Contributed by Sharon Butler / Climate change is in the air, so to speak. I recently finished binge-watching Fortitude, an ongoing British sci-fi series about a Norwegian research outpost in the Arctic. The permafrost has begun to melt, unleashing unexpected horrors including species-jumping bacteria and a dangerous buckling effect whereby layers of ice melt at … read more… “Theresa Hackett: Melt down”
Two Coats Selected Gallery Guide / April 2018
Contributed by Sharon Butler / There is no lack of painting shows to check out in the NYC galleries this month, but I hope you have better weather than I did when I took my Parsons students to a few shows in Chelsea the other day. As my optimistic sister who likes to garden tells me each year: April showers bring May flowers…and so … read more… “Two Coats Selected Gallery Guide / April 2018”
Karin Campbell’s grins and grimaces
Karin Campbell’s glistening paintings of disjointed mouths, eyes, and teeth hide in plain site. Both densely layered and sparse, her recent abstract canvases are cartoonish takes on the line between exposition and concealment. On the occasion of her first solo exhibition, at 106 Green in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, artist Nick Irzyk talked to Campbell about desperate humor, her early performance pieces, … read more… “Karin Campbell’s grins and grimaces”
Images: Carrie Moyer at Mary Boone
Contributed by Sharon Butler / What you can’t see clearly in online images of Carrie Moyer’s new paintings, on view at Mary Boone (in conjunction with DC Moore) through April 21, is the remarkable fusion of flat, opaque abstract form with a masterful illusion of three-dimensionality. Moyer’s masked shapes, paint pours, and drop shadows, applied with varying degrees of transparency, … read more… “Images: Carrie Moyer at Mary Boone”
Jennifer Coates: Lullabies for difficult times
Contributed by Sharon Butler / In her second solo show at Freight + Volume, Jennifer Coates presents a series of seemingly playful landscapes that conjure three early abstractionists: Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, and Wassily Kandinsky. The subject matter is a departure from her last exhibitions, which featured expanded images of junk food, painted with exuberant … read more… “Jennifer Coates: Lullabies for difficult times”
Nancy Baker: Delicate construction
Contributed by Sharon Arnold / In her solo show “No Regrets,” Brooklyn-based mixed-media installation artist Nancy Baker winningly advances her trademark style of accretion, integrating text, found objects, glitter, paint, and ink into large-scale installation and wall sculpture. When you walk into the light-filled space in Bushwick’s Odetta Gallery, your eye is immediately drawn to … read more… “Nancy Baker: Delicate construction”
Laura Blacklow on painterly photo processes
Contributed by Sharon Butler / On the occasion of the Association of International Photography Dealers (AIPAD) sponsored Photography Show that is taking place on Pier 94 in NYC this weekend, I spoke with Laura Blacklow, a Boston-based artist (and once a teacher of mine) who works with alternative photo processes. Exploring the experimental precinct where painting and photography intersect, Blacklow has recently released the fifth edition … read more… “Laura Blacklow on painterly photo processes”
Rachelle Krieger: Skirmishes between invisible forces
Contributed by Sharon Butler / In “Of Earth and Sky,” on view at Susan Eley Fine Art, Rachelle Krieger presents a new series of elegant abstract paintings in which winding brushstrokes float throughout tightly-cropped square spaces. Although they have the feel of landscape, they are fundamentally abstract, leanly imparting that impression with shape and line. For contemporary American … read more… “Rachelle Krieger: Skirmishes between invisible forces”
Art and Film: Giacometti’s petulant eye
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti was renowned for his inability to finish artwork. It’s tempting to caricature that kind of chronic dissatisfaction as precious narcissism and feigned perfectionism. But it’s also too easy, and in Final Portrait, writer and director Stanley Tucci – better known as an elite character actor specializing in … read more… “Art and Film: Giacometti’s petulant eye”
Artist to artist: An exchange with Cuba
At the official level, the United States has politically and economically ostracized Cuba for the past 60 years, since communist dictator Fidel Castro took power and helped precipitate the Cuban Missile Crisis. But after the Cold War ended, mutual cultural exploration expanded; recall, for instance, the stateside success of Ry Cooder’s 1997 album Buena Vista Social Club, a collaboration with … read more… “Artist to artist: An exchange with Cuba”