“I can’t return to normal. I can’t watch the same life come back. The reptile must be stopped outright.”
Sharon Butler
Posted inArt
Instagram Cats
Sharon Butler’s new paintings based on iPad drawings are telling you, quite frankly, that surfaces matter.
Posted inArt
Philosophical Paintings that Bare Their Process
Most artists I know are aware of the painter Sharon Butler, not because she’s an overhyped art star, but because of her reputation as a serious, feet-on-the-ground, working artist.
Posted inArt
Reviewing the Responses to MoMA’s Divisive Painting Survey
As news of art fairs and Bjork took the spotlight earlier this month, I lingered on the Museum of Modern Art’s The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World, up through early April.
Posted inArt
The Pursuit of Art, 2013
Memories fade. That’s the one good reason, as far as I can see, to compile an end-of-year list. It’s sometimes startling to retrace what attracted my attention over the course of a year; it is also instructive to determine where such a miscellany of shows fits in with ongoing areas of interest, and which ones, in hindsight, merited the time it took to review them.
Posted inArt
When Paintings Come Apart: Sharon Butler on the Inside Out
Wandering through the Museum of Modern Art, I came across the gallery partially devoted to the work of Robert Rauschenberg. It was the first time I had been there since the iconic “Canyon” (1959) — the one with the stuffed bald eagle — was donated to the museum by the Ileana Sonnabend estate.
Posted inArt
GO Bushwick, Gowanus and Greenpoint: Artapalooza
I approached the massive GO Brooklyn open studios event, which was organized by the Brooklyn Museum, with some hesitation. I was unsure about the sinking feeling I had that the Brooklyn Museum may be trying to co-opt the borough’s massive visual arts scene in order to give it a much needed PR boost. Why did Brooklyn’s premiere fine arts museum need to consolidate this DIY tradition into open studio sprawl? Adding to my trepidation was the notion of checking-in and voting that made the whole affair seem more competitive and trendy.
Posted inArt
Talking Tech: A Report from the College Art Association Conference
LOS ANGELES — It’s just been the first two days at the College Art Association conference, and people are talking tech. Or maybe I’m just attending the tech-oriented panels. The first panel I sat on spoke on internationalizing the practice of art history. Immediately, it felt like the voice of God was speaking, until I realized it was a man on Skype.
Posted inOpinion
What Others Are Saying About #Rank
Earlier this month, I sent out a call for comments on #Rank, a project created by artists William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton, who were the masterminds behind #Class (Winkleman Gallery, February 2010).
The following are the responses we received from across the country and around the world. Some are by event participants, while others from observers (both in Miami and remotely). They represent various perspectives on#Rank (with minimal editing and in no particular order).
Also, tonight there is a post-Miami #Rank discussion (6-9pm) at Winkleman Gallery for those who would like to continue the discussion.
Posted inNews
Two Coats of Paint Launches Online Painting Channel
Seems like a simple idea, but writer, blogger, academic and artist Sharon Butler has put it into action. She tells us about her latest online project, “Suddenly it struck me: We need a TV channel about painting — so I decided to create one for Two Coats of Paint.” Her painting channel on Vimeo will select and post videos of all sorts related to the world of painting.
Posted inArt
Art Burn Report
If looking at art is fun, watching it burn is great. There’s something cathartic about attending an event dedicated to the destruction of art in the middle of the world’s largest art fair bacchanalia.
