Here are our favorite moments in art blogging from 2008, in no particular order:� When Pearl Montana, a Canadian oil-and-gas company, wanted to drill for oil near Smithson�s Spiral Jetty, high-minded Tyler Green (Modern Art Notes), pulling out all the stops with in-depth daily coverage, managed to draw enough mainstream […]
Tag: IMHO
Playing for Fung in Santa Fe
Here�s an excerpt from the press materials for �Lucky Number Seven,� the SITE Santa Fe 2008 Biennial curated by Lance M. Fung: “The entire project proposes an alternative to the current format of biennials, which has evolved in recent years into international mega-exhibitions studded with big-name, well-traveled artists�. All of […]
Studio Update: Summer progress
Summer is usually a productive season for those of us who teach, but inevitably some things remain unfinished because gauging the time needed to complete certain tasks, especially painting, is impossible. Nevertheless, I got a lot done. Painting:In Beacon, NY, I participated in Simon Draper�s Habitat for Artists shantytown residency […]
Studio update: Studio visits, exhibitions, new work
In preparation for a studio visit from collectors (and friends) over Fourth of July weekend, I manically re-organized the warren of attic rooms I’ve adopted for a studio in my Mystic, CT, house. The visit went well, and I sold a couple paintings from the 2007 Tower Series, which I’ve […]
Masterpiece theater: Edward Albee’s Occupant
Louise Nevelson was a sculptor rather than a painter, and thus outside TCOP’s usual focus, but I saw Albee’s play last weekend, and I’m sure all artists will appreciate it. Set on a sparsely furnished stage, the play begins with a smarmy interviewer, archly played by Larry Bryggman, explaining to […]
Lost in space: Art post-studio
The June issue of The Brooklyn Rail has gone online today. My contribution examines studio space, and how some artists making traditional art objects (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.) are rethinking the studio paradigm. Read how Deborah Fisher, Austin Thomas, Simon Draper, Cindy Tower, and I are moving beyond the romanticized […]
Abts’ traction
My contribution to the May issue of The Brooklyn Rail is a review of the New Museum’s Tomma Abts show. “For Abts, honesty and sincerity are guiding principles. In a conversation with Peter Doig reprinted in the museum�s exhibition brochure, she unabashedly admits that her process is intuitive, and that […]
America’s Lessness
My contribution to the April issue of The Brooklyn Rail considers the notion of readymade color, the implications of the current Whitney Biennial, and the fleeting nature of symbolic and political meaning. “At the Museum of Modern Art, the current exhibition ‘Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today’ examines two […]
Tracking proto-feminist Loren MacIver
Check out my article about Loren MacIver in The Brooklyn Rail’s March issue.“In my first college painting course, which I took several years after completing an art history degree, my teacher Arnold Trachtman said that my painting of the bathroom sink reminded him of Loren MacIver�s work. I had no […]
Tuymans the new Mr. Big
On everyone’s list of favorite painters, Luc Tuymans is usually near the top. His early abstract-ish paintings, small and wan, were nothing if not winning…but does the old formula (near-monochromatic color, sketchy brushwork, mysterious fading imagery) still work when the scale is monumental? Zwirner’s press release explains that Tuymans has […]
