Laurie Fendrich considers the unique contributions of Siense Painters such as Simone Martini, Duccio Bartolo di Fredi, Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Sano di Pietro, Sassetta, and Gentile da Fabriano. Fendrich writes: "Vasari's 16th-century Lives of the Artists bequeathed us a closed narrative whereby Western art culminates in Renaissance linear perspective, mastery of naturalistic anatomy, and
Zachary Keeting and Christopher Joy visit the studio of painter Thomas Nozkowski. As well as sharing a look at his works in progress, Nozkowski shares his thoughts on painting. He remarks: "I… believe that if you can imagine a problem, something to make a painting of, you can also imagine a solution. So whatever the
Jed Perl reviews the exhibition Picasso and Françoise Gilot: Paris-Vallauris, 1943-1953 at Gagosian Gallery, New York, on view through June 30, 2012. Perl writes: "The fascination here is not so much in the great works this exhibition contains - although there are a few - but in the sense of a visionary struggling to move
John Yau re-introduces painter Gandie Brodie (1924–1975) whose work is on view in the exhibition Gandy Brodie: Ten Tenements at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, New York, through July 1, 2012. Yau writes: "In contrast to the loaded brush and aggressiveness we associate with [Norman] Bluhm and [Joan] Mitchell, Brodie's work is slow to reveal
James Kalm visits the recent exhibition John Wesley: Alice's Floor: Repetition and Absence at Fredericks & Freiser, New York. Kalm notes: "Using a very limited palette of blues, pinks and grays Wesley has fashioned a world of erotic understatement and comic narrative. 'Alice's Floor' which is composed of works produced between 1977 and 1990, displays
Ann Knickerbocker blogs about the exhibition The Painted Word at Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, on view through July 14, 2012. The exhibition features visual artwork by Bay Area poets and writes including William Saroyan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Kenneth Rexroth, Jack Hirschman, Jess, Robert Duncan, Michael McClure, Jack Micheline, Henry Miller, Kenneth Patchen, Christopher Felver, John Keating,
Joanne Mattera blogs about the exhibition Super Saturated: Pigment and Pattern at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, New York, on view through August 19, 2012. Curator Kenise Barnes writes: "The term decoration was largely used pejoratively in art parlance in the 20th century in spite of non-Western cultures rich history of intricate patterning and
Joanna Kleinberg reviews the exhibition Elise Adibi: Da Capo at Churner and Churner, New York, on view through June 30, 2012. Kleinberg writes: "Adibi continues her abstractions in painting and drawing, working with a limited set of materials - canvas, carbon powder, charcoal, and oil paint. The assemblage of pencil drawing and painterly brushstrokes are
Thoughts on the continued resonance of monochrome painting inspired by the recent exhibition of paintings by Joshua Smith at Shoot the Lobster, New York. The work of Smith and other artists including Thomas Kratz, Dan Rees, Julia Rommel, is considered with regard to a question with "two implicit parts: one, whether an artist still stands
Sally McKay writes about the work of painter Monica Tap. McKay notes: "Tap collects source material for her large, lush paintings by shooting highly compressed digital video through the side window of a fast-moving car... All the depth and luminance is carefully rendered in thick paint. The paintings seem to emit light, like a screen,
Zachary Keeting and Christopher Joy visit painter Jake Berthot's studio. Berthot remarks: "I'm interested in painting. I'm not interested in theory. I'm not interested in historical possibilities. It simply doesn't interest me; and that's not a hostile stance, that's... a declaration of freedom... I choose to be free." Jake Berthot: Artist Model, Angels Putti, Poetry
Jillian Steinhauer interviews painter Regina Bogat on the occasion of the exhibition Regina Bogat: Stars at Art 101, Brooklyn, NY, on view through July 1, 2012. Of her recent series of Stars works, Bogat remarks, "It originated with octagons, which was an architectural motif I found in a friend's house. It reminded me of Christian
Lucia Simek reviews an exhibition of work by painter Bret Slater at Marty Walker Gallery, Dallas, Texas, on view through June 16, 2012. Simek writes that Slater makes "pungent and rich, monstrously globby little paintings. They rock out from the walls in an array of neons, monochromes and earth tones that respectfully carry the art
Lawrence Osgood reviews an exhibition of new paintings by Judith Murray at Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, on view through June 16, 2012. Osgood writes: "In more recent years, Murray's style developed into often-large paintings of slightly increased palette in which mostly short brushstrokes are seen literally scrambling and chasing each other in lively patterns
Sharon Butler questions Barry Schwabsky's coining of the term retromodernism to describe small scale paintings that mix abstraction and representation "in a manner that evokes the spiritual and intellectual strivings of classic modernism," citing examples from the Frieze Art Fair. Butler comments that "postwar-era abstract easel painting has been a touchstone among painters... for several
Photo blog of paintings by Etel Adnan from a series of 36 untitled canvases (1959-2010) on view at Documenta-Halle, dOCUMENTA(13), Kassel through August 16, 2012. In an essay about Adnan's visual artwork, Simone Fattal has written: "Adnan's paintings play the role the old icons used to play for people who believed. They exude energy and
Hilarie M. Sheets reports on the retrospective exhibition of works by of George Bellows at The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., on view through October 8, 2012. Sheets notes that "curator Charles Brock positions Bellows as a more forward-thinking modernist... 'The boxing pictures could be characterized as a type of Action Painting, 40 years
Altoon Sultan visits José Clemente Orozco's fresco cycle The Epic of American Civilization at Dartmouth College. Sultan writes: "I first saw [the cycle] about 15 years ago and was taken aback by its aggressive form and structure and its fierce imagery. At the time, the college seemed almost embarrassed by the murals: tables were drawn
Neil Plotkin interviews painter Janice Nowinski about her recent work and painting process. Nowinski comments: "what draws me back in [to paintings] is that they don't feel right. I know that Reclining Nude 2012 was very quick, but it happened after a tremendous amount of work on other paintings. There were a couple of paintings
Times of Israel
Heddy Abramowitz reviews the exhibition Frank Auerbach: Portraits on Paper at the Israel Museum, on view through August 25, 2012. Abramowitz writes: "As is typical of his paintings, [Auerbach's] drawings often show many layers of built-up re-workings until there is a dense mangle of lines, each mark thought through, erased and re-considered until he is