Alexandra Koroxenidis previews the exhibition Sean Sully: Doric Order at the Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, on view from May 9 - July 15, 2012. Koroxenidis writes: "The six featured paintings from the nine in the so-called 'Doric' series, which Scully began in 2008, are partly a response to the financial crisis that has spread throughout
Jenni Higginbotham visits the recent exhibition Bernard Chaet: Coastal Memories at LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Higginbotham writes: "Known best for his landscape paintings, the subject matter of Chaet's work challenges and celebrates the representational power of paint. A gushy slab of burnt sienna is a cloud on the sea’s horizon. Oblong slathers of
William Poundstone blogs about the exhibition Second Skins: Painted Barkcloth from New Guinea and Central Africa at the Fowler Museum, UCLA, on view through August 26, 2012. Poundstone writes: "Painted barkcloths were originally clothing, to be worn and discarded. Many of the designs draw on tattooing (in New Guinea) or skin painting (in the Ituri
Bill Berkson reviews two biographies of painter David Park: David Park, Painter: Nothing Held Back by Helen Park Bigelow (Hudson Hills Press) and David Park: A Painter's Life by Nancy Boas (University of California Press). Berkson writes that "Read in tandem, [the books] are distinct and complement each other perfectly. Helen Park Bigelow's is a
Photoblog studio visit with painter Chuck Webster, showing works in progress related to the current exhibition Chuck Webster: Paintings at ZieherSmith, on view through May 25, 2012. The gallery notes that Webster's new paintings "Further deviating from previous paintings which were each an idiosyncratic image often on a smaller panel, the final surface on this
Painter Steven Alexander discovers a treasure trove of video interviews by Carol Mancusi-Ungaro with painters including: Jasper Johns, Brice Marden, David Novros, Cy Twombly, and James Rosenquist at the Artists Documentation Program. Alexander writes: "Ms. Mancusi-Ungaro is remarkably adept at asking questions that lead to revealing insights into each artist's thinking process as well as
In part one of a two part post Charles Kessler reflects on the life of Clyfford Still and stories he uncovered while writing his masters thesis on Clyfford Still at UCLA in 1973. In addition to anecdotes about Still's interactions with collectors Fred Weisman and Betty Freeman, and painter Richard Diebenkorn, Kessler addresses Still's notorious
Review of two recent exhibitions: Flatland: Color Revolt at Hansel and Gretel Picture Garden and Flatterland Funkytown at D'Amelio Gallery. "Seen in concert, these exhibitions demonstrate that Apfelbaum is an impressively crafty artist, and not only because her materials of choice are glitter, clay, and hand-dyed velvet. More important is the artist’s clever and considered
Dwayne Butcher photoblogs a studio visit with painter Melissa Dunn. Dunn says of her work: "My painting process combines both intuition and rational ordered structure. But no matter which of these modes I use to make a mark, my goal is to reflect human nature and find a universal visual story out of my own
Mel Gooding writes on the work of painter Natalie Dower on the occasion of the exhibition Natalie Dower: Line of Enquiry at Emma Hill Fine Art, Eagle Gallery, London, on view through June 1, 2012. Gooding writes that Dower "observes, as we all do, what is manifest in every phenomenal moment: that the outcomes of
Valerie Brennan interviews painter Terry Greene. Greene comments: "I’m engaged with drawing attention to the fact of the paint (or tape) on the loose plane of the canvas. Often tape is employed as little objects on the canvas while at the same time they are colour and light illuminating the ground. I’m particularly interested in
Courtney Wilder looks at Odilon Redon's lithographs. The print Lumière and ten prints from The Temptation of Saint Anthony are currently on view at The Getty Research Institute through September 2, 2012. Wilder notes that in Lumière "the viewer becomes a double voyeur, left to contemplate the two small men in the foreground as well
David Rhodes reviews a recent exhibition of paintings by Jackie Saccoccio at Eleven Rivington, New York. Rhodes writes: "Saccoccio's Portraits, abstract works that make clear an anthropomorphic intention, engage with an ongoing idea in painting... in which each work stands in for a face, the differences manifested through changes in color combinations. Saccoccio’s paintings are
Rob Colvin interviews painter Altoon Sultan about the development of her work from "finely detailed panoramas of farms shown at Marlborough Gallery for two decades, then at Tibor de Nagy... to small-scale abstractions in the form of egg tempera paintings and hooked wool textiles." Sultan remarks: "I continue to be very tied to the resonance
Caleb De Jong reviews the exhibition Domenico Gnoli: Paintings 1964-1969 at Luxembourg & Dayan, New York, on view through June 30, 2012. De Jong writes: "Painted with acrylic mixed with sand on medium to largish sized canvases, Gnoli’s paintings are an amalgam of Giorgio Morandi's quietist sensibility and Rene Magritte's standoffish matter-of-fact paint handling... Dry
Karen Tauches reviews the exhibition Painters Panting featuring works by David Diao, Craig Drennen, Saul Fletcher, Alex Hubbard, Judy Ledgerwood, Chris Martin, and Jennifer West at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, on view through June 24, 2012. Tauches writes that "painters are the last great materialists in a world dematerialized by technology; they chose lifetyles
John Haber visits the exhibition Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting at the Frick Collection, New York, on view through May 13, 2012. Haber writes that in the painting The Umbrellas, Renoir "surrounded a family dressed for success with the broader shading of clouds, a woman's full-length dress, and a swarm of umbrellas behind her. Those
Altoon Sultan blogs about the exhibition John Chamberlain: Choices at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, on view through May 13, 2012. Sultan writes: "This 'right thing at the right moment', as John Chamberlain describes his process, must have been a great adventure for him. I could still feel the excitement and sense of discovery in
Valerie Brennan interviews painter René Korten about his work and process. Korten notes: "Each painting has its own process of creation. Sometimes I make a painting or a series of paintings, based on a concept, for instance in a recent three-part series, where the first layer of each of the works is a big letter
John Bunker reflects on the work of Charline Von Heyl on view at Tate Liverpool through May 27, 2012. Bunker writes that "Some might see abstraction as a safe haven, 'an escape from it all'. But what if we reverse this idea and look at it as a way of analysing, even critiquing the ever