Cecily Brown, “Indian Tourist,” 2008, oil on linen, 97 x 89″ Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. In the Guardian, Perri Lewis and Cecily Brown talk about the painting process. “You’ve got the same old materials – just oils and a canvas – and you’re trying to do something that’s been done for […]
Tag: The Guardian
It’s not all milk and honey
Klaus Weber’s bee shit paintings in Glasgow. Guardian critic Skye Sherwin wonders what’s the difference between a man and a bee. “Not so much to the 18th-century free market advocate Adam Smith, for whom the industrious beehive was a symbol of human progress. Plenty if you’re the German artist Klaus […]
Turner Prize shortlist: All trans-media artmakers, no video
The four trans-media artists who have been shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2009 are Enrico David, Roger Hiorns, Lucy Skaer and Richard Wright. “Critics of the Turner prize are used to harrumphing crossly about the absence of painting or drawing from the award’s shortlist, and condemning a perceived preponderance of […]
Andrew Cranston’s dense claustrophobic rooms
In the Guardian, Jessica Lack continues her series on contemporary artists with Andrew Cranston, whose dense claustrophobic paintings are inspired by rooms in great works of literature. “Like Francis Bacon, Andrew Cranston’s currency is claustrophobia, imprisoning both viewer and subject in a hellish nothing. By using fiction as his source […]
Some old gold: 2006 interview with Howard Hodgkin
Thanks Jen Mazza for posting this link to novelist Colm T�ib�n’s 2006 Guardian interview with Howard Hodgkin. Apparently Hodgkin dislikes talking about his paintings and has never let anyone watch him work, so T�ib�n’s interview is fairly rare. “The term colourist, Hodgkin says, has no meaning except in terms of […]
Two Coats of Paint endorses Obama for president
Stop reading the blogs and go vote! And take a book, the lines may be long. I’ll be reading Sarah Thornton’s new release, Seven Days in the Art World. According to Publishers Weekly, Thornton offers an elegant, evocative, sardonic view into some of the art world’s most prestigious institutions. “The […]
“Francis Bacon was one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century…”
Thanks, Art Observed, for putting together this link list of articles about the Francis Bacon show at Tate Britain. Bacon, like Frida Kahlo, is one of those painters with whom every freshman art student falls in love. Later, after spending a few semesters in the studio, they’re inevitably drawn to […]
Rothko edits Rothko
In The Independent Claire Dwyer Hoggs talks to Chris Rothko, Mark Rothko‘s son and editor of The Artist’s Reality: Philosophies of Art, a new book of his father’s writing. “‘People imagine my father had a glamorous existence, but he lived mainly in slums,’ Christopher says, as he settles into his […]
Peter McDonald wins John Moores Painting Prize
Peter McDonald’s painting depicting an artist slashing a canvas has won this year’s John Moores contemporary painting prize. “Fontana,” by the Tokyo-born McDonald, reimagines the working practice of Italian artist Lucio Fontana, who made a series of works featuring canvases with slashes and holes. The painting, chosen from 40 works […]
Rothko’s Chapel: Everyone’s missing the suicidal artist’s point
In The Guardian Jonathan Jones reports that his visit to the Rothko Chapel in Houston left him impressed, but troubled that Rothko‘s project is so clearly misunderstood by all the religious groups who meet there. “Locals use this place. In fact, they love it. They come not just as tourists […]