What’s difficult, perhaps impossible, to show in art is the experience of what passes beyond all comprehension.
David Carrier
David Carrier’s most recent books are Art Writing Online: The State of the Art World and Philosophical Skepticism as the Subject of Art: Maria Bussmann’s Drawings. His book In Caravaggio’s Shadow: Naples as a Work of Art is forthcoming.
Posted inArt
The Magnificent Abstractions of Alma Thomas
Thomas was a major artist who in her lifetime was unjustly denied the acclaim she merited. This show is a brave beginning.
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The Transcendent Power of Black in Norman Lewis’s Abstractions
For Lewis, a first-generation Abstract Expressionist, working with black seemed to open up his art.
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A Philosopher-Painter for Troubled Times
Judith Bernstein is a great artist whose boldly original paintings forcefully respond to the troubled life of our present culture.
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Rethinking Kandinsky
The problem with many of Kandinsky’s abstractions is that they don’t offer enough immediate visual information to “crack” his expressive code for color and form.
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Does A Pairing With Warhol Do Marisol Any Favors?
Does an attempt to lift up the art of Marisol backfire?
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Ron Gorchov’s Art of the Here and Now
Gorchov is an artist whose best pieces are purely aesthetic and totally present, here and now.
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How War Shaped Afghanistan’s Weaving Traditions
With Afghanistan’s “war rugs” a traditional art form was updated in response to the country’s brutal invasions by other nations.
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Tomashi Jackson Rediscovers Long Island’s Beleaguered Past
Jackson’s exhibition The Land Claim began an extensive dialogue with local Indigenous, Black, and Latinx families on Long Island’s East End.
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In Henry Taylor’s Paintings, the Past Bleeds Into the Present
Taylor’s paintings emphasize that golf and horse racing, though once exclusively activities for privileged white men, depended on the support of men who were almost invariably Black.
Posted inBooks
A Deep Dive Into Walter Benjamin
The Benjamin Files by Fredric Jameson explains everything by reference to everything else, in a way that often makes the narrative all but impenetrable.
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A Tattoo Artist’s History of Tattoos
TATTOO: 1730s-1970s. Henk Schiffmacher’s Private Collection is strong on the presentation of images, but says very little about their meaning.