Rachel Reese interviews painter Shara Hughes on the occasion of the exhibition Shara Hughes: Don’t Tell Anyone But…, at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, on view from April 19 - June 15, 2013. Hughes comments: "Interiors became the foundation where I could lay all different artists who have come before me into and onto the
John Haber reviews the exhibition Christian Haub: New Floats at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, on view through April 13, 2013. Habers writes that the work "looks so light because it collects light, like oils. The work may sound like sculpture, but Haub is still painting. No wonder Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe has compared him to
Jacquelyn Gleisner profiles painter Summer Wheat. Referring to Wheat's recent show at Valentine Gallery, Gleisner writes that "Given the context, the documentation of work in the Valentine show pertains to the daily maintenance of personhood—that is, grooming. Inverting the art historical formula of female bathers painted by male artists such as Bonnard and Picasso, Wheat
Elisabeth Condon photo blogs a visit to the studio of painter Jenny Dubnau. Condon writes that "[Dubnau's] portraits combine the best of Chardin and David (someone she thinks about often), with photographs staged by Jenny in the studio. The combination of air-borne facture and photographic portraiture yields strange perceptual resonance, slowing the rapid scan of
James Panero writes about the work of painter Paul Behnke for the exhibition Paul Behnke: An Awful Rainbow at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, on view from April 18 - May 18, 2013. Panero begins: "Paul Behnke is a painter of layers. He paints less in strokes than in slicks. In the studio he
John Yau blogs about the work of Joshua Marsh, on view in the exhibition Joshua Marsh: As If at Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, through May 4, 2013. Yau writes that "the perceptual state [Marsh] focuses on is both optical and volumetric, a tension between solid form and ethereal light. Using a high-keyed, hothouse palette,
Piri Halasz takes a close look at the exhibition Inventing Abstraction: 1910 - 1925 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, on view through April 15, 2013. After revisting the show in detail, Halasz concludes: "for all its conceptual flaws, [the exhibition] still offers much to see & enjoy. I can see many reasons
Andrew Berardini reviews the exhibition Sam Gilliam: Hard-Edge Paintings 1963-1966 at David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, on view through May 11, 2013. Bernardini writes: "...these paintings are not all that 'revolutionary' as paintings. They came well-after Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland, the first-string of what would later become known as the Washington Color School, who
Arena rock power chords stir memories of Neo-Expressionist paintings for painter Ken Weathersby. Weathersby writes: "As there is something signaling excess, even hinting at chaos in an overdriven distorted guitar on the edge of feedback, so there is in the touch of a gigantic brush dripping with a giant blob of mottled oil color. Each
Steven Cox interviews painter Michiel Ceulers about his work and practice. Asked about process, Ceulers comments: "What I was really fascinated about was just the idea of the image in it, that just because you go from the diagonals and then doubling it, you suddenly arrive at the whole idea of modernism through the grid.
L. Brandon Krall reviews the exhibition Alberto Burri: Black Cellotex at Luxembourg & Dayan, New York, on view through April 20, 2013. Krall writes: "These works engage us with their human scale, their surfaces tempting to the touch, and while minimal in depth compared to his earlier work, they operate on sensory subtleties of texture
Jennifer Samet interviews painter Jane Dickson about her work. Samet writes: "Jane Dickson is best known for her nocturnal cityscapes of the old Times Square — peep shows and porn parlors — but she has also mined subjects such as Las Vegas, Coney Island, American highways, demolition derbies, and suburban homes. She often paints on
Jed Perl questions the critical response to the exhibition Piero della Francesca in America at the Frick Collection, New York, on view through May 19, 2013. "What troubles me isn’t that people are embracing Piero’s work," Perl writes, "I love much of it, too—it’s that they are reluctant to see that its power is inextricably
Geoff Tuck blogs about the work of Brad Eberhard on view in the exhibition Brad Eberhard (dis-solve) at Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles, through Apr 20, 2013. Tuck writes that "looking at these new paintings, Paul Klee comes to my mind and also Gustav Klimt. Each artist employs a somewhat lapidary way of painting, with
A new video documents painter Josephine Halvorson painting on site in Connecticut. Halvorson comments: "I love stuff that shows you how it's made. I love being able to understand its construction just by experiencing it. And I've never liked in painting… the idea of deception or the idea of covering up something. For me, I
Tabitha Piseno interviews painter Nabil Nahas on the occasion of the exhibition of new paintings at Sperone Westwater, New York, on view from April 5 - May 4, 2013. Piseno writes: "Ranging widely from densely textured works on canvas formed with layers of an acrylic and pumice mixture on top of silicon molds to abstract
Ben Street writes about the work of painter Kiera Bennett for an exhibition at Charlie Smith Gallery, London, on view from April 5 -27, 2013. Street begins: "Instantly recognisable in Kiera Bennett’s paintings are the trappings and tropes of early modernism: the feathered lines of early cubism/late Cézanne, the vibrating geometry of Boccioni or Carrá,
Elisabeth Condon photo blogs visits to recent and current painting shows in Chelsea including two shows at Gagosian, Jean-Michel Basquiat (through April 6) and Helen Frankenthaler (through April 13), Painting Advanced at Edward Thorp (through April 20), Al Held at Cheim and Read (through April 20), Susanna Heller at Magnan Metz (through April 20), Barkley
Zachary Keeting and Christoper Joy visit the studio of painter Vince Contarino. Contarino remarks: "I feel more strongly about the structure of the paintings and how a painting is built versus the color… I have an idea of how I want a piece to feel, but as I'm working on a painting, I look for
Robert C. Morgan reviews the exhibition John McLaughlin: Paintings 1947–1974 at Van Doren Waxter, New York, on view through April 19, 2013. Morgan writes: "As the desire to see flashy and exorbitant mannerisms in painting appears quantitatively present, yet qualitatively in decline, McLaughlin’s pristine rectangles within rectilinear formats, measuring roughly 48 by 60 inches, hold