Exactly one week ago I was grabbing yet another cup of coffee in Miami, wondering how I could get to all the fairs before my Sunday mid-morning flight. The answer, of course, was I couldn�t. I saw a stunning number of good paintings by unfamiliar artists from all over the country, and left feeling as though I�d missed truckloads more. Most of the galleries couldn�t have been more gracious and helpful, especially at Aqua, Aqua Wynwood, and the spunky upstart Fountain. Thanks also go to Flow organizer Matt Garson who invited the first annual Art Blogger Miami Beach cohort to convene during the Curators’ Brunch in the Flow lobby. If you didn�t make the fairs this year, plan to go in 2008 (book your room now) because most of the Miami fairs are all about painting. To see jpeg proof, check out Joanne Mattera�s art blog and Kriston Capps� Flickr page. Once I get the experience in perspective, I’ll craft a longer essay that may run in the February edition of The Brooklyn Rail, where I’ve signed on to be a regular contributor. Admittedly, all the fairs are mainly about commerce and volume rather than a refined aesthetic, and seeing a recent Ellsworth Kelly hanging in Matthew Marks’ crowded booth was mildly disturbing (I kept wondering if EK, notoriously particular about how his art is installed, knew one of his paintings was hanging in a cubicle), but overall I came away energized, with many ideas for future projects.
Award-winning blogazine, primarily about painting
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
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Hudson Valley Selected Gallery Guide: Dec 2023
Jack Shainman Gallery, The School: Meleko Mokgosi, Spaces of Subjection, Parts 1 to 5 Check... -
Charles LeDray: Securing memory
Contributed by Barbara A. MacAdam / In his solo show “Shiner” at Peter Freeman, Inc.,... -
Nancy Davidson’s wandering carnival
Contributed by Fintan Boyle / A sense of serious satire has pervaded Nancy Davidson’s work... -
The evolution of Justine Hill
Contributed by Riad Miah / It is a pleasure to watch an artist evolve and... -
Stockholm exchange
Contributed by Kasper Nihlmark / During a two-week trip to New York City from my... -
Hannah Antalek’s crystal ball: Magical and disconcerting
Contributed by Heather Drayzen / “Superseed,” Hannah Antalek’s debut NYC solo exhibition at 5-50 gallery... -
Daniel Giordano’s sculpture: Memory fueled, magically sprouting
Contributed by Kari Adelaide Razdow / Daniel Giordano's sculptures, some of them currently on view... -
Stephen Whisler: Smoke signals
Contributed by Natasha Sweeten / In Stephen Whisler’s solo show “Past is Prologue” at 325... -
Ann Craven’s wistful nighttime tales
Contributed by Natasha Sweeten / As children, we learn that nighttime is for hushed voices,... -
Stockholm’s art scene: Gracefully forward
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / A sense of continuity and integration permeates Stockholm’s grand state... -
An Italian American colloquy with Joanne Mattera and John Avelluto
On the occasion of “A Legacy of Making: 21 Contemporary Italian American Artists,” a sprawling... -
Holly Miller’s transatlantic sensibility
Contributed by Leslie Wayne / If you meet Holly Miller on the street, you will...
Two Coats Obituaries
- The Blind Swimmer: Gordon Grant Fraser (December 2, 1975 – November 1, 2020) September 28, 2023Two Coats of Paint has recently learned of the death of Gordon Fraser, a talented artist and art blogger who penned The Blind Swimmer, of a heart attack after undergoing a series of treatments for colon cancer.
Two Coats on Instagram
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Today is the day! Thanks @labspace_art for all you do 🎁Posted @withregram • @labspace_art HOLIDAY OPENS TODAY 1-5PM! 🎉
2-Day Opening Celebration begins in 30 minutes! 🏃🏻♀️
Saturday November 25 + Sunday November 26th, 1-5pm both days❣️
We have pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from @cookandlarder 🍪 and we can’t wait to celebrate this incredible show with you
HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL 365 ARTISTS FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL WORK ❤️
See you here SOON! 🎊
Inquiries: julielabspace@gmail.com
Exhibition checklist coming soon!
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HOLIDAY
annual exhibition of small, affordable work from 365 artists
2-Day Opening Celebration: Today + Tomorrow, Saturday November 25 + Sunday November 26th, 1-5pm both days🥂
On view Saturdays + Sundays 1-5pm through February 11
@labspace_art
2642 Route 23 Hillsdale NY
17 miles east of Hudson NY
17 miles north of Millerton NY
11 miles west of Great Barrington MA
#labspaceart #holidayatlabspace @heyhillsdaleny #heyhillsdaleny #hillsdale #hillsdaleny #hudsonvalleyart #hudsonvalleygallery #hudsonvalleyny #columbiacountyny #hudsonvalleyartists #pioneervalleyartists #berkshireartists #connecticutartists #massachusettsartists #newyorkartists
Latest post, link in profile / Hannah Antalek’s crystal ball: Magical and disconcerting / Contributed by Heather Drayzen / “Superseed,” Hannah Antalek’s debut NYC solo exhibition at 5-50 gallery in Long Island City, draws on our species’ overall apathy about the environment. A surreal, dream-like sensibility informs a bio-luminescent vision of nature, cumulatively derived from dioramas she constructs from recyclable materials. She pulls us into a magical but also disconcerting world. Link in profile
Image: Hannah Antalek, Perpetual Aurora, 2023, oil on canvas, 32 x 24 inches
@hannah_antalek @heatherdrayzen @550gallery #licgallery @twocoatsofpaint #superseed
Latest post, link in profile / Nancy Davidson’s wandering carnival / Contributed by Fintan Boyle / A sense of serious satire has pervaded Nancy Davidson’s work for years, and it is on prominent display in her show “Braids Eggs and Legs: A Wandering,” installed in two large galleries at Catskill Art Space alongside Matt Nolen’s work. Davidson has long been a fan of morselized language and sundered bodies, which in theory would make her work fertile ground for the psychoanalytically inclined. Yet here she elides the sexual menace and violence that, say, Melanie Klein offers. Instead, she wanders, as her title announces. Link in profile
Image: Nancy Davidson, Eyeenvy, 2017, Catskill Art Space, Photo Credit: Therri Gourjon
@nancydavidsonnyc #fintanboyle @catskillartspace #upstateart #inflatableart #nancydavidson @twocoatsofpaint
OPEN CALL! Apply today for NYC Crit Club`s Plum Lime Residency / Winter 2024 ❄️⏰ / Guest Juror: Paddy Johnson
Founder of VVrkshop
The Plum Lime Residency will grant one artist a free 550 sq. ft. private studio space for 5 weeks (January 15 - February 17, 2024) this winter in Bushwick (Brooklyn)!
Application Period:
November 1 - 26, 2023
Nov. 1 - 13 ($20 application fee)
Nov. 14 - 26 ($25 application fee)
@nyccritclub @plum_lime_artist_residency
@vvrkshop.art @artfcity
#bushwickartist #nycartists #artistsresidency #twocoatssponsor
Image: PLR Studio during Ray Hwang’s residency @rayhwangart
Latest post, link in profile / Interview: Holly Miller’s transatlantic sensibility / Contributed by Leslie Wayne / If you meet Holly Miller on the street, you will encounter a warm, exuberant, emotionally expressive, and funny person who immediately pulls you into her space. You would not expect her art to be highly controlled, minimal, and geometric. Yet she has built her career on paintings that are just that – slightly irregular geometric shapes, flatly painted and intersected by lines sewn with thread. But Miller is now at a crossroads and her work is suddenly exploding outward, making room for new materials, chance encounters, and unpredictable forms. Perhaps, as with many artists, COVID has had something to do with this shift. Life seems a little more precious these days, and taking new aesthetic chances is a small way of asserting courage in the face of the unknown. Link in profile
Image: Holly Miller, Radiant, 2023
@wayneporcaro @hollymiller.art @magazzino #hollymiller @svamfafinearts #parisartists #twocoatsofpaint @twocoatsofpaint #artepovera
Latest post, link in profile / The evolution of Justine Hill / Contributed by Riad Miah / It is a pleasure to watch an artist evolve and see surprising changes, as in the case of Justine Hill with her current exhibition “Omphalos” at Dimin Gallery. Over the course of four solos, elements of her work have remained consistent. These include the cut-out shapes that jostle to fit together, and the color that complements (or contradicts) abutting forms. Hill’s earlier work has been likened to the masterful Elizabeth Murray’s. The comparison was apt enough insofar as she, like Murray, worked on irregularly shaped canvases, but it didn’t seem to go much deeper than that until now. Link in profile
Image: Justine Hill, Bend 2, 2023, acrylic, pastel, oil stick, and paper on canvas, 67 x 69 inches
@riad_miah @jteenhill @dimin.nyc #contemporarypainting #twocoatsofpaint @twocoatsofpaint
Latest post, link in profile / Katherine Bradford: Heaven on Earth / Contributed by Rick Briggs / To one growing up Catholic, heaven and hell were in no way, shape, or form mere metaphors for possible destinations in the afterlife. They were very real places to spend all eternity, either heavenly salvation or eternal damnation. Forty years ago, Katherine Bradford proposed an exhibition to Chris Martin and me titled “3 Catholics.” While it never took place, the idea was to gather three lapsed Catholics who shared that particular cultural grounding and also similar painting values, and who were all now earnestly in pursuit of our new religion – Painting. This memory came wafting back to me the morning after viewing “Arms and the Sea,” Bradford’s solo show of remarkable new paintings at Canada. Link in profile
Image: Katherine Bradford, Swimmers Under Pink Sky, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 68 inches
@kathebradford @ricbriggs @canada.nyc @twocoatsofpaint #swimmingpainting #nightpainting @chrismartin764
Latest post, link in profile / Contributed by Kasper Nihlmark / During a two-week trip to New York City from my native Sweden, I had the chance to catch a glimpse of the city’s art scene firsthand. Link in profile
images: At the Faurschou Gallery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, solo exhibitions of the work of Donna Huanca and Tracey Emin (images are tagged)
@kaspernihlmark @traceyeminstudio @noguchimuseum #NovaMihaiPopa @faurschou_ #prattsculpturegarden @whitneymuseum @ruthasawaofficial @happyishenry @ruaminx
Latest post, link in profile / Ann Craven’s wistful nighttime tales / Contributed by Natasha Sweeten / As children, we learn that nighttime is for hushed voices, unlit rooms, and the chance to briefly disappear into our dreams. In her latest show “Night” at Karma, Ann Craven fully embraces the enchantment of the wee hours. Her paintings, swathed in darkness, capture quiet moments, and the imagery could easily have been conjured from bedtime stories. Yet they’re not all warm and fuzzy. Link in profile
@ann_craven @anncravenstudio @karmakarma9 @karmabookstore @natashasweeten @twocoatsofpaint #twocoatsofpaint
Art that caught my eye in the neighborhood on my lunch break this afternoon: @jennylynnmcnutt and @kathygoodellart in #anthroshift curated by @anitatrombetta and @charborg @ny_studioschool project space / @jennifer.mccandless @airgallery “Soggy Pile of Silver Linings” 2023, ceramics / saw Michael Brennan’s shimmering “Floating weeds” paintings @minus_space , too, but we posted that yesterday :)
Images are tagged.
@art_dumbo #artindumbo #artatlunch @hopfroggowanus
Swimming! @colinbrant724 @platformprojectspace and @kathebradford @canada.nyc
#colinbrant #katherinebradford #swimming #waterpaintings
Latest post, link in profile / Michael Brennan’s moving images / Two Coats of Paint invited painter Kim Uchiyama to sit down with Michael Brennan to discuss “Floating Weeds,” Brennan’s fourth solo show at Minus Space. In their wide-ranging conversation, they discuss Japanese film, Russell Lee’s photographs, Charles Olson’s poetry, Venetian lagoons, architect Carlo Scarpa, Homer, and more. Link in profile
@hopfroggowanus @kimuchiyama @minus_space @twocoatsofpaint #michaelbrennan #minusspace #kimuchiyama #abstractpainting @art_dumbo
Latest post, link in profile / An Italian American colloquy with Joanne Mattera and John Avelluto / On the occasion of “A Legacy of Making: 21 Contemporary Italian American Artists,” a sprawling group show on view at the Calandra Institute through January 12, 2024, Two Coats of Paint invited John Avelluto, one of the artists in the show, and Joanne Mattera, the mastermind behind the whole project, which began as an online exhibition called “Italianità,” to talk about growing up in Italian families, and how the experience shaped their lives and their work. Link in profile
@johnavelluto @joannemattera @calandra_institute #italianamericanartists #artistsconversation
Latest post, link in profile / The uppercrust on display in “Wave Pattern” / Contributed by Jacob Patrick Brooks / The lofts of downtown New York occupy a special place in American art history. They functioned most importantly as incubators for Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s, eventually giving way to the galleries of the 1980s and 1990s. Today, the spaces once occupied by Barbara Gladstone, Pat Hearn, and Willem de Kooning have been replaced with Uniqlo, Nike, and expansive apartments for the super wealthy. In “Wave Pattern,” a downtown apartment show on the sixth floor of an unassuming Broadway building, art world scions Dylan Brant and Max Werner provide some relief from this cluttered, big-box nightmare.
@worldsstrongestpainter @disdylan1 #maxwerner #wavepattern
Walk: Start uptown, walk down Madison Avenue. When you get near Madison Square Park, stop at @project.artspace (99 Madison), and @tenberke_architects (41 Madison). Both have interesting shows, although you have to take the elevator to get there, but, as the leaves fall, you’ll get to see @pepestudionyc installation in @madsqparknyc from the floors above. Cut through the park to 23rd Street to catch the F train, and study the @williamwegman mosaics while you wait for your ride. Unless it’s Monday, you can stop at the @themorganlibrary, too (225 Madison) and see “Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality” (opens NOV 10)…which reminds me that the Two Coats of Paint Year-end Fundraising Campaign is underway — a link to contribute is in the profile!
TenBerke Artist Project:
Emily Berger, “Chorus,” essay by @karenwilkin3 @eberger90 (send a message to @jennifer_lucia to let them know you will be stopping by)
Project Artspace:
Fundamental, new works by artists Anne Carnein, Chris Duncan and Felicia Glidden.
@annecarneinstudio @_chrisduncanart @frglidden
@madsqparknyc Sheila Pepe installation peeks the rough the leaves from @tenberke_architects (on the 17th floor)
William Wegman mosaic detail at 23rd street F stop.
Images are tagged.
