Abstraction
De Kooning & Zao Wou-Ki Trace Paths to Abstraction
Hamptons Art Hub
Charles A. Riley II reviews Willem de Kooning | Zao Wou-Ki at Lévy Gorvy Gallery, New York, on view through March 5, 2017. Riley writes that the show “features more than 20 paintings from the two artists’ absolute peak decades, the ’40s through the ’70s … The initial presentation certainly makes the case for one […]
Josef Albers: Color is a Whole World
The Art Section
Painter José Heerkens reflects on color and the work of Josef Albers. “Even knowing that visual language is a totally different language than the language of words, each acting on its own level, color is still a very difficult subject to describe. Any form can be described, but trying to catch color in words is impossible… The […]
Inventing Downtown
Arteidolia
Ron Morosan reviews Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952–1965 at the Grey Art Gallery, New York University, on view through April 1, 2017. Morosan writes: “As we examine more of the evidence presented in Inventing Downtown we start to see how this exhibition shows the missing link in the development of what […]
Jack Whitten: Interview
Brooklyn Rail
Jarrett Earnest interviews painter Jack Whitten whose work is on view at Hauser & Wirth, New York through April 8, 2017. Whitten comments: “Without a doubt, the sculpture has had more influence on my painting than anything else. The concept of light is different in a sculptor’s mind than it is in a painter’s. When […]
Eleanore Mikus @ Craig F. Starr
Hyperallergic
John Yau reviews Eleanore Mikus: Tablets and Related Works, 1960–69 at Craig F. Starr Gallery, New York, on view through March 25, 2017. Yau rites: “[Eleanore Mikus] brought together nuance and structure, making them into a subtly captivating experience… she is clearly uninterested in the perfection we associate with the Minimalist aesthetic, and with artists […]
Ruth Pastine @ Brian Gross
Squarecylinder
David M. Roth reviews Ruth Pastine: Witness at Brian Gross Gallery, San Francisco, on view through February 25, 2017. Roth writes: “Ruth Pastine’s supersaturated color-field paintings unite two seemingly contradictory characteristics: sensuality and remoteness. How might that work? Smashingly well, as it turns out. The Ojai-based artist blends vertical bands of strong color into gradients […]
Sean Scully @ Timothy Taylor Gallery
Saturation Point
John Stephens reviews the recent exhibition Sean Scully: Horizon at Timothy Taylor Gallery, London. Stephens writes: “I’d say [Scully] owes his success over the decades since the 70s not only to his deft and confident handling of paint but also to his understanding, not just of modernist abstraction but of the history of Western painting. […]
Marjorie Welish: Some Differences
ARTnews
Barbara A. MacAdam reviews Marjorie Welish: Some Differences at Art 3, New York, on view through February 5, 2017. MacAdam writes: “What is most surprising in this gathering is the personal, physical quality of the works. They seem to mimic breathing, inhaling and exhaling between the vacant areas and the more expansive blue mounds. Sometimes there’s a […]
Emily Mason @ Ameringer McEnery Yohe
Hamptons Art Hub
Peter Malone reviews paintings by Emily Mason at Ameringer McEnery Yohe, New York, on view through February 7, 2017. Malone observes: “Though Mason’s palette is keyed to the higher pitches, it avoids the flash and punch embraced by much recent abstract painting. Apparently not interested in deadpan statements or the lure of eye-candy, she creates […]
John McLaughlin: The Marvelous Void
artcritical
Joan Boykoff Baron and Reuben M. Baron review two exhibitions: John McLaughlin Paintings: Total Abstraction at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (through April 16) and John McLaughlin: Marvelous Void at Van Doren Waxter, New York (closed). The reviewers write: “[McLaughlin] sought a purer basis for abstraction in the Zen concept of the ‘marvelous […]
Dan Walsh @ Paula Cooper
Art Observed
D. Creahan reviews works by Dan Walsh at Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, on view through February 4, 2017. Crehan writes: “Artist Dan Walsh’s work draws on process as a mode of transcendence, working through canvases through a series of evolving forms and rule-based approaches to the canvas space. The artist … draws on repetitive, […]
Suzanne Blank Redstone: 1960s Portal Paintings
Art Agenda
Leigh Markopoulos reviews the recent exhibition Suzanne Blank Redstone: 1960s Portal Paintings at Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco. Markopoulos writes: “Featuring primary-colored geometric forms and grids, [Redstone’s] compositions instantly evoke Piet Mondrian, at the same time hinting at a venerable tradition of European pre-war geometric abstraction of the sort practiced by Jean Hélion. While her experiments […]
Mark Rothko: Dark Palette
ARTnews
Alfred Mac Adam reviews the recent exhibition Mark Rothko: Dark Palette at Pace Gallery, New York Mac Adam observes: “The act of superimposing black on color ironically transforms the surface into a mirror that enables viewers to seek and lose themselves in the work. The paintings invite speculation, and speculation generates dynamic narrative, going “on […]
Ken Weathersby: From Sculpture to Painting
Two Coats of Paint
Sharon Butler reviews Ken Weathersby; Time After Time at Minus Space, Brooklyn, on view through February 25, 2017. Butler writes: “Weathersby seems to be reminding the viewer that abstract paintings may seem formalist, or, to some viewers, simply decorative, but they are in fact part of a larger timeline rooted in history, politics, and philosophy. […]
Carl Ostendarp: Interview
Artpulse
Craig Drennen interviews painter Carl Ostendarp whose work is on view at Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, through February 25, 2017. Ostendarp remarks: “Well there is secret stuff in the paintings! In addition to the images, there’s a crackpot math thing that I do. And there’s an idea about the ‘field’ that’s as much American […]
Ed Clark @ the Tilton Gallery
Hyperallergic
John Yau reviews Ed Clark: Paintings at the Tilton Gallery, New York, on view through February 18, 2017. Yau writes: “Clark’s approach is simple and straightforward, and he has not altered it much over the years. I don’t think he needs to. I think what needs to happen is to bring together in an exhibition […]
Etel Adnan @ the Institut du Monde Arabe
Flash Art
Martha Kirszenbaum reviews a recent exhibition of works by Etel Adnan at the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris. Kirszenbaum concludes: “Throughout this intimate retrospective, Adnan’s voice, both feminist and pacifist, reveals itself through her interwoven influences, languages and techniques. She observes her itinerancy, from Smyrna to Beirut, and from Sausalito to Paris, with a generous […]
Ryan Nord Kitchen: Interview
Painting is Dead
Scott Robinson interviews painter Ryan Nord Kitchen. Kitchen remarks: “Paintings are these things that are consciously presented to a viewer. When you stand in front of a show, I think an indicator of its success is a compelling desire to contemplate why the artist decided to show you this particular group of objects. Painting has […]
Stanley Whitney: Interview
Modern Art Notes
Tyler Green talks to painter Stanley Whitney whose work is currently on view at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, through April 2, 2017. Whitney remarks: “… So I go to Egypt … I’m looking at the pyramids, I’m looking at the tombs, I’m looking at the frescoes on the wall, and then it […]
Marina Adams: Interview
Whitewall
Katy Donoghue interviews painter Marina Adams whose show Soft Power is on view at Salon 94 Bowery, New York, through February 22, 2016. Adams remarks: “I was at the Alhambra, I must have been in my twenties, in Grenada at the Moorish Palace. It’s all tiled. So I was not looking at abstract expressionist paintings, […]