Award-winning NYC blogazine, primarily about painting
Sunday, February 28, 2021
Alice Neel, “Degenerate Madonna,” (1930), Oil on canvas. 31 × 24 inches. © The Estate of Alice Neel, courtesy David Zwirner, New York. Although there was a no censorship policy, Neel’s painting, above, was deemed inappropriate at the inaugural exhibition and was turned toward the wall when a nearby Church […]
In the latest issue of The Brooklyn Rail I look at Jonathan Schipper’s installation at The Boiler. What a great idea. Artist Jonathan Schipper, with vital help from engineer Karl Biewald, manages to transform a car-crash into an observable work of art by slowing it way, way down. Two bygone […]
For the June issue of The Brooklyn Rail, my review of the Frank Lloyd Wright show at the Guggenheim veers into a personal essay about how individuals (specifically me) have been affected by Wright’s groundbreaking notions about design and space. Here’s an excerpt. “…Wright is justifiably considered a visionary. Yet […]
In The Brooklyn Rail, Phong Bui talks with Alex Katz about his paintings and process. In this excerpt, Katz explains his early decision to scale up. “When I started to paint directly from nature, the paintings were focused behind my head. Somehow I understood how to put paint in focus […]
In the May issue of The Brooklyn Rail I take a look at Louise Fishman’s recent show at Cheim & Read. When I saw the show, I had the same feeling I had at Susan Rothenberg‘s recent show and had to write about it. Here’s an excerpt from the review. […]
Roberta Smith recently visited Rail Consulting Editor, Irving Sandler, at his home to talk about her life and work. Here’s my favorite part of their chat, which was published in the April issue of The Brooklyn Rail.Rail: Does art theory inform your work? And what do you think of the […]
While preparing for his one-person exhibition at Larissa Goldston Gallery, on view from through May 9th, Matvey Levenstein stopped by Brooklyn Rail HQ to talk to publisher Phong Bui about his life and work. Here’s an excerpt from their conversation.Rail: When did photography come into your process? Levenstein: It was […]
I wrote about The Mood Back Home, an exhibition at Momenta Art for the April issue of The Brooklyn Rail. Here’s an excerpt. “Immediately confronting visitors to The Mood Back Home, a thoughtful and evocative group exhibition organized by Suzy Spence and Leslie Brack at Momenta Art, is Jessica Jackson […]
In The Brooklyn Rail, Greg Lindquist looks at Peter Doig’s new large-scale paintings, which are up until tomorrow at Gavin Brown and Michael Werner. “While Doig’s current work reflects his recent relocation to Trinidad and the unaccustomed imagery this has inspired, the paintings lack material presence. The canvases in these […]
What’s so good about Facebook? Most art bloggers will tell you it’s a good way to connect with the people who read their blogs. They were at the forefront of innovative social networking in the artosphere, and began setting up their Facebook profile pages back in early 2007, shortly after […]
Andrew Zarou’s particular beat
Andrew Zarou, under the rhodondendron 2021, flashe on unprimed linen, 16 x 12 inches
Contributed by Ben Pritchard / Andrew Zarou’s compelling exhibition at The Painting Center is resonant of the ...
Two Coats Selected Gallery Guide: February 2021
Microscope: Yasue Maetake, Transmutations, installation view
This month Two Coats of Paint is unveiling a site redesign (big thanks to Heather Bause Rubinstein for the encouragement and technical support), which includes ...
Medrie MacPhee, David Humphrey, and the power of recognition
Medrie MacPhee (back wall) and David Humphrey (front wall) at the New York Studio School. Installation view.
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / In the 1940s, Philip Guston noted that the ...
Tula x Yuko Nishikawa: Designing life within a shell
Contributed by Emma Stolarski / Plant life is one of nature’s masterpieces. Botanical beauty, medicine, and ecological systems are integrated in every part of our lives, whether we think about ...
Martin Kline: Tempered by discipline
Martin Kline, Back From Venice (II), 2019, encaustic and oil on panel, 42 x 42 x 2 3/4 inches
Contributed by Sharon Butler / Martin Kline’s meticulous and thoughtful abstractions, on ...
The “whorish porous” in the work of Angela Dufresne
Angela Dufresne, installation view at Yossi Milo
Contributed by Andrew Woolbright / Angela Dufresne’s dual shows at Yossi Milo Gallery and M+B Los Angeles provide an opportunity to assess the full ...
Scott Daniel Ellison: “Every artist is in some way self-taught”
Scott Daniel Ellison's images of flora and fauna are suffused with personhood--trees wave bony limbs, bats have human faces, and animals wear jewelry. Working at a small scale and focusing ...
Spencer Lewis’s mesmerizing formlessness
Spencer Lewis: Six Jutes (2) installation at Harper’s Chelsea. (All photos courtesy of Harper’s Chelsea).
Contributed by Patrick Neal / Spencer Lewis’s large, colorful, gestural abstractions, on view at Harper’s Chelsea ...
Nicole Eisenman and the triumph of painting
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / Just about every piece in Nicole Eisenman’s nobly minatory exhibition “Al-ugh-ories” at the New Museum, up through June 26, pulses with aesthetic energy, turbocharged by ...
Art and Film: Painter-Spy in Bridge of Spies
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / Bridge of Spies begins and ends with a painting. Steven Spielberg’s latest film is a penetrating and affecting consideration of the Cold War, based on ...