ShareI FIRST SAW JOSEPH HASKE’S PAINTING nine years ago at Sears Payton in New York. I have been following his exhibitions ever since. The simplicity of his imagery, conveyed through richly developed surfaces, apppealed to me. Surface quality is, quite possibly, the most difficult aspect of painting. Here was a painter who had husbanded his [...]
Tag Archive 'Maureen Mullarkey'
American Qur’an
Posted in Art, Culture Cues on Sep 11th, 2010
ShareIT IS HARD, SOMETIMES, to know whether to cry or curse. Cursing satisfies the soul but a heart-felt expletive is better when it is blurted out loud. It just does not look right in print. A good curse deserves to be said in full, not weakened with bowdlerizing fig leaves: @#$!%!! Besides, there really are [...]
One Artist in Search of a Theory
Posted in Art Education, Artistic Identity, Culture Cues, Things to Read on Sep 10th, 2010
ShareA reader sent me this listing posted yesterday on Craigslist. It came with the simple word “Yikes!” That is about as eloquent as you can get over a post that is almost too forlorn for words. The listing appeared, appropriately enough, all in lower case. Diminished punctuation suits the pathos of the quest:
performance artist looking [...]
On Labor Day
Posted in Art, Art Education, Artistic Identity, Culture Cues, Things to Read on Sep 6th, 2010
ShareTHIS IS A SOBERING LABOR DAY. We have seen the employment statistics. Somewhere under the rubble of numbers are artists—semi-employed, underemployed—supporting themselves with every imaginable odd job: a part-time adjunctcy here, another there; waiting tables; house painting; dog walking; carpentry—you name it. Yet institutions of so-called higher learning, keep turning out M.F.A. candidates on the [...]
No More Nice Girls
Posted in Art, Artistic Identity, Drawing on Aug 27th, 2010
ShareIN HER 2010 MONOGRAPH ON HANNAH WILKE, Nancy Princenthal writes this:
. . . . throughout her graphic oeuvre, the issue of beauty is as central as it is in her photographic self-portraits.
She might really believe that. Nevertheless, Princenthal’s comment is indivisible from the abuse of language that constitutes so much contemporary art writing. It can [...]
Art & Money
Posted in Art, Culture Cues, Things to Read on Aug 24th, 2010
ShareHERE I SIT WITH A HORRID LITTLE BOOK. Well, not so little at 300 pages but definitely unlikeable. Fine Art and High Finance by one Clare McAndrew was published this year by Bloomberg Press [yes, that Bloomberg]. Subtitled Expert Advice on the Economics of Ownership, it is a handbook on the global art trade meant [...]
CalArts Graduating Class, 2010
Posted in Art, Art Education on Aug 12th, 2010
ShareIS THERE A VACCINE FOR ART INTOLERANCE? If so, please tell me where to get it.
At the beginning of the summer CalArts announced its exhibition of work by this year’s crop of MFA grads. This next wave of artistic talent washed over downtown Los Angeles’ Chinatown from July 2nd through July 9th at six participating [...]
Linda Weintraub & The Artificial Self
Posted in Art, Artistic Identity, Culture Cues on Jul 24th, 2010
SharePLEASE, NO MORE COMPLAINTS. Several readers have complained that the previous post, “The Artificial Artistic Self,” was unkind to Jane Culp. No, I do not think so. There is no reason to talk about art and artists with any greater delicacy than we use in talking about politics and politicians. Our only obligation is to [...]
The Artificial Artistic Self
Posted in Art on Jul 21st, 2010
ShareJANE CULP IS THE WIDOW of painter Louis Finkelstein (d. 2000). He was a widower himself when they married. His first wife, painter Gretna Campbell died in 1987. Culp’s own painting carries echoes of both her husband and her predecessor. Louis’ fracturing of form and well-known admiration for Cezanne is visible in her landscapes and [...]
New York in Paint
Posted in Art on Jul 15th, 2010
SharePOPULAR APPRECIATION OF LANDSCAPE hinges on the romance of a good view. By contrast, the scenery of urban infrastructures—the natural setting of urban artists—is more challenging.
Even middling painters can produce attractive pictures of beautiful places. It takes more robust sensibilities to seek order and grace in city sights readily ignored. Easy pleasure is not available. [...]