Minimalism
Robert Ryman: The Act of Looking
Whitehot Magazine
Joseph Nechvatal reviews Robert Ryman: The Act of Looking at the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris. Nechvatal observes: “The piece with oil on aluminum panel and four bolts called Accord (1985) I think is the best in the show, because the rolled or sprayed ‘pure’ opticality of the white surface (leitmotif of the Ryman style) on […]
Merrill Wagner: Works from the 70’s
Hyperallergic
Thomas Micchelli reviews Merrill Wagner: Works from the 70’s at Zürcher Gallery, New York, on view through June 24, 2017. Micchelli writes: “Merrill Wagner’s remarkable tape paintings are as much head games as they are inquiries into precision and chance. Trying to puzzle them out is akin to reverse-engineering a ship in a bottle: even […]
David Novros @ Paula Cooper
artcritical
David Rhodes reviews works by David Novros at Paula Cooper Gallery (through June 30). Rhodes writes: “Untitled (1975), and Untitled (Frog Altar) (1975) use right angles as pivotal compositional elements… Both the viewer and the painting are animated, provoking an experience like that of passing through a chapel or a cave, rather than analytically viewing […]
Douglas Witmer’s Simplicity
Two Coats of Paint
Becky Huff Hunter reviews Douglas Witmer: Dubh Glas at Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia, on view through March 12, 2017. Hunter writes: “Each work in Witmer’s austere Winterbrook (2015‒17) series of six small panels brings out a different relational quality between paint and canvas: black wash opens up the flawed pores of the canvas grain; dense, dry paint […]
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 […]
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 […]
Carmen Herrera: Art Without Lies
New York Review of Books
Claire Messud reviews Carmen Herrera: Lines of Sight recently on view at the Whitney Museum, New York. Messud writes: “From the first, Herrera deployed line and color with an energy intensified by her rigor. A City (1948), with its blocks of lemon yellow, black, and cobalt blue, foreshadows a palate that recurred in later series. […]
Agnes Martin @ the Guggenheim Museum
Too Much Art
Mario Naves reviews the Agnes Martin retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, on view through January 11, 2017. Naves writes: “After flirting with biomorphism, Martin settled into her signature groove: patterning—typically, grids or horizontal stripes—laid out with underplayed concision. The color palette, from the get-go, is limited. Grays and off-whites predominate, so much so that […]
Agnes Martin: A Resolutely Solitary Endeavor
Two Coats of Paint
Sharon Butler blogs about the Agnes Martin retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, on view through January 11, 2017. Butler writes: “Martin’s austere paintings, with neutral palette and delicate line, are beautifully installed in the Guggenheim’s warm white ramp. Unlike other artists, Martin didn’t find her voice until she was well past forty and […]
Rhetorical Abstraction in the Age of the Incidental Viewer
Hyperallergic
Gwenaël Kerlidou reflects on the work of Frank Stella. Kerlidou writes: “Stella’s main argument boils down to this: How to make paintings that don’t lose the status of paintings by becoming objects — paintings that evacuate the subjectivity of both the painter and the viewer, and replace it with historical necessity? But, by rejecting expression, […]
Dan Ramirez @ the National Museum of Mexican Art
New City Art
Mark Pohlad reviews Contemplations: Dan Ramirez Works from the Permanent Collection at the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, on view through October 9, 2016. Pohlad writes: “Ramirez’s works reward careful viewing. Lines gradually attenuate and vanish, the edges of pieces are painted, and shadows are cast by slightly askew interstices. But all this formal […]
Carmen Herrera: Interview
Brooklyn Rail
Laila Pedro interviews painter Carmen Herrera on the occasion of Herrera’s retrospective Lines of Sight at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. The show will be on view from September 16, 2016 – January 2, 2017. In her introduction Pedro notes: “that [Herrera refers to her works as] not paintings, they’re not sculptures—they’re […]
Ted Stamm: Paintings at Minus Space
A small, but significant show of paintings and drawings at Minus Space offers a tantalizing re-introduction to Ted Stamm’s paintings.
Jo Baer at Hunter College
16 Miles of String
Andrew Russeth reports on painter Jo Baer’s interview with Anthony Huberman on March 7 at Hunter College. The interview was held in conjunction with a screening of a film about her work. Russeth reports that Baer spoke on her decision to leave the New York art world, her lesser known (in America) figurative paintings, her […]
Robert Ryman at the Phillips
Painter's Bread
Michael Rutherford posts a 2010 video interview with Robert Ryman at the Phillips Collection. Ryman discusses his works on view at the museum noting: "I don't abstract from anything… I am involved with real space… real light, and real surface."