Reviews
Matisse and Derain: A study in contrasts
The New Criterion
James Panero reviews Vertigo of Color: Matisse, Derain, and the Origins of Fauvism at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. After setting the stage with a discussion of Michel Eugène Chevreul’s theory of contrasting color and its influence on impressionist and post-impressionist painting, Panero traces the story of Matisse and Derain working together in […]
Larry Groff at Prince Street Gallery
In Larry Groff’s recent paintings, visions of contemporary reality give way to surprising optimism.
James Brooks reconsidered
Two Coats of Paint
Laurie Fendrich reviews James Brooks: A Painting is a Real Thing, curated by Dr. Klaus Ottmann on view at The Parrish Art Museum from August 6–October 15, 2023. Fendrich writes: “On the rare occasions I’ve encountered Brooks’s paintings, I’ve paid them scant attention. Like many, I have walked on by, presumptively ranking him well below […]
Gwen John at Pallant House
London Review of Books
Alice Spawls reviews Gwen John: Art and Life in Paris and London at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. Spawls observes that: “The pictures themselves are not large or flamboyant, and some are almost austere. But they seem to vibrate. There are suggestions of movement in the cloth, in the stippling of paint (which sometimes looks like […]
Ed Clark: The Big Sweep
Brooklyn Rail
Charles Moore reviews Ed Clark: The Big Sweep, on view at Hauser & Wirth, New York from September 7– October 21, 2023. Moore notes that “the exhibition, titled The Big Sweep, —named for the artist’s revolutionary use of the push broom as paintbrush—examines how Clark worked at the frontiers of abstract expressionism, experimenting with materiality […]
JAKE! @ Betty Cuningham Gallery
johnmitchellworld
John Mitchell visits the exhibition JAKE! at Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, on view through February 23, 2020. More than a standard review, Mitchell chronicles his thoughts about Berthot’s paintings and drawings over six extended visits to the show. Mitchell recounts how the show inspired him to dig deeply into Berthot’s body of work, carefully […]
Clear as Doubt: Bernardo Siciliano at Aicon Gallery
Beyond their doubts, Siciliano’s paintings esteem the powerful legacy of Italian figurative art and its place in contemporary art.
Treedom: Ron Milewicz at the New York Studio School
In Milewicz’s drawings, stillness prevails, the way actual scenes seem to suspend themselves before our gazes.
Evan Fugazzi @ Gross McCleaf
Hyperallergic
Stan Mir reviews an exhibition of new paintings by Evan Fugazzi at Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, on view through March 30, 2019. Mir observes: “Color has become the driving force of [Fugazzi’s] work. His aesthetic commitment calls to mind Stanley Whitney, who has continued to distinguish himself as a ‘call and response’ painter. As the elder painter describes […]
Seen in New York, January 2019
Paul Corio reviews a selection of exhibitions, including shows of work by EJ Hauser, Jennifer J. Lee, Eleanor Ray, Jim Osman, Robert Otto Epstein, Josef Albers and others.
Mimesis Unbound: Noah Buchanan at Dacia Gallery
The magical display of rendering form from flatness underlines the primary power of all painting.
Berthe Morisot @ the Barnes Foundation
Hyperallergic
Ilene Dube reviews Berthe Morisot: Woman Impressionist, on view at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia through January 14, 2019. Dube notes that “… unlike many Impressionist painters who depicted women as ornamental, a part of the decoration, Morisot set her eye on working women — the cooks, the maids, the nannies and governesses who made it […]
Rackstraw Downes @ Betty Cunningham
Hyperallergic
John Yau reviews Rackstraw Downes: Paintings and Drawings at Betty Cunningham Gallery, New York, on view through October 14, 2018. Yau writes: “In ‘Outdoor Passageway at 15 Rivington,’ Downes recognizes infinite time (the sky above), seasonal time (the air conditioning units), and historical time (the dirty walls), as well as time passing (the passageway). Despite all the […]
David Row @ Loretta Howard
artcritical
Peter Malone reviews David Row: Counter Clockwise at Loretta Howard Gallery, New York, on view through October 20, 2018. Malone writes: “Considering much of current abstract painting’s focus on spontaneity and one-off effects, Row’s tendency to revisit abstract elements embraced by earlier painters—not just Noland but Ellsworth Kelly, Dorothea Rockburne and Al Held, with whom […]
Patrilineations: Jane Fine at Pierogi
In Jane Fine’s recent work, painting’s power to beautify dark feeling, particularly in the more somber-hued small works, is masterfully on display.
Ribera, Mantegna & Bellini
AbCrit
Robin Greenwood reflects on work from two London exhibitions: Ribera: Art of Violence at the Dulwich Picture Gallery and Mantegna and Bellini at the National Gallery, London (both on view through January 27, 2019). Greenwood concludes: “I feel both with Mantegna and Ribera a potent link with art now, if we could but unlock that […]
The Ecstatic Flow of Paint
New York Times
Roberta Smith highlights seven painting shows currently on view in New York: Ed Clark at Mnuchin Gallery (through October 20), Vivian Springford at Almine Rech Gallery (through October 20), Larry Poons at Yares Art (through October 27), Frank Bowling at Alexander Gray Associates (through October 13), Joan Mitchell at Cheim & Read (through November 3), […]
Sharon Butler @ Theodore:Art
Hyperallergic
Paul D’Agostino reviews Sharon Butler: New Paintings at Theodore:Art, Bushwick, Brooklyn, on view through October 7, 2018. D’Agostino notes that Butler’s new paintings are based on selections from daily iPad drawings that “readily became not merely an ersatz sketchbook, but also a journal. What’s more, given the textureless surface and inverted, in a sense, light […]
David Bomberg’s Profound Modernism
New York Review of Books
Fran Bigman reviews works by David Bomberg recently on view at the Ben Uri Gallery, London. Bigman writes: “Bomberg’s work, first deemed too radical by many established critics of the time, would later gain the reputation of being too conservative. Bomberg’s entire career can seem like a litany of failure. Labeled an “English Cubist” or […]
Monet & American Abstract Painting
Brooklyn Rail
Norman L Kleeblatt reviews The Water Lilies: American Abstract Painting and the Last (Later) Monet recently on view at the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris. Kleeblatt observes: “Monet’s late work, in particular his now exemplar Water Lilies, offered a new node on the modernist art historical road map that underwrote American Abstract Expressionism. With 20/20 hindsight, late Monet […]