“What makes a painting work or not work is something I don’t understand; it’s the mystical aspect of painting, which is part of its power.”
–Jacqueline Humphries in the summer issue of ArtNews
Quote of the day: Jacqueline Humphries
Award-winning blogazine, primarily about painting
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Most Popular
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Short story: Rescue Center [Elizabeth Scheer]
Contributed by Elizabeth Scheer / I first discovered the Rescue Center while walking idly on... -
Elisa D’Arrigo: Between the beautiful and the grotesque
Contributed by Kay Whitney / There is a fundamental paradox at work in Elisa D'Arrigo's... -
Arthouse Art House
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / The set-up of Vasilis Katsoupis’ slickly but somewhat facilely resonant... -
Confrontational color at Analog Diary
Contributed by Clare Gemima / Analog Diary’s group exhibition “Chromazones” – curated by Derek Eller,... -
Jo Baer: Space, position, and light
Contributed by David Carrier / Five smallish early Jo Baer paintings are on display in... -
Studio visit: Charles Clough’s audacious return to sculpture
Contributed by Jack Edson / A trip to Charles Clough’s studio, situated with his gallery... -
Ed Ruscha’s retro spective
Contributed by Laurie Fendrich / The work of the Los Angeles artist Ed Ruscha is... -
Part 2: On “negative criticism”
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / It’s tempting to lament the demise of the takedown review.... -
Hudson Valley Selected Gallery Guide: September, 2023
Don't miss the last few days to see "The Summer Disaster Show," a big group... -
The real deal: James Brooks reconsidered
Contributed by Laurie Fendrich / “A Painting is a Real Thing,” the Parrish Museum’s current... -
Selected Paintings from SPRING/BREAK NYC 2023
Contributed by Fay Sanders and Bob Szyantyr / In a shift befitting this year’s theme,... -
On “negative criticism”
Contributed by Sharon Butler / Sean Tatol, the art critic who writes a snarky website...
Two Coats Obituaries
- Bushwick’s Tim Gowan August 12, 2023Even though making art is often an experience that happens in the solitude of one's studio, it rarely occurs in a vacuum. Artists rely on each other for support, reinforcement, inspiration, and challenge, forming communities to avoid feeling like fish out of water in this world. Tim Gowan was one of those artists who cherished […]
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Two Coats of Paint is celebrating National Daughter’s Day by honoring Lena, who some of you may recall was the mastermind behind our Social Media Services Project a few years ago. She has since opened her own business @honeyhomeofbeauty in #OldMysticCT. Love you @lena.alohalani ❤️🏆❤️ Daughter, visionary, and muse.
Image: @meadowflowerphotography #honeyhomeofbeauty @mystic_disc #mysticct
Latest post, link in profile / Elisa D’Arrigo: Between the beautiful and the grotesque / Contributed by Kay Whitney / There is a fundamental paradox at work in Elisa D’Arrigo’s ceramic objects – while they are unmistakably beautiful, they break every standard for what is considered “beautiful.” They are small, shambolic, eccentric objects lacking symmetry; they are not overtly colorful and don’t attempt to please. They are humble, not loudly announcing nor applauding their own appearance; understated and private, the viewer must come to them. Rather than exhibiting the mechanical surfaces of a wheel-thrown or machine-made object, her forms bear the imprint of her hands and in that way reveal the processes of their making. If there is any other artist with whom her work could be compared only George Ohr, the “mad potter of Biloxi,” comes to mind. His small “puzzle mugs” demonstrate the same sensibility — simultaneously humorous and serious, their extraordinary eccentric surfaces and coloration are reminiscent of D’Arrigo’s, exposing a shared aesthetic. Link in profile
@elisadarrigo1 @elizabethharrisgallery @k.whtny #ceramics #chelseagalleries
Image: Elisa D’Arrigo, Making a Move 6, 2023 7 x 6.5 x 4 inches, courtesy of the artist & Elizabeth Harris Gallery
“Something darkly set itself at our senses’ five thresholds without stepping over them,” a cinematic two-person show @bonnierskonsthall with Tulsa Lovell and Sara-Vide Ericson, is a haunting mediation on the past, the future, and the inexorable force of nature. In terms of craft and content, unlike anything I’ve seen in NYC. Or is it? Images are tagged.
@tildalovell @saravidee #swedishartists #konsthall #theatricalinstallation #manvsnature #bonnierskonsthall
Snapshot: Overlooking the Central Baltic Sea from @fotografiska.stockholm. We saw the @shirin__neshat and @therealpeterlindbergh shows — strange combo, but both moving in their own way. The place is dark and loud — more like a nightclub than a gallery. The bar on the top floor is beautiful.
Latest post, link in profile / Inside: Arthouse art house / Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / The set-up of Vasilis Katsoupis’ slickly but somewhat facilely resonant feature debut Inside is deceptively simple. A high-end art thief is helicoptered onto the roof of a luxury Manhattan high-rise and, with the aid of a techie accomplice, hacks into the security system of an absurdly opulent penthouse, owned by a high-end art collector who is evidently away for a season or two. The thief is targeting several of Egon Schiele’s signature vampy drawings and a singularly valuable self-portrait. Link in profile
@insidethefilm #insidethefilm #jonathanstevenson #twocoatsofpaint #filmreview #wilemdafoe #VasilisKatsoupis
Surprise: #PatriciaTreib solo on view in Stockholm @galerie_nordenhake 💥 beautiful paintings, elegantly installed ❤️
Swedish-born and UK-based, artist, activist, writer and eco-feminist Monica Sjöö (31 December 1938 - 8 August 2005) fought for freedom from oppression, but especially for women’s rights. “THE GREAT COSMIC MOTHER” @modernamuseet is her first retrospective. Swipe for the image that was considered blasphemous and obscene in the 1970s.
Rejecting abstract art as a Western male privilege, she asked: “How does one communicate women’s strength, struggle, rising up from oppression, blood, childbirth, sexuality – in stripes and triangles?”
#MonicaSjöö #cosmicmother #modernamuseet #stockholm
In the studio of Prince Eugen Napoleon Nicolaus of Sweden and Norway, Duke of Närke (1 August 1865 – 17 August 1947) was a Swedish painter, art collector, and patron of artists. Swipe through for a wide angle of his attic studio. Yes, it has a water view :) #stockholmartist #Waldemarsudde #Djurgården #princeeugen #landscapepainting
These paintings definitely work, amazing art!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
these paintings are terrible. honestly, who are we trying to kid here? the color is primary, the composition is absent and everything else about it is arbitrary and unaesthetic. i dont care what -ism you use to justify it.
Anonymous: It's easy to disregard someone's work when you hide behind a curtain of anonymity. If you have the courage of your convictions, identify yourself. Otherwise your own words will be disregarded.
the fact that you sign your comment anonymous, makes me disregard it completely….you should sign your name and stand behind your words.
Fran
Stay anon or don't – it doesn't matter, as long as you give something to think about. I'm more interested in comments than commenters.
Anon, I would like more specifics from you about the paintings and why they don't work, and what you mean by arbitrary and primary (surely not literally primary colors) and what, by comparison, does cut the mustard for you.
The centralized composition, the zigzags and loopy humps, and the messy "gestural" brushwork that adds noise but not necessarily direction, as in DeK – these are clearly choices, possibly to distinguish herself from tasteful traditions in abstraction that include not only AbEx but Nozk. There is a kind of abrupt dopiness that I appreciate in, for example, Heilmann or Chris Martin, but I'm not sure if this is working. It strikes me as rather suave.
I agree with anonymous. These paintings are crappy. However, upon reading the quote, I think that maybe the artist also thought them to be crap because she specifically includes the words "work or not work" in the text. Evidently, according to this artist, and regardless of whether the painting works, it is mystical and therefore has power. So logically it follows to say these paintings are powerful even though they appear to be crap(or not crap). What we have here is perhaps a new era for painting. Critics will no longer need to render opinions or judgments. Now, a paintings power is proportional to it's mystical state. To analyze it is to neutralize it's power. Looks like we all win – Yay!!