Art
Clusters of Loose Geometries in Conceptual "Thought Drawings"
Roberta Allen's gentleness and sweet humor keep this exhibition free of the high seriousness that can make some conceptual art so dry and off-putting.
John Seed
Art
The Early Life of Bruce Conner and His Rat Bastard Bohemia
To say that Conner was an outsider who also wanted to belong is to barely scratch the surface of his paradoxical persona.
Art
Some Doritos with Your Goya? Old Master Still Lifes Get an Update
With a bit too much time on my hands and a subscription to Adobe Photoshop I have been playing with an idea: what will happen to traditional still life paintings when elements from contemporary life are grafted into them?
Art
The Artist Statements of the Old Masters
“If the great European artists of the past were alive today, what kinds of statements would they need to write to explain and justify their work?”
Art
China’s Young Postmodern, Post-Mao Artists
LOS ANGELES — Jin Shan was 12 when the student-led Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 rocked China, eliciting a brutal and unprecedented military response.
Interview
A Painter Who Cuts Up Figures with "Knife-Edge Stuff"
After beginning his career as a social “insider” who painted the upper echelons of British society, Justin Mortimer relaunched himself by painting dark, difficult, and disjointed works.
Art
John Currin’s Silly Porn-Inspired Portraits Somehow Work
LOS ANGELES — John Currin’s bizarre vignettes of feminine allure are bound to arouse some rather rich and complicated feelings in the viewer, and that is a good thing.
Art
The Best Way to Collect Contemporary Art: Patiently and Passionately
When art and commerce mix, a certain level of mania is inevitable: it’s what you get when passion and pragmatism collide.
Books
The Original Renaissance Man and His Brain
LOS ANGELES — As he raced against cancer to finish his fourth and final book, Leonardo’s Brain, author/inventor/surgeon Leonard Shlain was motivated by the possibility that his manuscript-in-progress might help answer a very vital question: How can mankind achieve a more creative and peaceful future
Books
Contemporary Art's Body Language
The Figure: Painting Drawing and Sculpture, Contemporary Perspectives has the look of a high-end coffee table decoration, but don’t judge this book just by its Martha Mayer Erlebacher cover.
Art
Not at the New York Galleries
For your reading pleasure: six short reviews of nonexistent shows, none of which are actually on view in New York this week.
Interview
The Immoveable Feasts of French Modernism
LOS ANGELES — In 1988 Jed Perl, a critic in his mid-thirties who had written for Vogue, Art in America, and The New Criterion, published his first book: Paris Without End: On French Art Since World War I.