Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson /In his paradoxically granular war epic Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan assumes viewers know that the British Army’s 1940 strategic retreat from the eponymous French coastal town was crucial to Allied victory in World War II, minimizing narrative exposition and personal back-story and thrusting the audience straight into onslaught, survival, and endeavor. Nolan employs three … read more… “Film: A strategic retreat’s smirk of defiance in DUNKIRK”
Adirondack idyll: Jay Invitational of Clay, Rockwell Kent, Ausable Chasm & more
Contributed by Sharon Butler and Jonathan Stevenson / Some artists go upstate to get away from the art world in the summer, and others gather an art world around them wherever they go. We went up to the Adirondacks recently to visit the summer outpost of Norte Maar for Collaborative Projects in the Arts in Jay, New York, where founders Jason … read more… “Adirondack idyll: Jay Invitational of Clay, Rockwell Kent, Ausable Chasm & more”
Fiction: Light [Rand Richards Cooper]
![Fiction: Light [Rand Richards Cooper]](http://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Room201-1.jpg)
FOR THIS EDITION of the summer fiction column, my old friend Rand Richards Cooper has contributed “Light,” a poignant story published in Big as Life, his 1996 collection of short fiction. In “Light” Cooper imagines reconnecting with our old high school art teacher. –SB
“Painting Not Painting” in Baltimore
Contributed by Sharon Butler / “Painting Not Painting” is an exhibition at ‘sindikit, the project space run by Tim Doud and Zoë Charlton in Baltimore. Artists include Paolo Arao, Rush Baker, Sharon Butler, Dan Devening, Phaan Howng, Sabina Ott + Kelly Lloyd, and Jo Smail. From the press release: The artists participating in Project 8 are all artists who have worked with abstraction as a … read more… ““Painting Not Painting” in Baltimore”
Gretchen Frances Bennett’s tenderness
Gretchen Frances Bennett: “Objects that appear in my drawings are pieced together place holders, in an ongoing search for the things that stay. They speak to a fleeting image caught peripherally, that can hold basic significant information. This constellation of related and incomplete fragments continually touches down on this question of what stays, yet, is not overly … read more… “Gretchen Frances Bennett’s tenderness”
Images: Becky Brown, Annette Cords, and accidental poetry
According to the press release for “Cognition-Stroll,” a collaborative exhibition on view at Project:ARTspace that features Annette Cords and Becky Brown, the hyphenated term is a literal English translation of the German compound word Erkenntnisspaziergang, which means “a practice of going out to gain deeper insight while walking.” Brown and Cords roam the streets of New York City, accumulating ideas from signage, graffiti, and … read more… “Images: Becky Brown, Annette Cords, and accidental poetry”
Art and Film: Ghost as witness
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / George Eliot said, wisely, that “our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.” For the great and infamous, it’s a prescription for immortality. As to more ordinary people, the sentiment can be cloyingly anodyne around the moment of a loved one’s death – it was viciously … read more… “Art and Film: Ghost as witness”
Two Coats Selected Gallery Guide / July 10, 2017
Our mid-summer selected exhibitions list, organized by neighborhood, is, well, blooming with group shows that feature flowers, gardens, and nature. For those of you who are out of town, perhaps tending your own patch of land or painting at an artists’ residency upstate, links are included for online browsing. For a full exhibition listing, make sure to check out “The List” at artcritical.
An artist’s legacy
Contributed by Sharon Butler / Estate planning for artists is complex, but Ellsworth Kelly, who died at 92 in December 2015, seems to have considered his legacy carefully. The artist contributed artwork to museums around the world. During a recent trip to Philadelphia, I had a chance to see a grouping of early paintings, many … read more… “An artist’s legacy”
Unlimited: Painting and political upheaval
Contributed by Sharon Butler / During the 1960s, the world was rocked by massive political upheaval. In May 1968, two weeks of student riots in Paris blasted traditional approaches seemingly across the socio-political board, from government to gender roles to education. Civil rights and anti-war protests roiled the United States. Africa fitfully de-colonized, and Cold War political … read more… “Unlimited: Painting and political upheaval”