I was really surprised by the survey of Jack Tworkov's work at UBS Gallery and I just had to write about it. Tworkov is almost more like a European artist than an American one. His focus is on intellectual engagement as much as egoistic triumph. It's rare for painters here to write and think about art as eloquently as they create it, but Tworkov certainly shines as an exception that proves the rule. This show is a must-see....
Catherine Kehoe has surveyed contemporary painters about what colors are in their palettes, as well as how they're arranged and what brushes and mediums are used. Ever wonder what colors Paul Cezanne used? How about Christopher Chippendale, Susanna Coffey, Lois Dodd, John Dubrow, Emily Eveleth, Janet Fish, Alex Kanevsky, Catherine Kehoe, David Kelley, Ken Kewley, Dik F. Liu, Nancy McCarthy, George Nick, Richard Raiselis, and Hal Reddicliffe? There's a lot of provocative information here. Who knew so many people loved Winsor Newton?...
I've put up my latest review at Examiner.com: a look at Carol Bove's "Plants & Mammals" show at the Horticultural Society of New York. I'm usually a fan of luscious materials and sensual, highly-worked surfaces, which Bove flirts with but never in an overt or focused way. She's doing something special and compelling, and it will keep your brain rolling around issues of surface....
I've got a new gig writing art pieces for Examiner.com. Even though it literally pays in pennies, I'm hoping it will be a good way for me to focus my thinking about art and be more active in seeking out new shows I wouldn't ordinarily see. My first review is of PLOT/09 at Governors Island. Read it and favorite me and I might be able to start leaving change for tips at the coffee shop....
Roger White and Dushko Petrovich, co-authors of the new pamphlet "I Like Your Work: Art and Etiquette" appeared on the Brian Lehrer show on WYNC to talk about the dos and don'ts of art world behavior. Listen to the whole interview embedded below. This is good anthropology of communal behavior in a place where honesty is seldom prized but importance is always sought-after. The best part of the interview is when a listener asks what his response should've been after a friend shit onto a piece of paper at an art opening and then afterwards asked "What did you think?"...
Jennifer came across this passage in Peter J. Conradi's biography of English author and philosopher Iris Murdoch that reminded me of Matisse's notorious comparison between art and a comfortable armchair. In a dialogue by Murdoch, Plato and Socrates argue about the meaning of art. Plato says art is an evasion, that it prevents people from confronting the gods. Socrates answers: You say art consoles us and prevents us from taking the final step ... It may be that human beings can only achieve second best, that second best is our best ... Homer is imperfect. Science is imperfect ... our truth must include, must embrace the idea of the second-best, that all our thought will be incomplete and all our art tainted with selfishness. This doesn't mean there is no difference between the good and the bad in what we achieve. And it doesn't mean not trying. It means trying in a humble modest truthful spirit. This is our truth ... It may even be that ... good art tells us more truth about our lives and our world than any other kind of thinking or speculation -- it certainly speaks to more people. And perhaps the language of art...
