John Goodrich reviews the exhibition Balthus: Cats and Girls - Paintings and Provocations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, on view through January 12, 2014. Goodrich writes: "As the subtitle suggests, the exhibition concentrates on Balthus’ images of nubile girls and eerily knowing cats. Though alternately entertaining and unsettling, they represent only one
On the occasion of the exhibition Paul Reed and the Shaped Canvas in the 1960s at D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York (through Novemebr 16), Deedee Wigmore writes about the shaped canvases of Paul Reed and the Washington Color School painters including: Gene Davis, Kenneth Noland, and Thomas Downing. Wigmore notes that "unlike New York’s
A moving account of tribulations of Honoré Daumier, whose "most fertile years as a painter were the most disastrous of his outward career," published on the occasion of the exhibition Daumier: Visions of Paris, Royal Academy of Arts, London, on view from October 26, 2013 - January 26, 2014. The article begins noting that Daumier
Jennifer Samet interviews painter Sarah Lutz. Speaking about her process, Lutz comments: "There are rules you are taught in art school that you eventually can give up. For instance, you are taught that you’re not supposed to paint right out of the tube. Now I often do that. It is another device for getting paint
James Kalm visits the exhibition Regina Bogat: The New York Years (1960 - 1970) at Zürcher Studio, New York, on view through November 2, 2013. Kalm notes: "With 'The New York Years 1960-1970' viewers will have a chance to see a major portion of [Bogat's] production, and decide for themselves it's aesthetic and innovative merits.
Photo blog of the exhibition Paul Osipow: New Paintings at Galleri Riis, Oslo, on view through October 6, 2013. The gallery press release states that Osipow's new work "returns to one of his favoured themes the last decade, the study of miscellaneous ruins from Ancient Greece. In 10 medium to large size paintings in oil
Caroline Picard interviews painter Andreas Fischer, co-curator of the recent exhibition Rehearsal Attire at Slow Gallery, Chicago. Fischer comments that painting "is a kind of materialization of reception or reaction — action painting in a sense, but not as a statement — maybe more like the way an electronic instrument might monitor a changing environment...
Mark Sheerin reviews the exhibition Hurvin Anderson: Reporting Back at IKON Gallery, Birmingham, on view through November 10 2013. Sheerin writes: "Anderson might be a realist; or he might be an expressionist. He might even represent a new breed of realist expressionists. But colour is not the only way he lures the eye. He also
Ed Schad reviews the exhibition Brenna Youngblood: Activision at Honor Fraser, Los Angeles, on view through October 26, 2013. Schad writes that Youngblood's paintings "speak of memory, of the business of old sheds, woodshops presided over by tinkers and gypsy poets far from anything glossy and even farther from fashion. [Her] added bits of photos
Chris Miller reviews the exhibition Nicholas Sistler: Incognito at Printworks Gallery, Chicago, on view through October 12, 2013. Miller writes: "Even in the world of miniature paintings, the work of Nicholas Sistler is rather small. Every piece in his current exhibition measures four inches on a side. There’s no way his paintings are going to
Kyle Chayka interviews painter Tatiana Berg on the occasion of her exhibition Bill Murray at Hansel and Gretel Picture Garden, New York, on view through November 2, 2013. Chayka writes that Berg "is becoming known as a leading pioneer of a new wave of painting that blends figuration and abstraction, taking as much from Tumblr
James Hassall considers the contemporary relevance and potential of abstract painting. Hassall asks: "rather than establishing that painting is dead, the true outcome of postmodernism should be that everything is alive. If medium doesn’t matter, if fetishising painting is passé, then it just allows us to focus on the ‘proposal’ that each work makes as
John Seed reviews Face to Face: Flanders, Florence, and Renaissance Painting at The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, on view through January 13, 2014. Seed writes: "Upon approaching, [Memling's] 'Christ Blessing,' I was struck by its immense emotional subtlety. The face of Christ has a naturalistic softness that transmits a sense of knowing sadness: It
Franklin Einspruch reviews the exhibition Courbet: Mapping Realism at the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, on view through December 8, 2013. The show includes not only works by Courbet, but paintings by Belgian (Louis Dubois) and American artists (Elizabeth Boott Duveneck, Martin Johnson Heade, Winslow Homer, William Morris Hunt, Eastman Johnson, and John La
Joshua Smith reflects on the recent paintings of Josh Smith on view in two concurrent exhibitions at Luhring Augustine's Chelsea and Bushwick locations. Smith writes "my hunch is that [Smith's] making his monochromes—and picking those colors, working with such ostensible swiftness, producing at such a remarkable quantity—because to him filling up a given space to
Hannah Rothschild visits the studio of painter Frank Auerbach on the occasion of the upcoming exhibition Raw Truth Auerbach − Rembrandt at Ordovas Gallery, London, on view from October 4 - December 1, 2013. Asked about when a picture is finished Auerbach responds: "I want everything in the painting to work, that is, every force,
Brendan S. Carroll reviews the exhibition Against Nature: Hard Edge Abstraction at Graham Gallery, New York, on view through October 12, 2013. The aim of Against Nature," Carroll writes, "is to pair historical works of geometric abstraction alongside new works by recent upstarts...The artwork, according to the exhibition statement, 'embraces a formulaic approach to painting
Jonathan Stevenson highlights two shows featuring "casualist" painting at DODGE Gallery, New York: Corresponding Selves: Jane Fox Hipple (through October 27) and A Pinch of Saffron, Dash of Vermouth, curated by Ted Gahl, featuring work by Jonathan Allmaier, Ned Colclough, Robert Davis, Joanne Greenbaum, Angel Otero, Meghan Petras, Josh Smith, and Johannes VanDerBeek (through October
Boris Groys considers the revolutionary role of Russian avant-garde art, in particular the paintings of Kazimir Malevich. Groys writes that "one does not find in the art of the pre-revolutionary Russian avant-garde, including the art of Malevich, the characteristics that we tend to look for when speaking about critical, politically engaged art that is able
Renny Pritikin reviews the exhibition Energy That is All Around, curated by Natasha Boas and Nicole Crescenzi, on view through December 14, 2013. The show features works by Chris Johanson, Margaret Kilgallen, Alicia McCarthy, Barry McGee, and Ruby Neri. Pritikin writes that this group of artists all "lived in the Mission District of San Francisco