Jason Stopa: Studio Visit
Maria Calandra visits the studio of painter Jason Stopa. Calandra writes: "I was first taken by blasts of color, animated brush strokes, and confectionery connotations. After spending more time with them, Stopa's paintings' unique relationship to language reveals itself, recalling Haiku poetry in particular. They have a similar directness of description, even in their abstraction, […]
Michael Mazur: Stoneham Zoo
John Yau reviews Michael Mazur: Stoneham Zoo (1976-1979) recently on view at Ryan Lee Gallery, New York. Yau writes that "the relationship between figuration and abstraction seem as much the subject of the paintings as the primates they depict living (if you can call it that) in squalid conditions. Although Mazur has been characterized as […]
Pat Passlof @ Elizabeth Harris Gallery
Paul Behnke reviews Pat Passlof: Paintings from the 1950s at Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, on view through December 20, 2014. Behnke writes: "In Ionian, the ready pictorial convention of an interior room that opens to an expansive outdoor view is abstracted to the point that portions of the picture plane begin to function non-objectively. While […]
Martin Mugar: The Pastorale
Addison Parks considers the work of painter Martin Mugar. Martin Mugar's work is only 'not what it seems' because of our expectations. We expect that pastel candy-like surfaces that appear like a large confection are sweet and decorative. We might eschew the sugar rush, the diabetic coma, the sick stomach. Or we might dismiss the […]
Carol Robertson: Interview
Patrick Morrissey and Hanz Hancock interview painter Carol Robertson. Robertson comments: "I’m presently dividing circles into multi-coloured sections which nevertheless still form an unbroken circle. The wonderful thing about a circle is that it always remains whole. For a couple of years I’ve been adding these divided rings running around the edge to create a […]
Freak Flag
Dan Greenberg reviews Freak Flag, curated by Kim Uchiyama, at Brian Morris Midtown, New York (through December 13). The show features works by Al Loving, Ann Shostrom, Craig Fisher, Gwenn Thomas, James Clark, Kim Uchiyama, Marthe Keller, Noah Post, Stephen Westfall, Paul Corio, and Andy Mister. Greenberg writes: "According to Morris, Al Loving embodies the […]
Judy Rifka: Interview
Jennifer Samet interviews painter Judy Rifka about her work and career. Rifka comments: "In dance, you are in a place, then you think about where you want to go, and then you go there. You make a body out of your intentions of where you want to go, and that is a physical connection. In […]
Théodore Rousseau: The Untamed Landscape
Simon Carr reviews The Untamed Landscape: Theodore Rousseau and the Path to Barbizon at the Morgan Library and Museum, New York, on view through January 18, 2015. Carr writes: "Showing drawings, along with a few key paintings, the compact exhibition highlights Rousseau’s achievements. Spanning his entire career, the works map out the creative development of […]
The Influence of Andrew Forge
Painter Mark Trujillo blogs about the influential artist, critic, and teacher Andrew Forge and includes remembrances from artists Ann Gale, Julie Heffernan, Denzil Hurley, Margaret McCann, Paula Heisen, Tommy Fitzpatrick, Mark Brosseau, Steve Hicks, Stuart Elster, and Denis Farrell. Trujillo writes that "[Forge's] influence was formative for me and I know for many others as […]
Delacroix, Manet, and Photography
Alexi Worth examines the link between Delacroix's observations on photography and the paintings of Manet. Worth writes: "It’s clear that Delacroix loved the new technology’s dazzling naturalism, but not its overabundant detail. Again and again he mentions simplicity—a key term for Delacroix—as a quality good photographs lacked. There was something disagreeable about their 'all the […]
Chris Martin: Interview
Kelly Robbins interviews painter Chris Martin. Martin comments: "I love painting and I love learning about painting from all the different parts of the world and from the different parts of history, and I’m very aware of a dialogue that I have with my friends and comrade painters here in New York City and Europe […]
Matthew Miller: Self Portraits
Christopher Howard blogs about Matthew Miller: Can't You See It: I am One recently on view at Hansel and Gretel Picture Garden Pocket Utopia, New York. Howard, who attended Miller's gallery talk, notes: "while looking closely at [Untitled, 2014], I noticed that the treatment of the chest is gauzy, while the hand and face are […]
Lisa Breslow @ Kathryn Markel
Larry Groff blogs about the paintings of Lisa Breslow on view at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York through December 20, 2014. Groff notes: "The emotional register of this body of work is dialed to a more serious channel for visual contemplation. Despite the loose touch everything here seems carefully considered and finds its place. […]
Goya: Dark & Light
Colm Tóibín reviews Goya: Order and Disorder at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, on view through January 19, 2015. Tóibín writes: "There are two ways, perhaps, of looking at Goya, who was born near Zaragoza in 1746 and died in exile in France in 1828. In the first version, he was almost innocent, a […]
Kathy Liao: Interview
Chris Lowrance interviews painter Kathy Liao about her work. Liao remarks: "I think of the formal issues of painting, of lines and colors and composition. I think of painting as a medium, as materials, as objects – the texture, the touch and the body of paint, the way it runs, drips, build up, get scraped […]
Ragamala: Picturing Sound
Altoon Sultan blogs about the exhibition Ragamala: Picturing Sound at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, on view through December 14, 2014. Sultan writes that in Indian painting the "forms and colors are so engaging, and their intimate size invites close looking. Their worlds are magical, with attention paid to flowing, brightly colored garments […]
Picasso in the Present
Jed Perl re-considers Picasso on the occasion of the newly renovated Musée Picasso in Paris and two New York shows: Picasso and Jacqueline: The Evolution of Style at Pace Gallery (through January 10) and Picasso and the Camera at Gagosian Gallery (through January 3). Perl writes:"Picasso as he emerges at the Pace and Gagosian galleries and at […]
Pat Passlof: Paintings from the 50s
An exhibition of early works by Pat Passlof tells the story of a talented, audacious painter coming of age during a legendary decade of New York painting.
Cubism: The Lauder Collection
Mario Naves reviews Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, on view through February 16, 2014. Naves writes: "The exhibition is divided into didactic sections that are light in touch: the close relationship between Picasso and Braque is informatively glanced upon, as is the use of color by […]
Rembrandt: The Late Works
T.J. Clark reviews Rembrandt: The Late Works at the National Gallery, London, on view through January 18, 2014. Clark observes: "What I now think was wrong in my previous approach to Rembrandt was my choice of terms. [I] assumed that the ‘look’ of self-portraiture was paramount, and extracted the look from the ‘face’. Rembrandt did […]