Charley Parker blogs about painter Carel Fabritius. Parker writes that Fabritius is "generally considered to be Rembrandt's most talented pupil, and the only one to really break free of the master's influence and develop his own style. This is notable in particular in the contrast of his color and texture filled portrait backgrounds with Rembrandt’s
Zachary Keeting and Christopher Joy visit the studio of painter Benjamin La Rocco to discuss his work and studio practice. La Rocco remarks: "I always want to surprise myself with what I make which is why there is so much variability. I always want to do that. It gets harder to do because you get
Video walkthrough of the exhibition Joyce Pensato: Batman Returns at Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York, on view through February 25, 2012. The gallery notes that "Pensato's resurrection of this iconic image [Batman] sixteen years later marks an additional shift in her practice as it will be the first time that she has added various colors
Kris Chatterson photo blogs images from the exhibition Martha Clippinger: Hopscotch at Elizabeth Harris Gallery, on view through February 4, 2012. The gallery notes that Clippinger works "reside somewhere between painting and sculpture. Inherent imperfections of her reclaimed materials provide a rich framework for playful constructions characterized by wonky geometries and irregular symmetries." Mario Naves
After attending a roundtable discussion on the paintings of Roberto Matta, Eric Sutphin reconsiders the artist's work. Sutphin notes that "the current exhibition of the artist's late works shows Matta at his most volatile. Six decades of influence and practice show through the impossibly complex surfaces of the paintings presented, architectural and geomorphic forms thrust
Charles Hope examines the two versions of Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks, on view opposite each other at the exhibition Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan at the National Gallery, London (through February 5, 2012). Hope writes that "Although the compositions are very similar, each creates a very different impression. The figures
John Haber reviews an exhibition of monumental drawings by Trisha Brown at Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, on view through January 25, 2012. Haber writes that Brown's drawings "look like nothing so much as late Pollock, when the canvas all but emptied out, color vanished, and the human figure almost emerged. A painter of
Dougal McKenzie interviews painter Jeffrey Dennis about his painting and critical theory in relation to studio practice. Dennis notes that "There are some extremely intelligent, conceptually-led artists working today who turn their hand to painting. But sometimes the results lack the 'complexity-in-depth' that the best paintings have, and which would keep you returning to re-engage
James Kalm video blogs a visit to an exhibition of new paintings by Bill Jensen at Cheim & Read, New York, on view through February 18, 2012. Kalm notes that "Jensen is an exemplary practitioner of what is referred to as the contemporary New York School. As a painter with an alchemical knowledge of his
James Panero profiles painter Dana Gordon. Panero writes that Gordon is "dedicated to the conversation of art - a visual conversation that is articulated through basic colors, shapes, and lines... Rather than exhaust a simple language, Gordon has demonstrated how a few basic elements can captivate us with a kaleidoscope of visual interest. His paintings
Paddy Johnson reviews the exhibition Jean-Frédéric Schnyder: Landschaft (Landscape) I-XXXV at the Swiss Institute, New York, on view through February 26, 2012. Johnson writes that "while Schnyder's landscapes may engage in sentimentality, they lack the preciousness that defines much of today’s kitsch. Motifs are frequently reused, the canvas size never changes, and in one instance
Paul Behnke photoblogs a visit to the recent exhibition Blots, Stains and Smears at Transition Gallery. The show, curated by Phillip Allen, featured paintings by Mark Joyce, Iain Nicholls, and William Gharraie. The gallery notes that this is the third in an "ongoing series of shows examining aspects of contemporary painting, all of which are
Michael Spens reviews the recent exhibition Claude Lorrain: The Enchanted Landscape at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The exhibtion will be on view at Stadel Museum, Frankfurt from February 3 to May 6, 2012. Spens notes that "The essence of Claude's predominantly landscape subject matter was one of sublimity, even serendipity, expressing the primacy of nature
Robin Greenwood considers the dual (and competing) roles of paint as both a material and as a "designator and articulator of form and space." He asks: "how do we reconcile illusion with being abstract? This conundrum is probably why the phenomenological aspects of medium and ground keep being obsessed over, as a desperate attempt to
Altoon Sultan blogs a photo essay about surfaces in painting. Sultan writes: "We often think of 'surface' as a word that demeans; it is the opposite of depth. But an intense focus on things can be a way to explore their form and meaning: it can be a celebration of life. When I went to
Laura Cumming reviews the exhibition Alberto Burri: Form and Matter at Estorick Collection, London, on view through April 7, 2012. Cumming writes that "Although the earliest works in this show are figurative – a melancholy bookseller, a melancholy fish out of water – Burri, along with many Italian artists of his generation who reacted against
Victoria Webb looks at the gestural work of several painters including Elisabeth Cummings, Anne Smart, Alan Gouk, and Gillian Ayres. All of the works all exhibit a preference for "high chroma with an abstract and gestural bent," and Webb notes with appreciation Gillian Ayres' remark that "using oil paint is like working with messy and
Frank Hobbs posts Mercedes Matter's 1973 remarks about learning to be an artist, wherein she answers the question: "is there any use for a young artist... to study the traditional disciplines?" She begins her response: "How arrogant it would be to imagine that what has happened in art during the last few years could have
Andy Parkinson muses on the exhibition The Indiscipline of Painting: International Abstraction from 1960 to Now, on view at Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre through March 10 2012 (formerly at Tate St. Ives) . Parkinson writes that "Opticality seems an important sub plot in this show, and its’ not just the Peter Young or the
Caleb De Jong reviews the exhibition Bill Jensen at Cheim and Read, New York, on view through February 18, 2012. De Jong writes that Jensen's "new paintings provide a tonal and chromatically hushed experience. Brush-marks no longer create unified composition, instead forms float atop the picture plane and splotches of collage-like paint stitch the surface