Art
The New Old Logic of Abstraction
The great thing about the outgrowth of exhibitions showcasing and examining emerging contemporary abstract painting is that the novelty is starting to wear off.
Painting
Art
Simon Hantaï’s Discontent
In 1983, at the height of his career, Simon Hantaï (1922–2008), then sixty years old, decided to withdraw from the art scene and stop exhibiting his work, if not to stop painting altogether. He would not show again until 1998, a fifteen-year hiatus and self-imposed silence that echo with more force
Art
Some Thoughts on Clement Greenberg and His Legacy
In his introductory essay to Vitamin P, a survey of contemporary painting first published by Phaidon in 2002, the poet and critic Barry Schwabsky takes pains to point out the variety of stylistic positions available to a contemporary painter. In doing so, Schwabsky suggests that there is no single i
Art
Teaching a Robot to Paint
We're fascinated with robots doing human things, from Elektro chain-smoking its way through the 1939 World's Fair to the Turk automaton that was beating people at chess during the 18th and 19th centuries (there turned out to be a human hiding inside the latter, but still). Now a team at the Universi
News
Rijksmuseum Acquires One of the Earliest Landscapes of America
The Rijksmuseum has acquired one of the earliest depictions of America — a painting by Jan Mostaert from circa 1535 titled "Landscape with an Episode from the Conquest of America."
Art
Waste Not, Want Not: Phillip Allen’s Recent Paintings
DUBLIN — Phillip Allen is an English abstract painter in his mid-forties, whose interest in the material possibilities of his medium — ranging from felt tip pens to oil paint and enamel — informs nearly everything else. He would finish a felt tip pen drawing in one sitting, and then, using the drawi
Art
The Many Faces of Abstraction
Since painters of any stripe, be it abstract or figurative, no longer work around master narratives, trying to tackle one big issue, it’s common to see group shows of abstract painting arranged around particular interests or strategies a select group of artists may share.
Art
More Vibrant Tales of Obsolete Pigments
After our first installment of obsolete pigments, we had such a strong response that we realized we'd only hit the tip of the curious history of vanished colors.
Art
Too Big for His Pond: The Irish Abstract Painter John Cronin
DUBLIN — John Cronin, an abstract painter in his late 40s, who has been exhibiting his work regularly in Ireland since the late 1980s, was – for this viewer - a wonderful revelation. Little known in America, it was clear from the moment that I walked into the high-ceilinged gallery space that Cronin
Art
Painting on the Cusp: Abstraction of the 1980s
Before there were the New Casualists, there were the Provisional Painters, and before there were the Provisional Painters, there were the 1980s.
Art
The Colorful Stories of 5 Obsolete Art Pigments
The colors of art change not just with trends, but availability as well. For reasons of being incredibly poisonous, expensive, or just involving way too many snails, here are five pigments that have disappeared from art.
Art
The Unfashionably Late Modernism of Patrick Jones
DUBLIN — Patrick Jones, an English abstract artist now in his mid-60s, spent a considerable amount of time in America. After studying art in England, most notably at the Birmingham College of Art, he left to get his MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art. This was in the 1970s. While in Americ