Sharon Butler

Sharon Butler and Jonathan Stevenson review Leslie Wayne: Free Experience at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, on view through October 21st, 2017. They write: "... in his lecture series at Harvard in the 1980s, Frank Stella came up with the notion of 'working space' – that is, activating the space in front of the canvas

Sharon Butler reviews Andrea Belag: Ghost Writer at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, New York, on view through October 15, 2017. Butler writes: "In [Belag's] older work, the deep color triggered an inchoate emotional response, but now simple shapes and lines, truncated brushstrokes rendered in lively color, float on the picture plane. Many of the

Sharon Butler reviews Unlimited: Painting in France in the 1960s & 1970s at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Butler writes: "The incisive, elegantly installed exhibition in Philadelphia, comprising work made from 1964 through 1974, highlights some of the ideas that were percolating before and after the 1968 riots. Artists began to consider how they were

Sharon Butler reviews A New Subjectivity: Figurative Painting after 2000, curated by Jason Stopa, at Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York (through April 12). The show features works by Katherine Bradford, Katherine Bernhardt, Gina Beavers, Jackie Gendel, Liz Markus, and Rose Wylie. Butler writes that curator Jason Stopa "makes a strong case that contemporary painters, particularly

Sharon Butler reviews works by Katharina Grosse at Gagosian Gallery, New York, on view through March 11, 2017. Butler writes: "The strength of Grosse’s past work rested in the clever, audacious way she combined paint and physical structure. These new paintings on canvas, though ambitious and slick in terms of energy and scale, lack the

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.

Sharon Butler visits the studio of painter John Zinsser. Zinsser's work is currently on view in The Humanism of Abstraction at the Dedalus Foundation. The show, which also includes work by David Reed and Carrie Moyer, is on view through November 17, 2016. Butler observes: "Playfulness and improvisation, then, are parts of [Zinsser's] process but

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

Sharon Butler blogs about Joan Semmel: New Work at Alexander Gray Associates, New York, on view through October 15, 2016. Butler writes: "Semmel’s lively, lyrical new paintings ... depict fragmented sections of the aging female body, often from angles that can only be seen by women themselves. The gloriously large-scale nudes, all self portraits and

Sharon Butler posts excerpts from Alex Baker's catalogue essay for New Geometries at Fleischer/Ollman gallery in Philadelphia on view through November 12, 2016. The show features works by Martha Clippinger, Gianna Commito, Diena Georgetti, Jeffrey Gibson, Eamon Ore-Giron, and Clare Rojas. Butler notes that "Baker sums up the history of abstract painting and then suggests