On the occasion of her recent exhibit “Ellen Phelan Still Life” at Texas Gallery, which was on view from December 11, 2008 to January 24, 2009, Rail Publisher Phong Bui paid a visit to Ellen Phelan’s Upper East Side home to talk about her life and work. Here’s an excerpt […]
Writing
Hofmann’s push-pull at the Rose
This winter the Rose Art Museum presents work that painting guru Hans Hofmann created for architect Josep Sert�s Chimbote Project in Peru. Created for a series of murals, the nine painting studies form a concise example of Hofmann�s strengths as an abstract painter and modernist visionary. All were created in […]
Pocket Utopia Salon report: Moving beyond ObamArt
After suffering through eight years of dangerously misguided Bush administration policies, we all heaved a sigh of relief when Barack Obama was sworn in as the forty-fourth president of the United States. That Bush�s presidency dragged the nation into peril and disrepute certainly made the American people eager for a […]
CoBrA: The filter of nostalgia ultimately defangs the beast
In ArtForum Karen Kurczynski reviews three recent sixtieth-anniversary exhibitions dedicated to CoBrA, at the Mus�es Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in Brussels (where the new Two Coats of Paint header photograph was taken), the CoBrA Museum voor Moderne Kunst in Amstelveen, and the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. “Formed in Paris in […]
John Wood: Making small, busy abstract paintings seem big
In the San Francisco Chronicle Kenneth Baker reports that Bay Area painter John Wood has the rare knack of making small, busy abstract paintings seem big. “Some strike the eye almost like scaled-down reproductions of themselves. Wood gets a tremendous quotient of gestural energy into his show at the phone-booth-size […]
Line: Evidence of movement and purpose
In Fearful Symmetry, Northrop Frye wrote that a “line is a denial of all inertia and paralysis, all doubt and hesitation…(it) is both movement and purpose: whatever the medium of the art, the line exists neither in time or space, but in their eternal and infinite union.” Poet Susan Goldwitz […]
Cindy Bernard: Can you hear me?
In the Boston Globe, Cate McQuaid writes that Cindy Bernard‘s poignant show at Boston Center for the Arts’ Mills Gallery evokes the far-flung community of ham radio operators who kept in touch long before the Internet and blogging made world-building so common. “Artist Cindy Bernard’s grandfather, Bill Adams, got his […]
Bonnard: Folding together form, color and feeling
Roberta Smith on Pierre Bonnard at the Met: “Working simultaneously on several unstretched canvases tacked directly to the wall, he painted largely from memory with the help of quick sketches and watercolors, burnishing his motifs until they approached incandescence. He said that painting from reality distracted him from the task […]
“I’ll have my Facebook portrait painted by Matt Held”
For years Brooklyn artist Matt Held painted portraits from old family photos, but this past Thanksgiving he began using Facebook portraits as source material. On his blog he writes that one day his wife was playing around with the computer, took a picture of herself in iPhoto – her interpretation […]
How to get attention: Give blogs the love
Here are some of the artists and bloggers who have recently confessed that they’re regular Two Coats of Paint readers. I recently received a note from Carrie Elston, editor in chief of Mapcidy, that Two Coats of Paint is listed among Mapcidy’s top art blogs in NYC. According to their […]
