“Frank Bowling,” by Mel Gooding, is a beautiful book. Published this past spring by The Royal Academy and distributed in the US and Canada by Harry N. Abrams, it has a powerful tale to tell, and tells it well. The narrative takes us from the artist’s turbulent childhood in Read More
Report from the Front
Art criticism, sometimes with context, occasional politics. New shows: "events;" how to support the online edition: "works."
APHORISMS FOR ARTISTS
October 29, 2011
Darby Bannard has just distilled his decades of teaching art into a handy-dandy online tome with 100 elemental thoughts about the subject, each with a pocket-size "chapter" of comment. Here's the link:
ON A ROLL
October 21, 2011
Francine Tint. Conjurer. 2011. Acrylic on canvas, 50" x 135" Image Courtesy Gallery Sam
Francine Tint is on a roll. This is a sample of recent work, exhibited this summer by Gallery Sam at ArtHamptons, the international fine art fair. I think it's an amazing image (at its full size), & will discuss it in the DeLuxe supplement to the forthcoming hard-copy issue of "From the Mayor's Doorstep."
CUTTING DOWN A GIANT
October 11, 2011
David Smith (1906-1965). 17 h's. 1950. Painted steel. 44 1/2 x 29 x 12 1/2 in. (113 x 73.7 x 31.8 cm). The Estate of David Smith (c)The Estate of David Smith/Licensed by VAGA, New York. Photo courtesy of the Estate of David Smith, photo by David Heald.
“Procrustean” is the word that came away with me from seeing “David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy” at the Whitney Museum of American Art (through January 8). For the benefit of those without a classical education, Procrustes was a nasty old guy in Greek mythology who kept a hostel of some sort by the wayside and Read More
5 GALLERIES
October 8, 2011
Well, folks, you just missed a pleasant little exhibition of “Hans Hofmann: Works on Paper” at Ameringer McEnery Yohe (closed October 8). Although I saw it a week or so ago, I’ve been too busy with other duties to tell you about it. However, there was an excellent little catalogue Read More
VON DAVID BIS DELACROIX
October 6, 2011
Théodore Géricault (1791-1824). Leda and the Swan, ca.1816-17. Brown wash and blue watercolor, with black chalk, heightened with white gouache, on brown paper. Musée du Louvre, Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY. Photography: Jean-Gilles Berizzi.
To the unsophisticated art-lover, a drawing is merely lines made by a pencil or pen upon a piece of paper. To a museum curator, a drawing can be almost anything except a print, as long as it’s made on paper (sometimes not even then) This means that a drawing can be colored with Read More