For readers like me who are drawn to dopey famous-people-who-paint stories, The Observer’s Casper Llewellyn Smith points out five painter/rockers today.
Marilyn Manson The controversial goth rocker paints disturbing watercolours. His first show, The Golden Age of Grotesque, was held in Los Angeles in 2002 and was likened by one critic to the works of a ‘psychiatric patient given materials to use as therapy’.
Ron Wood The Rolling Stone studied at Ealing Art College and often paints portraits of famous people. Art critic Brian Sewell called him ‘an accomplished and respectable artist’, and The South Bank Show devoted a show to his work.
Paul Simonon Another art school alumnus, Simonon kept on painting after he became the bassist for the Clash, but stopped after the band made it big. He is now a respected painter of London landscapes.
Joni Mitchell The singer-songwriter says that she is ‘a painter first, and a musician second‘, and has been working and exhibiting since the Sixties.
John Squire The Stone Roses guitarist has been heavily influenced by Jackson Pollock’s action paintings and his most famous work appeared on the cover of the band’s eponymous debut album. Read more.
Award-winning blogazine, primarily about painting
Thursday, June 1, 2023
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Donna Dennis’ extraordinary invitation
Contributed by Iris Cushing / Donna Dennis is an artist of transition and transformation. Her... -
Chakaia Booker’s lyrical muscle
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / Making deeper sense of some abstract art past its initial... -
Conversation: Bob Szantyr and Valery Jung (정) Estabrook
Two Coats of Paint has had an eye on Bob Szantyr since discovering his compellingly... -
Triangulating David Hammons: The Melt Goes On Forever
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / Getting an authoritative grip on a conceptual artist as elusive... -
Ernst Caramelle: Look closely
Contributed by Marjorie Welish / As faithful to his subject as he is charming in... -
Ethel Schwabacher: Canon-adjacent?
Contributed by David Carrier / Revisionist arguments about who should be counted among the artistic... -
Jan Dickey: Both sides now
Contributed by Heather Drayzen / “Passing Through,” the title of Jan Dickey’s solo exhibition at... -
Jennifer J. Lee’s ghostly familiarity
Contributed by Kyle Hittmeier / Jennifer J. Lee’s reactivation of shelved digital images through painting... -
Bushwick: Cause-and-effect at M. David & Co.
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / Fifteen years ago, Jason Andrew was one of relatively few... -
Kyle Dunn’s shadowy exuberance
Contributed by by Margaret McCann / The theme of nocturnal interiors in Kyle Dunn’s solo... -
Savoring medium-rare painting at Subtitled NYC
Contributed by Zach Seeger / The group exhibit “Medium Rare” – on display at Subtitled... -
Mie Yim: Hazardous and barely fictional
Contributed by Clare Gemima / Painter Mie Yim evidently can't quite understand how exciting she...
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Latest post, link in profile / Donna Dennis’ extraordinary invitation / Contributed by Iris Cushing / Donna Dennis is an artist of transition and transformation. Her architectural installations – which she pioneered in the 1960s and has continued to develop – often take the shape of transitory sites: subway stations, hotels, tourist cabins, and, in the case of her show “Ship/Dock/Three Houses and a Night Sky” at Private Public Gallery in Hudson, a loading dock. Like much of Dennis’ work, this installation draws on her experience and observation of vernacular spaces. Link in profile
@donnadennisstudio @Irismarble @privatepublicgalleryhudson #vernacularspaces #hudsongallery
Joshua Nierodzinski / HOW IT STARTED, HOW IT’S GOING / On view at @contextspacebk through June 11 / Artist talk and brunch on Sat, June 3, 11am -1 pm
"Context is pleased to announce the opening of HOW IT STARTED, HOW IT’S GOING, the first solo exhibition in New York City by artist Joshua Nierodzinski. Curated as a retrospective, the presentation spans a decade exploring the forensic imagination through drawings on microscopic slides, videos, and multi-layered photosensitive painting. It is accompanied by a publication with essays by the artist and Sam O’Hana, a performance and research-led practitioner in critical and lyrical writing."
Joshua Nierodzinski (b.1982) is an artist who merges painting and forensic photography to address personal and national histories. He is a co-founder of HEKLER, a transnational artist-run platform that fosters the critical and experimental examination of hospitality and conflict. Selected awards include the National Endowment for the Arts Grant, an artist-in-residence at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation, and the Wassaic Artist Residency. Joshua is a recent AIM Bronx Museum Fellow and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Context Art Space
948 Third Ave., 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, NY
Wednesday – Saturday 11am – 6pm
@jnierodzinski @contextspacebk #samohana #wassaicproject #samandadelegoldenfoundation #contemporarypainting #bronxmuseumaimfellowship #josefanniealbers #twocoatssponsor
I saw Alicia Feng’s haunting and beautiful graphite drawings at Sunnyside Arts the other day when I popped in to buy a tube of paint. Director Ed Kim tells me that she pens well known graphic novels under a different name.
@sunnysideartsnyc #artsupplies #artstore #drawings #graphite
Latest post, link in profile / Chakaia Booker’s lyrical muscle / Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / Making deeper sense of some abstract art past its initial visual impact can require extended consideration. Not so much Chakaia Booker’s sculpture, now on view in her solo show “Public Opinion” at David Nolan Gallery. Composed predominantly of exactingly configured pieces of black rubber tires along with wood and metal, the work immediately grips you like a confident advocate, calm and insistent. Link in profile
@chakaiabooker @davidnolangallery #jonathanstevenson #twocoatsofpaint
Jim Condron has put together a lovable show of crazy sculptures he made using things sourced from other artists and writers. One piece includes a pair of pink crocs — Grace Hartigan’s last painting shoes — and I was reminded of a Rachel Harrison piece I saw this winter @glenstonemuseum . Kind of heartbreaking that Hartigan’s shoes don’t have more paint on them. Swipe for images
Jim Condron: Collected Things
Sculptures from the Collected Items of Artists, Writers and Thinkers
On view through June 17 @artcake_nyc (but closed for Memorial Day Weekend)
Image info:
Grace Hartigan’s Things, 2023
Crocs shoes, paint stick, pillow, steel
antique chair, steel
35 x 45 x35 inches
In the Glenstone collection:
Rachel Harrison, Sculpture with Boots, 2017
wood, polystyrene, chicken wire, cardboard, burlap, cement, acrylic, steel, and pigmented inkjet print
93 x 60 x 46 inches (236 x 152 x 116 cm)
© Rachel Harrison
Rachel Harrison, Sculpture with Boots (detail)
@jimcondron #gracehartigan #leekrasner @pollockkrasnerfoundation #rachelharrison #paintersshoes
(I gave Jim a few coffee pots from my favorite hometown thrift shop —the only store I’ve ever loved. Go see what he did with them ☕️)
On the UES yesterday I stopped in to see Andrea Marie Breiling’s solo
“Swallowtail” at @alminerech. In the press release the artist says that the paintings are like the swallowtail butterflies in that the closer you get to the work, the more the surface begins to reveal its details, but honestly the details don’t really seem important, overwhelmed as they are by the brash color, the mesmerizing circular action of the mark making, and the mural-sized scale. Natural wonder doesn’t stand a chance next to Breiling’s industrial strength vision, but maybe that’s the point. Love the illusion of depth and the sense of light. On view through June 10.
@alminerech @andrea_marie_breiling #futurism #contemporarypainting #LAPainting #LAArtist
Latest post, link in profile / Ethel Schwabacher: Canon-adjacent? / Contributed by David Carrier / Revisionist arguments about who should be counted among the artistic elite, whether they be old masters or modernists, provide essential stimulus in the art world. They proceed in an established manner. Some reasonably influential figure contends that a significant artist has been unjustly excluded from a particular art canon. Commentaries are published and shows organized making the case for supplementing it. The recent amendments to the predominantly white male Abstract Expressionist elite have proven especially tricky, as issues of gender and race enter the picture. Does Alma Thomas belong? Norman Lewis? What about Ethel Schwabacher? With “Woman in Nature (Paintings from the 1950s)”, Berry and Campbell argue energetically, though not entirely convincingly, that she deserves a place. Link in profile
#davidcarrier #ethelschwabacher @berrycampbell #womenpainters #1950spainting #abstractexpressionism @carrier3909 #twocoatsofpaint
Spread across two floors at Magenta Plains, Jennifer Bolande’s solo, “Persistence of Vision” is as compelling as it is enigmatic. Downstairs, Bolande captures images of fragmented scenes and objects (perhaps from dusty road trips in an old muscle car?), a series of moments that manifest deeper meaning. The work upstairs focuses on the handmade. Rachel Kushner, are you out there? Through June 17.
@magentaplains #jenniferbolande #rachelkushner #lesgalleries #magentaplains #persistenceofvision #contemporaryphotography #plastersculpture
This afternoon I spent some time @platformprojectspace talking with artist (and curator for this show) @franklinevansart and gallery director @elizabethhazan during the last day for “Philosophicalinvestigations” a lovable group show that included faded images of exhibitions past and work by artists who are showing for the first time in the space. It has been a glorious celebration of Platform’s first five years 🎉😀🏆 Congratulations Elizabeth and Franklin. Great show.
#philosophicalinvestigations #franklinevans #elizabethhazan #platformprojectspace
Oh, and don’t forget Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, both of Sonic Youth. Gordon’s been involved in the arts for quite a long time actually, and I even think she has a show right now!
There’s also Richard Butler of the Psychadelic Furs.