
Clarity Haynes reviews Carrie Moyer: Sirens which waas recently on view at DC Moore Gallery, New York. Haynes concludes: "Despite Moyer’s many influences and art historical references, her work does not look like anyone else’s. She is creating new territory and forging her own language in paint. A kind of deep, bodily theatrics are at play […]
Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty
Karen Wilkin reviews Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, on view through July 24, 2016. Wilkin writes: "Powerful as Degas’s monotypes of figures are, the most surprising works in 'Strange New Beauty' may be the landscapes. Made in the early 1890s, and sometimes based on shadowy second […]
Albert Kresch: Studio Visit
Christopher Joy and Zachary Keeting visit the studio of painter Albert Kresch. Kresch comments: "Light is maybe the second most important thing in a painting for me… space [is first] … I studied very early with [Hofmann] I was 18 in 1942 and 43… Push and pull didn't interest me… I wanted to hurl the spectator […]
How Critical Thinking Sabotages Painting
Laurie Fendrich challenges the efficacy of emphasizing critical thinking when teaching painting. Fendrich argues: "Applied to painting, critical thinking too often ends up calling into question the very medium—a deconstructionist impulse that particularly sabotages beginning students. Playing baseball or tennis requires accepting the game as a whole, and so does painting. But unlike baseball or […]