Thomas Micchelli writes about Paul Resika on the occasion of two concurrent shows: Resika: 8 + 8, 8 Paintings from 8 Decades at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects (through Feb 10) and Resika: 8 + 8, Eight Recent Works at Lori Bookstein Fine Art (through Feb 9).

Micchelli recals that as a student Resika taught him that "it is better to think of [past masters], from whatever century or continent, as tribal ancestors who may or may not approve of what you’re doing, but who would understand your struggles and failures because their experiences mirrored yours… Resika was trying to tell us: that familiarity would break down our preconceptions and cultivate a fertile relationship with the history of our art form… [He] is among the last of the true believers. He committed himself to painting before the idea of making a picture became clouded by irony, distancing and recycling. He had nothing but his talent and his passion, which he followed with an extreme single-mindedness, brooking no doubt about painting’s purpose and efficacy."