Narrative
Tal R: Interview
Hyperallergic
Jennifer Samet interviews painter Tal R whose exhibition Tal R: Keyhole is on view at Cheim & Read through February 11, 2017. Tal R remarks: “Bonnard and Matisse are much more dangerous to get close to than some Surrealist painter from Helsinki in the 1940s. Think about the artists your mother would like (and who […]
Kerry James Marshall’s Enigmatic Authority
The Nation
Barry Schwabsky reviews Kerry James Marshall: Mastry at the Met Breuer, New York, on view through January 29, 2017. Schwabsky observes: “Marshall is something we haven’t seen for a while, at least in a very convincing way: He is what Baudelaire called for 171 years ago, a painter of the heroism of modern life—and the fact […]
David Hockney @ the Tate
The Guardian
Olivia Laing previews the exhibition David Hockney which will be on view at Tate Britain from February 9 – May 29, 2017. Laing writes: “As a spectacular new retrospective at Tate Britain makes clear … twists and turns in thematic preoccupations and new techniques [explored by Hockney throughout his career] do not represent a lack […]
TAL R at Cheim and Read
Steven Alexander Journal
Steven Alexander blogs about TAL R: Keyhole at Cheim and Read, New York, on view through February 11, 2017. Alexander writes: “The paintings are made with raw pigment and rabbit skin glue on rough linen, which creates a unique scumbled surface and sensual vibrant color. These are breathtakingly beautiful pieces that operate as brilliant metaphors […]
Dennis Kardon & Alexi Worth in Conversation
artcritical
Dennis Kardon and Alexi Worth discuss their paintings on the occasion of the recent exhibition Dennis Kardon & Alexi Worth: Within Reach at Myers School of Art, the University of Akron. Exhibition curator Matthew Kolodziej noted that Kardon and Worth “share a mutual engagement with how narrative, material, and perception intersect. Within these visual narratives, the […]
Guido Cagnacci @ the Frick
The New Criterion
Franklin Einspruch reviews Cagnacci’s “Repentant Magdalene”: An Italian Baroque Masterpiece from the Norton Simon Museum at the Frick Collection, New York, on view through January 22, 2017. Einspruch observes: “Parts of this scene are exquisite… Parts of this scene are not exquisite… Nevertheless, the whole of the thing is a marvel. Light catches on an […]
Alex Katz: Interview
Hyperallergic
Jennifer Samet interviews painter Alex Katz. Katz remarks: “So many things can be great subject matter. I could be looking at Nefertiti, and that could be something I see today. But it also could be movies and billboards and TV. I think everything in our culture is potential subject matter. You go into these areas […]
Kyle Staver’s Eloquent Color
Painting Perceptions
John Goodrich reviews a recent exhibition of paintings by Kyle Staver at Kent Fine Art, New York. Goodrich writes: “Kyle Staver is a colorist, and one of the best around – which is only to say that in her paintings she makes every color count. In art school, they drill into students the three properties […]
Merlin James at Sikkema Jenkins
Hyperallergic
John Yau reviews Merlin James: Paintings For Persons at Sikkema Jenkins & Co., on view through November 12, 2016. Yau writes that James “gets at all sorts of feelings without ever locking them into a narrative. He doesn’t tell us how to read his paintings. He gives us that responsibility and, in that regard, he is […]
Kerry James Marshall: Mastry @ the Met Breuer
Artnet News
Christian Viveros-Fauné reviews Kerry James Marshall: Mastry at the Met Breuer, New York, on view through January 29, 2017. Viveros-Fauné writes: “Self-portraiture, religious painting, history painting, landscapes, nudes, fêtes champêtres, abstraction and other tropes have all been mobilized by [Kerry James Marshall] to achieve his lofty artistic goal of painterly self-representation. But rather than aspire […]
Kyle Staver: Interview
Figure/Ground Communication
Gwendolyn Zabicki interviews Kyle Staver whose paintings are on view at Kent Fine Art, New York, on view through October 22, 2016. Staver comments: “I think there is a huge need to communicate, to tell stories. It is primal. I’m not saying that installation pieces aren’t communicating, but there is such a long history of […]
Kyle Staver @ Kent Fine Art
Hyperallergic
John Yau reviews paintings by Kyle Staver at Kent Fine Art, New York, on view through October 22, 2016. Yau concludes: “By introducing a touch of comedy, Staver opens up well-known myths and stories, making them more human than lofty. Wit, tenderness and empathy inform her views of the tragic, suggesting that we are not […]
Clintel Steed @ Steven Harvey
Hyperallergic
John Yau reviews Endymion: Recent Paintings by Clintel Steed at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, New York, on view through October 9, 2016. Yau writes: “Steed strokes the paste-like paint onto the surface, creating an uneven tactile skin that is pebbled and brushy. This tactility is at odds with our digital world – its endless barrage […]
Marc Trujillo: Interview
Hilary Harkness: Huffington Post Arts
Hilary Harkness interviews painter Marc Trujillo. Trujillo comments: “Acting is the thing, we’re painters and are supposed to think with brushes in hand, right? This is one of the things that plein-air painting is great for, the clock is ticking, the light is changing, you are mortal and need to act. The deadliest trap is […]
Ginny Casey: Studio Visit
Pencil in the Studio
Maria Calandra visits the studio of painter Ginny Casey. Casey’s show Play Things will be on view at Half Gallery, New York, from September 7 – October 7, 2016. Calandra writes: “Casey models her soft forms, often large enough to take over the entire canvas, by teetering between colors so close in value they are […]
Sarah McEneaney @ Locks Gallery
The Artblog
Michael Lieberman reviews Sarah McEneaney: When You Wish at Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, on view through October 8, 2016. Lieberman writes that McEneaney’s work presents “an extremely appealing and artistically unique glimpse into a consciousness of the moment that potentially could be shared by any seeing person in his or her own particular time and place.”
Jason Mones: Interview
#FFFFFF Walls
Jonathan Chapline and Lorraine Nam interview painter Jason Mones. Mones comments: “For many reasons, the male point of view is a wellspring of creativity for me. There’s a mythology wrapped up within a gaze that is forever fascinating. I began making these portraits because I wanted the audience to come face to face with the […]
Shara Hughes: Studio Visit
#FFFFFF Walls
Jonathan Chapline and Lorraine Nam visit the studio of painter Shara Hughes. Hughes comments: “The imagery is all based on what is happening in my life, but I never know where it’s going to go when I start. I start very abstractly with some kind of wash background and begin to pull out shapes formally. […]
Leslie Bell: Interview
Painter's Bread
Michael Rutherford interviews painter Leslie Bell about his work and process. Bell remarks: "The history of painterly expression goes back to the caves but skips generations along the way. The pendulum swings…loose; tight; loose; tight. What excites me most is a dynamic combination of description and expression. I remember as a little kid marveling at […]
Gabriel Laderman on Art
“Gabriel Laderman on Art,” represents the best of what blogging can be – personal, thoughtful reflections and opinions based in real experience.