Hello 2021! Thanks, again, readers, for your generous contributions to the Two Coats of Paint 2020 fundraising campaign. An invitation: Among the exhibitions opening this month, my show of paintings at Theodore:Art (56 Bogart Street in Bushwick) called “Morning in America” opens on Friday, January 15. I’ll be there from 12-6 pm, so please stop … read more… “Two Coats Selected Gallery Guide: January 2021”
Author: Two Coats Production
2020’s grim atmosphere of loss: Shari Urquhart and others
Lamentable deaths occur every year, but in 2020 Covid-19 has made for an especially grim atmosphere of loss. In the art world, painter Jackie Saccoccio and art historian Barbara Rose are the most recent to be mourned across social media and in thoughtful obituaries in the New York Times. Artnet has compiled a list of … read more… “2020’s grim atmosphere of loss: Shari Urquhart and others”
Catherine Haggarty’s call to memory
Contributed by Zach Seeger / Catherine Haggarty belongs to a group of New York painters who blossomed between financial crisis of 2008 and the election of Donald Trump in 2016, bracketed by Zombie Formalism and the current wave of figuration. Artists of her vintage tend to be inspired by the likes of Peter Acheson, Katherine … read more… “Catherine Haggarty’s call to memory”
Ray Carofano: Faces of Pedro
Contributed by Peter Plagens / San Pedro is a tough town. Actually it’s technically part of Los Angeles; L.A. saw to that by making the north-and-south Harbor Freeway and a swath to either side of it, part of the city, so it could run what has become the largest container port in the country. And … read more… “Ray Carofano: Faces of Pedro”
Interview: Stalking Deborah Brown’s paintings
Contributed by Elisabeth Condon / I’ve been stalking Deborah Brown’s paintings on Instagram, excited about a new series of still lifes. As far as I can tell they originated with #selfportraitwithzeusandpeacockscreen, posted on August 3rd. The painting features dramatic black and white, pushes color out to the sides and flings pattern on canvas where needed. … read more… “Interview: Stalking Deborah Brown’s paintings”
Images: Danielle Dimston
Contributed by Sharon Butler / Danielle Dimston’s sublime watercolor images have an ethereal, other-worldly quality, as if they were the visual manifestations of a deeply meditative state. In her exhibition at Municipal Bonds, much of the work, spanning the last twelve years, focuses on creating the illusion of light through the manipulation of pigment and … read more… “Images: Danielle Dimston”
Heather Bause Rubinstein: America and me
Contributed by Heather Bause Rubinstein / I left New York in January of 2020 and sublet my studio with plans to return in April. I repeat this pattern of coming and going every spring term to teach in Houston alongside my spouse, art critic and poet Raphael Rubinstein. As before, I transformed the single-car garage … read more… “Heather Bause Rubinstein: America and me”
Two Coats Selected Gallery Guide: December 2020
December 2020 has finally arrived — the last month of a year that seemed as though it would never end. At Two Coats of Paint, that means I am in the middle of the year-end fundraising campaign. Membership, subscription — call it what you will — it’s your tax-deductible contributions that enable Two Coats to … read more… “Two Coats Selected Gallery Guide: December 2020”
The political imperative: Gatson, Humphrey, Williams, Worth in Chelsea
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / The clash between Donald Trump’s nascent fascism and America’s liberal traditions, brought to a head by the murder of George Floyd and its aftermath and exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, made the 2020 election the most important one since Abraham Lincoln prevailed in 1860. In this meanest of election seasons … read more… “The political imperative: Gatson, Humphrey, Williams, Worth in Chelsea”
Ideas and Influences: Louise Belcourt
New York-based painter Louise Belcourt recently returned from a quiet summer in the country, where she completed new work, which is on view through December 12 at the Locks Gallery in Philadelphia. The series comprises collages on paper made with painted gouache shapes, infusing the curvy hard-edge simplicity of Matisse cutouts with the joy and … read more… “Ideas and Influences: Louise Belcourt”