Thomas Micchelli reviews the exhibition Let’s Get Physical at Ventana 244, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, curated by Rick Briggs. The show features work by Jonathan Allmaier, Yevgeniya Baras, Rick Briggs, Chris Martin, Dona Nelson, Jackie Saccoccio, Russell Tyler, Maria Walker, and Chuck Webster. Micchelli writes: "The kind of work found in this show, which avoids 'narrating or
Zachary Keeting and Christopher Joy visit the studio of painter Cora Cohen. Cohen comments: "I'm interested in exploring what I'm thinking about as I'm doing it. So, that means, I want to work slowly. And that's a really crucial issue." She adds that her works "come from real things in the real world usually... then
Robert Cicetti reviews the exhibition George Grosz in Germany, curated by Karen Wilkin, on view at the New York Studio School Gallery through January 4, 2014. Cicetti writes: "Grosz’s deranged yet graceful pen work might first appear as the aping of primitive or outsider art, but it is not merely an artistic affection. His cross-sectional
David Anfam discusses Abstract Expressionism with Sam Cornish on the occasion of the exhibition Re-View: Onnasch Collection at Hauser & Wirth, London, on view through December 14, 2013. Anfam comments "Instead of thinking of Ab Ex... as having a fixed 'center,' it makes more sense to regard this impossibly manifold phenomenon as a shifting set
Gabriela Salazar reviews an exhibition of paintings by Patricia Treib at Wallspace, New York, on view through December 21, 2013. Salazar writes: "Treib’s marks read as simultaneously improvised and practiced. She works on the floor or a tabletop, and the paint, responsive between the surface of the canvas and the pressure of the brush, bleeds
Mario Naves writes about the prints of Paul Resika on the occasion of the exhibition Paul Resika; Silent Poetry at Vandeb Editions, New York, on view through January 22, 2014. Naves notes that "In Resika’s intaglio prints, gritty fields of aquatint are emboldened by staccato hatching; clubby lines dance upon zooming, milky expanses; and dense
Maggie Gray reviews an exhibition of paintings by Dana Schutz at The Hepworth Wakefield, on view through January 26, 2014. Gray writes that Schutz's "most effective works communicate that feeling with a sort of slapstick immediacy, felt rather than told. It’s not clear how the figure ‘Getting dressed all at once’ has found herself in
Anne Russinof photo blogs a visit to the exhibition Pair: Forty Paintings, Twenty Painters, curated by Ian White Williams at Proto Gallery, Hoboken, NJ, on view through February 9, 2014. The show includes works by Chris Ashley, Karen Baumeister, Ashlynn Browning, Lindsay Chandler, Marc Cheetham, Lauren Collings, Paul Corvers, Inge Decuypere, Judith Farr, Terry Greene,
Christopher Joy and Zachary Keeting visit the studio of painter Nate Ethier. Ethier notes that each part of the painting needs "an even tension, and even treatment... the same amount, the same touch, the same amount of material, the same weight of my hand, and by achieving that kind of even surface treatment I feel
Trevor Spaulding reviews an exhibition of paintings by Lesley Vance at David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, on view through January 4, 2014. Spaulding writes that "Vance, who began her career making representational still lifes, continues to start each painting with an object, photograph, or idea that serves as the impetus for the work. This is
Alicia DeBrincat interviews painter David Mann about his work. An exhibition of his paintings was recently on view at McKenzie Fine Art, New York, Mann comments that his work are "really about perception, the experience of abstraction and dealing with the medium of paint and the qualities and characteristics that can be investigated and realized
John Seed interviews painter Robert Davidson whose exhibition Abstract Impulse is on view at the Seattle Art Museum through February 16, 2014. Seed writes: "When artist Robert Davidson -- a Canadian artist of Haida heritage -- talks about his reverence for the Old Masters he isn't referring to Rembrandt or Titian: he is referring to
Dona Mintz reviews the exhibition Abstract Part 1 at Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, on view through December 21, 2013. The show features works by Sydney Cohen, Jeff Conefry, Kim Piotrowski, and Barbara Campbell Thomas. Mintz writes that Piotrowski's works "approach the possibility of narrative, though the artist deftly pulls back just in time" Conefry, Mintz
Darran Anderson reviews the exhibition Leonora Carrington: Celtic Surrealist at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, on view through January 26, 2014. Anderson writes that the show "demonstrates how Carrington, with reference to her Irish background and Mexican surroundings, embraced the possibilities offered by an art that we are continually reimagining. Nothing is fixed,
Zachary Keeting and Christopher Joy visit the studio of painter Sangram Majumdar whose exhibition Peel is on view at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, New York through December 22, 2013. Majumdar comments: "I'm toying with the appearance of accessibility that representation carries with it... The question of why paint something that exists or why paint
Hearne Pardee reviews the exhibition David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition at the de Young Museum, San Francisco, on view through January 20, 2014. Pardee writes that the show "is expansive and multifaceted, driven by Hockney’s unflagging curiosity about picture-making and his relentless rhythm of production. Like Claude Monet, Hockney works in series; his paintings address
Jennifer Samet interviews painter Jake Berthot about his work and career. Berthot comments: "when I started working with grids. I discovered that every rectangle in the world has this gestalt: vertical and horizontal axes and then tension points that come from those. Through geometry, if I worked and measured, these notches could shift our focal
Michael Bise reflects on a perceived religiosity in the work of Wols, on view at the the Menil Collection, Houston, through January 12, 2014. Bise writes that looking at Wols paintings "was [like] looking at religious icons—an impression I never have after looking at Ernst, Magritte, Pollock or even Rothko? ... I see Wols as
Benjamin Terry interviews painter Arthur Peña whose exhibition slight shift, steady hand will be on view at Dallas Contemporary from January 11 - March 30, 2014. Peña comments: "My take on (intuition) is that when I’m working within the visual language I’ve set up for myself and my work for a certain amount of time
Eliot Markell blogs about an exhibition of works by Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson at Pocket Utopia, New York, on view through December 15, 2013. Markell writes: "Jónsson’s pieces could be considered subverting painting not only by their pale, unbrushed chroma, but also by the craft technique used to fabricate them. These are not extroverted works. Infused