Last night I went to John Yau’s poetry reading at the New York Studio School, where he read several poems, including “Further Adventures in Monochrome,” a poem written from Yves Klein‘s point of view. Here’s a video of Yau reading “My Ten Monochrome Adventures,” an earlier version of the evocative poem, at the Walker Art Center last year during the Klein retrospective. Yau, who until last week was an art editor at The Brooklyn Rail, has published more than 50 books of poetry, short stories, and criticism, including A Thing Among Things: The Art of Jasper Johns (2009). An associate professor of critical studies at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, he writes beautifully about painting and painters. Copper Canyon Press is publishing his next book of poetry, due out in spring 2012.
Award-winning blogazine, primarily about painting
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
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Short story: Rescue Center [Elizabeth Scheer]
Contributed by Elizabeth Scheer / I first discovered the Rescue Center while walking idly on... -
Arthouse Art House
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / The set-up of Vasilis Katsoupis’ slickly but somewhat facilely resonant... -
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... -
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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@_lisa_tan knows how to fill a space. The waiting room entrances with framed prints of Klee, Matisse, etc, the room framing, the large letters, a video viewing room with chairs for an audience @acceleratorsu in Stockholm.
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
What a great tale John Yau has woven so masterfully explaining the endeavor Yves Klein wrote about and literally painted or photographed. Yves saw his life's occupation as a philosopher rationalizing how his art better interprets his the range of possibilities than others artists more literal approaches to defining their world through art-making.