Contributed by Susan Bee / The early paintings of Marc Chagall are a recent inspiration. It’s a strange turn. For years I thought I disliked his work, especially the late paintings: too saccharine and repetitious. But I became enamored by his early efforts when I saw Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918–1922, … read more… “Anywhere Out of the World: Chagall and me”
Author: Editorial Assistant
Paul Erschen: Half remembered
Contributed by Cody Tumblin / Before I start talking about Paul Erschen’s work, I’d like to talk about mud. Imagine a muggy summer afternoon near the lake and the warm stench of sticky wet mud riding off the wind. As you step down into this supremely gooey substance, there is squelching and squishing, and thick … read more… “Paul Erschen: Half remembered”
Facts on the ground: Katy Crowe and Coleen Sterritt
Contributed by Sharon Butler / In the exhibition statement for “Evenso: The Common and Curious,” a two-person exhibition at the Los Angeles Harbor College Fine Arts Gallery featuring Katy Crowe‘s paintings and Coleen Sterritt‘s objects, curator Ron Linden quoted a piece Ben Lerner wrote about Michael Palmer’s poetry for Harper’s Magazine. Back in 2018, when … read more… “Facts on the ground: Katy Crowe and Coleen Sterritt”
Conversation: Eric Wolf talks about his expansive art collection
Contributed by Patrick Neal / The painter Eric Wolf is someone I have known since we met as students at Skowhegan School of Art in 1989. At Skowhegan, working outside during all-in-one sessions, Wolf devised a style of landscape painting that was direct and minimal, using only black ink on paper, or oil on canvas … read more… “Conversation: Eric Wolf talks about his expansive art collection”
Abby Lloyd: Recipes for disaster
Contributed by Sharon Butler / When the lockdown went into effect, Abby Lloyd wanted to curate an online project, but envisioned something more personal than a bunch of jpegs, so she put together a quirky cookbook with recipes by her artist friends. “I came across a school cookbook that I made in 1998,” she told … read more… “Abby Lloyd: Recipes for disaster”
Two Coats Online Art Guide: Spring 2020
Contributed by Emma Stolarski / With stay-at-home orders and screen times going up, it seems that the art world of the moment is living in social media. Instagram is saturated with live interviews and IGTV studio visits alongside friends’ (or our own) confessions about sanity levels. It’s all a bit overwhelming. To stay creative, it’s … read more… “Two Coats Online Art Guide: Spring 2020”
Conversation during lockdown: Alexis Granwell and Aubrey Levinthal
After back-to-back studio visits in late February, Philadelphia artists Alexis Granwell and Aubrey Levinthal started a digital conversation to follow up and ride out the isolation of the social-distancing lockdown. They discuss seismic studio shifts, tarot cards, rotten bananas, and working on the kitchen table. Aubrey Levinthal: Some artists say they feel freed by the … read more… “Conversation during lockdown: Alexis Granwell and Aubrey Levinthal”
Art and Film: Claustrophobia
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / People in lockdown on account of a pervasive but invisible biological enemy might be perversely drawn to movies broadly about pandemics, like Steven Soderbergh’s coolly wise Contagion (2011), Alfonso Cuarón’s elegantly melancholy Children of Men (2006), or the rather silly but occasionally unnerving Outbreak (1995). Some could also resort to … read more… “Art and Film: Claustrophobia”
Piranesi and the anxiety of modernity
Contributed by Armin Kunz / Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778) created innumerable views of ancient and modern (that is, Baroque) Rome that together formed his monumental print cycles “Antichità Romane” and “Vedute di Roma.” They established his fame and lured generations of travelers to the Eternal City. Today, however, he is best known for the series … read more… “Piranesi and the anxiety of modernity”
Will Agnes Pelton Ever Get Her Due?
Contributed by Laurie Fendrich / Pause for a moment to pity the painter Agnes Pelton (1881-1961). While she was alive, she was mostly overlooked; after her death, she was still mostly overlooked. This spring was to have been Pelton’s big moment, for she was finally to move into the spotlight of the New York art … read more… “Will Agnes Pelton Ever Get Her Due?”