Charles Kessler writes: "If you love painting, 25th Street in Chelsea is the place to go. In one block between 10th and 11th there are four shows of sensual, masterful paintings. No Post Modern irony here — these are real painters' paintings." Enough said. Read on and then, if you're in New York, go see
Phong Bui reviews Emily Mason: Recent Paintings at David Findlay, Jr., Fine Art. Bui writes: "By allowing painterly gestures to coexist with thin, poured layers in a wide range of colors in all manner of hues and saturations, Mason is able to amplify her colors—which are infused with forms that derive from both memory and
In a post lavishly illustrated with images of Shils monotypes, studio views of new paintings in progress and a video, Neil Plotkin interviews painter Stuart Shils about his work and his recent paintings and monotypes. Shils speaks personally and candidly about changing his work, the relationship between his prints and his paintings, and memory versus
Interview with painter Ky Anderson. "Often the real meaning of a painting comes out after it is finished, and often I don’t really quite understand what they are about. I feel that throughout my years of painting my paintings are slowly turning more and more abstract, and I’m slowly becoming okay with that. I used
Tyler Green interviews Sarah Boxer about painter Hedda Sterne. Boxer is the author of "The Last Irascible," an excellent profile of Sterne. In Green's interview Boxer includes an interesting clue to Sterne's painting practice: "...she used a lazy susan to paint, she painted in the round..." as well as insight into Sterne' artistic concerns, "One
Nancy Natale tells a captivating story about how a comment on her blog led to a real life meeting with Veronique Lindenberg, the niece of painter Hedda Sterne. Lindenberg's first hand account of Sterne is as fascinating as are the images from the Hedda Sterne retrospective that accompany the post.
Books say a lot about their owners. Lisa Pressman writes: "Whenever I am visiting a house or studio I usually find myself at some point in front of the guest's bookshelf having book envy." Her series of posts looks at painters' libraries. Make sure to checkout out the entire series: Lisa Pressman Joanne Mattera, Paul
Raphael Rubinstein looks at the work of South Korean artist Suh Se-ok. Rubinstein notes that Suk's "late 1950s-early 1960s paintings... anticipate the radical deconstruction of painting" that was to come later in the west. "Suh’s intertwined formations oscillate between representation and sheer mark-making." Where Clouds Disperse: Ink Paintings by Suh Se-ok was on view at
Painter Philip Koch begins: "I always come back to Edward Hopper." Koch describes why Hopper's work spoke to him initially and remains a touchstone - the "depth of [Hopper's] emotions came through... clearly in his slowly built up and methodically constructed compositions."
Christopher Knight reports that painter John McCracken died in New York on April 8, 2011 at age 76. McCracken's work achieved a synthesis of painting and sculpture that could, simultaneously, be considered a singular achievement in either medium. "'My tendency,' John McCracken once said, 'is to reduce or develop everything to 'single things' - things
[PHOTOS] - Beautiful installation photos of John McCracken: A Retrospective through June, 19, 2011 at Castello di Rivoli, Turin.
Sharon Butler posts about the exhibition Elizabeth Murray: Painting in the '70s at Pace Gallery through April 30, 2011 including an image of Murray's last painting as well as James Kalm's video of the opening reception.
Altoon Sultan reviews A Prince's Manuscript Unbound: Muhammad Juki's 'Shahnamah' on view at the Asia Society in New York through May 1, 2011. She writes: "Many of the images were of battles and bloodshed, but even so, were full of wonder in their details and color." Sultan also share some of her own favorite Persian
Larry Groff interviews contemporary realist painter Peter Van Dyck. Van Dyck comments on the "modernist" influence on his new work: "...I did see people in school whose work had an assertive shape life and I guess I was attracted to that. So, gradually, shape design became (I think) the dominant organizational and expressive force in
A must read post from Mario Naves begins: "it’s been a while since Cézanne and, for that matter, modernism have excited me... I’m beholden to modernist precedent. But what’s excited me the past few years isn’t modern at all. It’s newer than all that." Naves' point is serious, it's easy for an artist's historical canon
Julia Beaumont-Jones looks at 18th century British landscape painter Alexander Cozens, who developed a technique for creating sublime, "dreamlike Arcadian views... to render assemblages instantaneously, through subconscious thought..." The illustrated works from the 1780's are interesting precursors to "the free association and automatism evident in the works of Surrealist writers and painters." Works by Cozens
The second part of Nancy Natale's review of Meryle Secrest's Modigliani: A Life summarizes the later half of Modigliani's life. Natale writes: "The true story of Modigliani is tragic and ironic in that his work is so valued today while it was worthless during his life. Secrest's book gives all the details and relates as
An essay on the French painter Eugène Leroy by Gwenael Kerlidou, a Brooklyn-based French painter as well as Leroy's former student. As Kerlidou describes him Leroy was a "painter of mostly semi-abstract figures in the Flemish expressionist tradition and a humanist in the vein of the late Rembrandt... he avoided both Cubism and Surrealism and
[VIDEO] Painter Vija Celmins discusses her paintings from 1964 -1966 which are the subject of the exhibition Vija Celmins: Television and Disaster on view through June 5, 2011 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Celmins' paintings of the period are "characterized by violent themes such as crashing warplanes, smoking handguns, and other images
Sharon Butler blogs about Howard Hodgkin, whose work is on view in the exhibition Howard Hodgkin, Time and Place, through May 1, 2011 at the San Diego Museum of Art. The post includes two videos of Hodgkin discussing his work "including 'After Ellsworth Kelly,' a painting Hodgkin calls 'a fan letter' to Ellsworth Kelly."