Christian Viveros-Fauné reviews works by Albert York at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, on view through December 20, 2014. Viveros-Fauné notes that "York made pictures that appeared both essential and out of date the moment they were exhibited. From his first show in 1962 until his death in 2009, York carried on a reclusive love
Chris Lowrance interviews painter Ashley Norwood Cooper about her work. Cooper discusses her series of paintings made during her husband's deployment to Afghanistan. The paintings depict Cooper holding the iPad she used to talk to her husband each day: "...I started to realize that this electronic correspondence really was my experience of [his] deployment. ...
William Grimes writes about painter Jane Freilicher who passed away December 9, 2014. Grimes writes: "Although Ms. Freilicher ... studied with Hans Hofmann , the influential teacher and theorist of abstraction, she put her expressionist style of paint-handling and all-over approach to the canvas at the service of recognizable images, a course that made her
Angeria Rigamonte di Cuto reviews works by Giovanni Battista Moroni on view at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, through January 25, 2015. A tension between “inside” and “outside” is at the forefront of Moroni’s portraiture, a field he made all his own... At the time, Moroni’s attempts to document the visible were not necessarily
Chris Miller reviews Jack Tworkov: Drawing the Figure at Valerie Carberry Gallery, Chicago, on view through January 10, 2015. Miller writes: "This first-generation American seemed less interested in pushing the boundaries of art and taste than in exploiting every new opportunity for expressing and valorizing his restless, rootless self in an ever-changing world. Life drawing,
Steven Alexander blogs about paintings by Richard Pousette-Dart on view at Pace Gallery, New York through January 10, 2015. Alexander writes: "Not unlike the severity and radically of Rothko's last work, these paintings are an important departure from Pousette-Dart's earlier gestural works, and a tougher, highly simplified elaboration of his more overtly 'cosmic' pointillist paintings
Larry Groff interviews painter Ann Gale about her work. Gale's paintings will be on view at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, New York in January. Gale comments: "I am very curious and sometimes obsessive about observation ... The search becomes part of the subject of the painting. The figure is so familiar, it is challenging
Lauren Britton considers Edvard Munch's The Sun (1910). Britton writes: "Munch painted and re-painted this piece throughout his career on different surfaces. The Sun was a reliable painting. Munch could enter and re-enter it, tumble and turn with it. He threw himself into the sun like a boomerang and it shot him out somewhere new
Maria Calandra visits the studio of painter Jason Stopa. Calandra writes: "I was first taken by blasts of color, animated brush strokes, and confectionery connotations. After spending more time with them, Stopa's paintings' unique relationship to language reveals itself, recalling Haiku poetry in particular. They have a similar directness of description, even in their abstraction,
John Yau reviews Michael Mazur: Stoneham Zoo (1976-1979) recently on view at Ryan Lee Gallery, New York. Yau writes that "the relationship between figuration and abstraction seem as much the subject of the paintings as the primates they depict living (if you can call it that) in squalid conditions. Although Mazur has been characterized as
Paul Behnke reviews Pat Passlof: Paintings from the 1950s at Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, on view through December 20, 2014. Behnke writes: "In Ionian, the ready pictorial convention of an interior room that opens to an expansive outdoor view is abstracted to the point that portions of the picture plane begin to function non-objectively.
Addison Parks considers the work of painter Martin Mugar. Martin Mugar's work is only 'not what it seems' because of our expectations. We expect that pastel candy-like surfaces that appear like a large confection are sweet and decorative. We might eschew the sugar rush, the diabetic coma, the sick stomach. Or we might dismiss the
Patrick Morrissey and Hanz Hancock interview painter Carol Robertson. Robertson comments: "I’m presently dividing circles into multi-coloured sections which nevertheless still form an unbroken circle. The wonderful thing about a circle is that it always remains whole. For a couple of years I’ve been adding these divided rings running around the edge to create a
Dan Greenberg reviews Freak Flag, curated by Kim Uchiyama, at Brian Morris Midtown, New York (through December 13). The show features works by Al Loving, Ann Shostrom, Craig Fisher, Gwenn Thomas, James Clark, Kim Uchiyama, Marthe Keller, Noah Post, Stephen Westfall, Paul Corio, and Andy Mister. Greenberg writes: "According to Morris, Al Loving embodies the
Jennifer Samet interviews painter Judy Rifka about her work and career. Rifka comments: "In dance, you are in a place, then you think about where you want to go, and then you go there. You make a body out of your intentions of where you want to go, and that is a physical connection. In
Simon Carr reviews The Untamed Landscape: Theodore Rousseau and the Path to Barbizon at the Morgan Library and Museum, New York, on view through January 18, 2015. Carr writes: "Showing drawings, along with a few key paintings, the compact exhibition highlights Rousseau’s achievements. Spanning his entire career, the works map out the creative development of
Painter Mark Trujillo blogs about the influential artist, critic, and teacher Andrew Forge and includes remembrances from artists Ann Gale, Julie Heffernan, Denzil Hurley, Margaret McCann, Paula Heisen, Tommy Fitzpatrick, Mark Brosseau, Steve Hicks, Stuart Elster, and Denis Farrell. Trujillo writes that "[Forge's] influence was formative for me and I know for many others as
Alexi Worth examines the link between Delacroix's observations on photography and the paintings of Manet. Worth writes: "It’s clear that Delacroix loved the new technology’s dazzling naturalism, but not its overabundant detail. Again and again he mentions simplicity—a key term for Delacroix—as a quality good photographs lacked. There was something disagreeable about their 'all the
Kelly Robbins interviews painter Chris Martin. Martin comments: "I love painting and I love learning about painting from all the different parts of the world and from the different parts of history, and I’m very aware of a dialogue that I have with my friends and comrade painters here in New York City and Europe
Christopher Howard blogs about Matthew Miller: Can't You See It: I am One recently on view at Hansel and Gretel Picture Garden Pocket Utopia, New York. Howard, who attended Miller's gallery talk, notes: "while looking closely at [Untitled, 2014], I noticed that the treatment of the chest is gauzy, while the hand and face are