Monday, May 25, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Moore/Witmer
Gordon Moore
One of the artists whose work I really enjoyed seeing during a quick round of art in Chelsea.Untitled, 2007, Latex, ink, pumice on canvas, 90” x 66”
More of his work can be seen on Artnet.
(photo via Douglas Witmer.com)
I also got over to the Painting Center to see Douglas Witmer's show, Field + Stream. The space was small, but the work looked good in it. For me, the color bars floating in a sea of grey washes lent the work something of a sense of place, or a glimpse of memories of some place or time. The tension of color edge to painting edge along with the bold colors sitting in seas of beautiful greys gave these pieces a kind of energy that you might not notice unless you spent some time looking. Also, Witmer allowed the gesso to roam free of brushwork and just flow down the surfaces in some of the pieces. Some of the resulting uncolored edges seemed to disappear and gave some of the works an added illusion of floating, depending on the angle at which the works were viewed.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
long hall
Long Hall
10:55pm.
The late hour makes this a desolate stretch of the subway concourse between 13th and Market and City Hall.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Johnathan Jones and critics
Today I think there is an opportunity for critics again - and a need. The sheer volume and range of art that we're fed in a culture obsessed with galleries is so vast and confusing that a critic can get stuck in and make a difference. It really is time to stand up for what is good against what is meretricious. And it really is possible to find examples of excellence as well as stupidity. In other words, this is a great time to be a critic - to try to show people what really matters.
Quote from Johnathan Jones in a blog entry for the Guardian. Full text here: What is the point of art criticsm?
There are some valid points in Jone's entry regarding the seeming lack of strong critical voices today. However, the responses from readers bring up a ton of other issues and deserve some time spent on them, as well.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Hrag Vartanian on Jerry Saltz’s “This is the End…”
This overfed, over-monied art world, Saltz explained, was a self-replicating machine: people think that "the art market is so smart that it only buys the best work...[but in reality]...the art market is so dumb that it buys anything other people are buying." This has led to the dominance of very few styles and of four artists in particular: Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, and Richard Prince, of whom Saltz proceeded to offer up his frank opinions. "Hirst’s art," he said, "looked good with people around it. In an empty gallery, not so much."
-Part of Hrag Vartanian's report on a recent lecture by Jerry Saltz.
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