(An Appropriate Distance)

 

FROM THE MAYOR'S DOORSTEP

 

 

The first third-generation abstract expressionist I wrote about was Dan Christensen (1942-2007). This happened in May 1969, when I was still working for Time, and the story featured the "spray paintings" he was making and exhibiting at that moment.  Recently, I was able to revisit that past at Berry Campbell, when it staged "Dan Christensen: Early Spray Paintings (1967-69)" (closed November 9).  Though this wasn't the first time I'd seen these paintings over the intervening years, I continue to admire them.  Read More 

 

 

What, after all, is – or was – "Lyrical Abstraction?"  You wouldn't believe what a web of confusion Wikipedia manages to weave around the term!  But that shouldn't inhibit you, gentle reader, from going to --- and enjoying – a highly diverting show of 13 pocket-sized works entitled "Lyrical Abstraction: Small Scale" at Bookstein Projects, at 60 East 66th Street on the Upper East Side (through April 13). Read More 

Sorry, folks, I am still behind schedule, so two of the four shows I took in during a recent visit to Chelsea have already gone down, and the other two will go down this coming weekend. However, as a group they offer insights into the range of what’s offered in Chelsea – which (to borrow a title from an old movie about porn & politics) encompasses everything from the good (at Paul Kasmin & The Painting Center) to the bad (at Gagosian) to the beautiful (at Berry Campbell).  Read More 

Items 4 through 11: conventional venues—in Chelsea: 4) Fred Stonehouse at Howard Scott; 5) Martha Armstrong at Bowery; 6) William Christine at Prince Street; 7) Janie Paul at Blue Mountain; 8) Frank Stella at Paul Kasmin (293 Tenth); 9) Tai Xiangzhou at Paul Kasmin (297 Tenth); 10) Dan Christensen at Berry Campbell; finally (eek! How unfashionable!) on the Upper East Side,11) Dan Christensen (and others) at Leslie Feely. Read More 

Spring may be late this year, but indoors in Manhattan, modernism is blossoming. Besides the recent shows of Poons and Bannard, we now have those of Helen Frankenthaler, Dan Christensen, & Kenneth Noland. The show of Jules Olitski at Paul Kasmin piggy-backs on another Kasmin show, so I’ll discuss it in a separate posting.  Read More 

For hardy souls who can face the rigors of mid-town Manhattan, I recommend two shows within two blocks of each other: “Dan Christensen: The Early Sprays, 1967-1969,” at Spanierman Modern, on East 58th Street, and “Jackson Pollock: A Centennial Exhibition,” at Jason McCoy, in the Fuller Building. But  Read More 

SCULPTURE: MANHATTAN

One of the most enjoyable shows on view in Manhattan at the moment is “William Tucker: Present and Past” at McKee (through October 13). The literature from the gallery emphasizes “Day” (2012), an 8-foot high, semi-abstract, terracotta-colored plaster horse’s head (destined, the artist hopes, to be cast in bronze). Pictured on the  Read More