Painters' Table Blog

A video interview and studio visit with painter Frederick Hammersley (1919-2009). Hammersley discusses his general thoughts on painting as well as the specifics and development of his practice, including what he calls painting by "hunch" or intuition.

A career shortened by an early death and a vision that flowed against the current of art history have undermined the contributions of painter Jan Müller (1922-1958). An exhibition at Lori Bookstein Fine Art in New York is a welcome, if short lived, opportunity to see Müller's monumental Abstract Expressionist allegories.

The Clyfford Still Museum's inaugural exhibition provides new insight into the development of Clyfford Still's groundbreaking abstract paintings. In addition to rarely seen early landscapes and early figure paintings, a gallery of never before seen works on paper reveals drawing to be an important, perhaps crucial, tool in Still's dramatic evolution from regional artist to icon of the New York School.

In his Theory of Colors, Goethe observes that "the greatest brightness short of dazzling acts near the greatest darkness. In this state we at once perceive all the intermediate gradations of chiaro-scuro, and all the varieties of hues." In Dark Matters, currently on view at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, the theme of darkness unites dazzlingly nuanced explorations of color and painterly approach in works by Ryan Cobourn, Arthur Dove, Andrea Belag, Bill Jensen, and Ellen Phelan. The superb selection of paintings spans nearly a century, adding a temporal dialogue to the mix.

David von Schlegell is known primarily for his large scale, outdoor, and public sculpture projects; however, he began his career as a painter - learning to paint from his father. He returned to painting late in life. His final show was at Althea Viafora Gallery in 1991, and it focused on monochrome, poured paintings on wood. These last works form the core of a new exhibition at China Art Objects in Los Angeles.

Ray Parker's "Simple Paintings" from the 1960s, recently on view at Washburn Gallery give the curious impression they are observations painted from life even though they are abstract expressionist works through and through.

Underknown abstract expressionist, Perle Fine's Cool Series, painted between 1961-63, anticipate later developments in geometric abstract painting.

A small, but significant show of paintings and drawings at Minus Space in DUMBO offers a tantalizing re-introduction to the paintings of Ted Stamm.

Although better known in recent years for his parallel career as a UFO advocate, Budd Hopkins deserves to be remembered for his painting career that spanned more than 50 years.