Viktor Witkowski responds the Jerry's Saltz's recent New York Magazine article Art’s Insidious New Cliché: Neo-Mannerism, in which Saltz bemoans "that ever-expanding assembly of anemically boring, totally safe artistic clichés squeezing the life out of the art world right now... Looking at 2-D work, I'm this close to that old Carter-administration-era croak of 'Painting is
Carl Belz posts an essay on the work of painter David Park. Belz writes: "I believe Park’s decision (to abandon abstraction) went deeper; it entailed an intuitive grasp of what he could and could not use in Abstract Expressionism, a process of selection that in itself marked the coming to maturity of his artistic thought.
Tucker Harris blogs about the self portraits of Catherine Kehoe. Harris writes: "Kehoe knows how to make a simple view very dynamic. Each head becomes a landscape, light contrasting dark and vibrant colors juxtaposed with muted hues to carve out the portrait. It’s easy to distinguish features by leaning on tonal contrast (just add a
Anne Russinof photo blogs a visit to the exhibition Out of Step at New Jersey City University, Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery, on view through November 7, 2013. The show, curated by Brendan Carroll, features works by Sharon L. Butler, Mark Dagley, Enrico Gomez, Tom McGlynn, Gary Petersen, Kati Vilim, and Sara Wolfe. Curartor Carroll writes
Thomas Micchelli reviews the exhibition Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926–1938 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, on view through January 12, 2014. Micchelli writes: "as I circled around the first couple of rooms, I began to notice a qualitative difference among the images, which prompted me to take note of when
Steven Cox interviews painter James Krone about his work in the exhibition Waterhome: We is Somebody Else at Brand New Gallery, Milan, on view through November 09, 2013. Cox writes: "Acting as a visual analogy, the algae-esque surfaces of Krone’s Screen Paintings comparably relate to the evolving and growing algal bloom that physically exists within
Sarah Elise Hall interviews painter Julie Oppermann. Oppermann comments: "I value the 'hand' or physical gesture in my work. I allow the paint to bleed, smudge, peel back at times, which disrupts the illusory or pictorial space, emphasizing the materials and surface instead... the way in which I construct illusions of depth and space, where
Abstract Critical
John Bunker interviews painter Frank Bowling on the occasion of the exhibition Frank Bowling: The Map Paintings 1967-1971 at Hales Gallery, London, on view through November 23, 2013. Bowing discusses his early figurative work and his transition to abstract painting. Asked about the orgin of the Map Paintings, he comments: "I was just laying the
Henry McMahon reviews the exhibition See It Loud: Seven Post-War American Painters at the National Academy Museum in New York (through January 26, 2014), focusing in particular on the paintings of Leland Bell. McMahon writes that Bell’s "forms are described by open planes of light and shadow, with nothing but the color’s saturation and a
Reflecting on Barry Schwabsky's recent article of Giorgio Morandi (October 2013 ARTFORUM), Robert Linsley muses on Morandi and "abstraction as an 'ethics of the real.'" He writes: "The ethics of art, abstraction above all, are found in the right attention to the work, and Morandi could certainly manage that. That human realities (meaning politics) are
Matthew Marchand reviews painter Justine Frischmann's exhibition The Battle of Faith and Doubt at Unspeakable Projects, San Francisco. Marchand writes that "there is a balance sought by the work in the show ... at one end is intention at the other chance, between them is an engagement with the everyday... The paintings appear aloof and
Jason Foumberg remembers painter Ellen Lanyon (1926 – 2013). Foumberg recalls that Lanyon "was more than willing to open the encyclopedia of Chicago art history that resided in her head and relate its content—but when it came to talking about her own art, she liked to keep things a little mysterious. Like the Victorian-era gadgets
Brian Fee reviews the exhibition Jane Fox Hipple: Corresponding Selves at DODGE Gallery, New York, on view through October 27, 2013. Fee writes that Hipple "contorts and pushes the limits of painting and total composition... [she] stretches relationships furthest with a duo of two-part works, including always on the lookout & Honeypot, positioned near the
Leah Triplett reviews Amy Sillman: one lump or two at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, on view through January 5, 2014. Triplett writes that "Sillman’s work is rooted in the 'triumph of American painting,' witnessed mid-century with the height of abstract expressionism, and cultivated in an environment of painterly dissent that characterized the 20th
Altoon Sultan blogs about the exhibition Cubism and Its Legacy at the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH, on view through December 20, 2013. Sultan writes that the works on view, "drawn from the museum's extensive collections, [are] a fascinating survey showing the enduring interest in cubism's way of... taking apart of the visual world
Daniel Maidman visits the studio of painter Janice Nowinski on the occasion of the exhibition Janice Nowinski: Recent Paintings at John Davis Gallery, Hudson, New York, on view from October 10 - November 3, 2013. Maidman writes: "Nowinski works, at the ground level, moment by moment, through artistic intuition. She works on her paintings forever:
Howard Hurst reviews the exhibition Color Line, curated by Rico Gatson, at Outpost Artist Resources, Ridgewood, Queens, on view through October 25, 2013. The show includes works by Liz Atzberger, Robert Otto Epstein, Rico Gatson, Ben Godward, Alex Lee Harris, Bjoern Meyer-Ebrecht, Brooke Moyse, Ellie Murphy, Ursula Schneider, Patrick Todd, Siebren Versteeg, and Tamara Zahaykevich.
Sharon Butler posts a conversation between Mira Schor and Stuart Horodner from the 2013 College Art Association Conference. Schor's solo exhibition Chthonic Garden will be on view at CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles, from October 19 - December 8, 2013. In the CAA interview, Schor discusses her development as a artist and speaks about choosing to
Valerie Brennan interviews painter Louise P. Sloane about her work and process. Sloane comments: "I approach each painting as though I have never painted this image before, allowing the works to evolve organically... Every work has a grid drawn onto the surface. Laying in the texture is physically challenging. I like to put down each
Anne Russinof photo blogs installation images from the exhibition Process and Synthesis at FiveMyles, Brooklyn, curated by Susan Smith and Hanne Tierney, on view through October 20, 2013. The show features works by Emily Berger, Nicholas Constantakis, Iona Kleinhaut and Kimberly Mayhorn.