Contributed by Sharon Butler / Northern Vermont seems far away now, but in ten years it may be an entrenched artists enclave. And Johnson, thanks to still-affordable housing and the VSCs rich arts program, could be its center. Here’s a report from my visit a few weeks ago.
Artist’s Notebook
Transformation: Douglas Melini’s new work at Miles McEnery
Contributed by Sharon Butler / When I saw Douglas Melinis new work at Miles McEnery (on view until October 16), I was surprised how much it had changed since I saw his pattern paintings In “YOU HAVE TO PEER INTO THE SKY TO SEE THE STARS,” a 2016 solo show at 11R. I reached out via email to ask him about the bold transition.
Did I do that? Thirty Years of Adjunct Teaching
This excerpt is from a book Peter Dudek is writing about his years in academia, teaching art. Many of the conversations and stories came about in class, during faculty meetings, or over dinner & drinks with other artists who teach.
The postman’s palace in hauterives
Contributed by Ken Buhler / Imagine the most elaborate, fanciful and bizarre fairy-tale like sand castle possible. Ferdinand Cheval’s masterpiece, Le Palais Idal, is teeming with, octopi, dragons, ostriches, flamingos, lions, elephants, deer, plants, gods, fairies, giants, and historical figures all interwoven with architectural forms whose references include Hindu, Buddhist, and Egyptian temples, Islamic mosques, and Swiss chalets.
About an image, without an image: Reflections on looking at a painting
Contributed by Paul DAgostino / Not long ago, an acquaintance on social media posted an image of a recent painting in one of those temporary-story-style series of images, and I reacted favorably, at first with emoji-tive enthusiasm, to that particular painting. I then got an unexpected response pretty quick-like: What do you see?
Heather Bause Rubinstein: America and me
Contributed by Heather Bause Rubinstein / I left New York in January of 2020 and sublet my studio with plans to return in April. I repeat this pattern of coming and going every spring term to teach in Houston alongside my spouse, art critic and poet Raphael Rubinstein. As before, […]
Ideas and Influences: Louise Belcourt
New York-based painter Louise Belcourt recently returned from a quiet summer in the country, where she completed new work, which is on view through December 12 at the Locks Gallery in Philadelphia. The series comprises collages on paper made with painted gouache shapes, infusing the curvy hard-edge simplicity of Matisse […]
Anywhere Out of the World: Chagall and me
Contributed by Susan Bee / The early paintings of Marc Chagall are a recent inspiration. It�s a strange turn. For years I thought I disliked his work, especially the late paintings: too saccharine and repetitious. But I became enamored by his early efforts when I saw Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The […]
Quick study: The quiet city
Contributed by Sharon Butler / How’s everyone doing out there? The streets of New York have calmed down in the past few weeks, with far fewer sirens, although the neighbors still hang out the windows to make a racket at 7pm, celebrating the quietly heroic medical personnel and other essential […]
The political power of art
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / In a typically penetrating New York Times column earlier this month, David Leonhardt pointed out that one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt�s many insights was the need to showcase as well as merely extend government largesse in order to impress upon its beneficiaries the ongoing value of the […]