Abstraction
Cary Smith: Interview
Sound & Vision Podcast
Brian Alfred talks to painter Cary Smith at Smith’s recent exhibition New Paintings and Drawings at Fredricks & Freiser, New York.
Lauren Luloff: Drawing (with bleach) from life
Two Coats of Paint
Eileen Jeng Lynch reviews the recent exhibition Lauren Luloff: The Evergreens at Ceysson & Bénétière, New York. Lynch writes: “The title of the show, The Evergreens, derives its name from the eponymous nineteenth-century cemetery in the artist’s Brooklyn neighborhood. Luloff used bleach to paint flora – including sunflowers, hollyhocks, hydrangeas, and blue spruces – in […]
Tom McGlynn: Liberating Geometric Shapes
Two Coats of Paint
Sharon Butler reviews Tom McGlynn: Station / Decal / Survey at Rick Wester Fine Arts, New York, on view through December 23, 2017. Butler writes: “The shapes [in McGlynn’s paintings] aren’t symbolic, and they don’t conjure a discrete narrative about internal relationships. But they do provide some evidence of this artist’s specific intention and process. His very […]
Syd Solomon @ Berry Campbell
Whitehot Magazine
Jonathan Goodman reviews a recent exhibition of works by Syd Solomon at Berry Campbell, New York. Goodman writes that Solomon “opens up a genuine understanding of the abstract-expressionist movement—we see the art and not the painter overwhelming the art. The vertical work called Summer Spell (1985), with its skeins and wisps of color—white, yellow, blur, […]
Arshile Gorky Landscapes @ Hauser & Wirth
Hyperallergic
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 green, […]
Emily Berger: Interview
Two Coats of Paint
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 […]
Cary Smith @ Fredricks & Freiser
James Kalm Report
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 […]
Erika Ranee: Ideas and Influences
Two Coats of Paint
Erika Ranee shares a wide variety of material that inspires her abstract paintings.
Michael Berryhill and Evan Nesbit
Whitehot Magazine
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 […]
Patrick Berran @ Chapter NY
Hyperallergic
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 […]
Anoka Faruqee and Michelle Grabner
Bomb Magazine
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 […]
Ad Reinhardt: Blue Paintings
Brooklyn Rail
Eleanor Ray reviews Ad Reinhardt: Blue Paintings at David Zwirner Gallery, New York, on view through October 21, 2017. Ray writes: “Our idea of Reinhardt’s work, whether from reproductions or sporadic viewings, might tend to flatten it, and the in-person effect far exceeds that mental image. Having already been a fan of Reinhardt, I was […]
Carolyn Case: The Mythic and The Mundane
Two Coats of Paint
William Eckhardt Kohler reviews Carolyn Case: Homemade Tatoo at Asya Geisberg, Chelsea, New York, on view through October 14, 2017. Kohler writes: “Case digs in with persistence, perseverance, and painterly inventiveness. Seeing this, one might think that paint and painting are the subject of these paintings, but that is only true in part. The paintings […]
Emily Berger: Rhythm and Light
Huffington Post Arts: D. Dominick Lombardi
D. Dominick Lombardi reviews Emily Berger: Rhythm and Light at Walter Wickiser Gallery, New York, on view through October 25, 2017. Lombardi begins: “Emily Berger’s abstract paintings are the product of an intuitive process. Berger sees them as being about ‘thought and vision; they deal with light, space, movement, rhythm, color, speed and change, point […]
Leslie Wayne: Beyond Painterly
Two Coats of Paint
Sharon Butler and Jonathan Stevenson review Leslie Wayne: Free Experience at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, on view through October 21st, 2017. They write: “… in his lecture series at Harvard in the 1980s, Frank Stella came up with the notion of ‘working space’ – that is, activating the space in front of the canvas by building out from […]
Suzan Frecon: The Pleasures of Slow Paintings
Hyperallergic
John Yau reviews Suzan Frecon: recent oil paintings at David Zwirner Gallery, New York, on view through October 21, 2017. Yau writes: “I think of Frecon’s shape as an abstract thing, a form that defies being turned into language or a message. I think her resistance to the tendency to easily convert her art into […]
Bridget Riley: Our Instinct Enhanced
Christchurch Art Gallery
Richard Schiff writes on the paintings of Bridget Riley on the occasion of Bridget Riley: Cosmos on view at the Christchurch Gallery, New Zealand through November 17, 2017. Schiff observes: “Riley grants that the ‘role of art’ changes. Yet this social and historical role is merely an aspect of the art that an artist creates. […]
Andrea Belag: Making Changes
Two Coats of Paint
Sharon Butler reviews Andrea Belag: Ghost Writer at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, New York, on view through October 15, 2017. Butler writes: “In [Belag’s] older work, the deep color triggered an inchoate emotional response, but now simple shapes and lines, truncated brushstrokes rendered in lively color, float on the picture plane. Many of the new paintings leave large […]
Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction
Hyperallergic
Karen Emenhiser-Harris reviews Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, on view through September 17, 2017. Emenhiser-Harris writes: “According to the Kemper, this is the first museum exhibit in the US to show abstract artwork created exclusively by women of color. Stylistically varied and teeming […]
Guy Goodwin: Interview
Brooklyn Rail
Phong Bui interviews painter Guy Goodwin whose exhibition Grotto Relief was recently on view at Brennan & Griffin, New York. Goodwin remarks: “The relationship I’ve developed with my color, which takes a day or two to dry, is the biggest step I’ve taken in my life as an artist. The miraculous thing is that when […]