Just saw the drawing exhibit at MOMA, On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century. It’s a survey of mostly abstract drawing – even the representational work is by artists such as Klee and Picasso, realism doesn’t figure in this show. The focus is on work that somehow expands or redefines the traditional boundaries of drawing. […]
Abstract Expressionist New York at MOMA
Some thoughts on the new exhibit at MOMA: Abstract Expressionist New York. There’s a lot of great work in this exhibit including a room of Rothko paintings that’s pretty amazing. This show is like a greatest hits of the MOMA collection, circa 1950. It isn’t about re-thinking the era or showing lesser known artists, these […]
Rackstraw Downes
The NYTimes has a great article by Dorothy Spears on the work of Rackstraw Downes, a painter of landscapes and NYC streets. Downes works on location, his paintings are intricate, and have a delicate nature even though the subjects tend towards the industrial environments and desert wastelands. He incorporates a lot of detail in the […]
Amy Sillman – Transformer at Sikkema Jenkins
Amy Sillman’s exhibit at Sikkema Jenkins struck a magical note for the art press. Seems like everyone has written about this show, but why? Beyond the quality of the work, Sillman has found the sweet spot. It’s abstract with figurative elements, it’s process oriented but narrative, she covers a lot of territory but somehow manages […]
Objectified
Objectified is the new film by Gary Hustwit, maker of Helvetica. In this one he looks at the job of industrial designers, the people responsible for creating every manufactured item in the world – from computers and cars to toothpicks and gardening shears. Featuring interviews with top design stars and exploration of key issues such […]
Mary Heilmann on Art:21
There’s a new season of the PBS art show Art:21, saw an episode featuring abstract painter Mary Heilmann. Heilmann views her works as icons that can lead to transformative states of thought. Her paintings use intense, jeweled colors and self-referential marks such as the “post-modern drip”. Beautiful, fun, and thoughtful paintings. http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mary-heilmann
Monet’s Water Lilies Return to MOMA
Monet’s Water Lilies are back at MOMA. They’re spectacular pieces. Pollock had to be thinking of Monet while dripping his buckets of industrial paint onto canvas. The scale is comparable – I loved when they used to hang the two paintings facing each other, creating a dialogue across the years. Somehow works of art, while […]
Haley Jane Samuelson
I was reading the New Yorker calendar section on the subway ride home tonight and was really happy to see a name I recognized! An exhibit by photographer Haley Jane Samuelson was profiled. I had the pleasure of posting some of her work on ArtinBrooklyn in April. She describes her images as “an embodiment of […]
Food and Art
Food and art are both sensual pleasures, easily appreciated by all and capable of endless refinement. I remember first seeing the work of Wayne Thiebaud in a retrospective as a high school student in California. The vibrant colors and symmetrical rows of pies spoke of joyous pleasures and platonic order. Apollo and Dionysus meeting at […]
Metropolitan Museum of Art – Francis Bacon
Saw the Francis Bacon exhibit at the Met on Friday. Powerful stuff, disturbing images of people portrayed as twisted lumps of meat. A little goes a long way though, and conversions to vegetarianism are to be expected after prolonged viewing.