Link posts — Page 8

Thomas Micchelli reviews Ardent Nature: Arshile Gorky Landscapes, 1943–47 at Hauser & Wirth, New York, on view through December 23, 2017. Micchelli observes: "The drawings in this show are breathtaking in their variety and intensity. Motifs glide in and out; graphite lines trace the contours of unknown plants and body parts, accented by strokes of

Sharon Butler interviews painter Emily Berger on the occasion of the recent exhibition Emily Berger: Rhythm and Light at Walter Wickiser, New York, and Emily Berger: New Paintings at Norte Maar, Brooklyn (through November 19). Berger comments: "From my earliest complete and semi-presentable paintings I’ve been a grid painter. I like the structure and the

Justin Sterling reviews the recent exhibition Ad Reinhardt: Blue Paintings at David Zwirner Gallery. Sterling writes: "To see Ad Reinhardt’s paintings one must slow down the pace of everyday life. In the Blue Paintings ... dating for the most part from 1950 to 1953, so much medium has been removed from the paint as to

Jonathan Kamholtz reviews the recent exhibition Small Paintings from the Taft Collection at the Taft Museum of Art. Kamholtz writes: "As the exhibition notes suggest, there are all sorts of reasons for paintings being small. Some were originally devotional objects where it might matter that you can form an intimate attachment to an image. Some

James Kalm visits Cary Smith: New Paintings and Drawings at Fredricks & Freiser, New York, on view through November 18, 2017. Kalm notes: "For decades now, Cary Smith has maintained an austere compositional approach to abstraction, developing themes that he expounds on as if they were Euclidian axioms. Though this might sound dry and overly

John Yau reviews Marcia Marcus, Role Play: Paintings 1958 – 1973 at Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, on view through December 2, 2017. Yau writes: "Between 1958 and ’73, the period covered by the exhibition, Marcus achieved something as singular and powerful as any of her more celebrated male counterparts, including Alex Katz and Philip

Peter Schjeldahl writes about the work of Laura Owens. A mid-career retrospective of Owens' work will be on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York from November 10, 2017 – February 4, 2018. Schjeldahl concludes: "[Owens] is a genius of revelations, along the lines of that premise. She revealed twenty years ago,

Matthew Collings reviews Soutine’s Portraits: Cooks, Waiters & Bellboys at the Courtauld Gallery, London, on view through January 21, 2018. Collings rites: "What things are and how they are treated, whether a body or a bellboy’s buttons, seem to obey purely abstract laws, as if it’s the paint that wants to do it and not

Erika Ranee shares a wide variety of material that inspires her abstract paintings.

John Elderfield writes about Cézanne Portraits, an exhibition he curated, on view at the National Portrait Gallery, London through February 11, 2018. Elderfield writes that "the content of these paintings matters. One reason, I think, why there has never previously been a survey of Cézanne’s portraits is that his reputation, as it developed in the

Jennifer Piejko reviews Jennifer Packer: Tenderheaded at the Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, on view through November 5, 2017. Piejko notes that "Packer’s beautifully restrained paintings create a safe space in which to consider questions of mortality, subjectivity and belonging."

Anna McNay interviews painter Alex Katz whose work is on view at Timothy Taylor Gallery, London through November 18, 2017. Katz remarks: "Everything is moving. There’s no reality, it’s moving. Reality is subject to fashion and so you get something where there’s no past tense, there’s no future tense, there’s only now. And I want

Carter Ratcliff reviews Nicolas Carone: Imaginary Portraits at Loretta Howard Gallery (through October 28)and The Thing Unseen: A Centennial Celebration of Nicolas Carone, organized by Ro Lohin, at the New York Studio School (closed). Ratcliff notes that "The Studio School catalog is prefaced by one of Carone’s precepts: 'The process is to draw the thing

David Ambrose reviews Michael Berryhill: a window, adore at Kate Werble Gallery and Evan Nesbit: Cellophane Grip at Van Doren Waxter Gallery (both on view through through October 28, 2017). Ambrose writes: "... each artist tries to thread the needle of contemporary painting: Berryhill working diligently on top of the threads, while Nesbit works from

Stephen Maine reviews works by Patrick Berran at Chapter NY, on view through October 28, 2017. Maine writes: "All works are untitled, done in acrylic and toner on panel, and dated 2017. The fine points of Berran’s complex technique are probably not relevant, but it may be helpful to know that the gel transfers and

Jason Rosenfeld reviews Holly Coulis: Table Studies at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, on view through October 22, 2017. Rosenfeld writes: "Coulis’s subjects are not erotic. They are not vanitas images. They are not naturalistic. Instead, they somehow propel you into an imaginative space of sign systems denoting some arcane language—Pale Table, Red Tumblers

Eric Sutphin reviews the recent exhibition Thomas Trosch: Paintings: New And Old at Fredericks & Freiser, New York. Sutphin writes: "Trosch has mastered the art of suggestion: one gets a sense of the ages and affects of the figures through dashes and globs of paint. He accomplishes the difficult task of marrying subject matter and

Megan Kincaid reviews Robert Motherwell: Early Paintings at Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, on view through October 28, 2017. Kincaid writes: "... Kasmin tackles a body of work that has been overshadowed by Motherwell’s critically lauded early explorations into collage and automatic drawing. Despite the commercial appeal of paintings and their prominence in Motherwell’s later

Blog post re-publishing Leland Bell's seminal 1960 artice The Case for Derain as An Immortal. Bell writes: "The wholeness of [Derain's] art is a response to the wholeness of nature. His art does not separate life into compartments: instinct here, intellect there. He didn’t paint with half of himself... Derain senses the virtue of ...

Anoka Faruqee and Michelle Grabner discuss common ground in their work and their experience as art educators. Grabner remarks that "... indexing by way of crude stenciling has always been a way for me to achieve that sweet spot between abstraction and representation—to have something handmade without showing the hand." Faruqee observers: "I find myself