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March 21, 2014, 9:17am

A Conversation: Dennis Congdon

Painting can be held as the grand reconciliation of time and history that it is built to be. Dennis Congdon takes this approach as a highly held belief, an admiration of sorts for what image, color and surface can offer; a meandering pile of faded thoughts and sun bleached inspiration. Congdon’s work strikes me as coming from a place that only hind sight can provide. A certain, “Hey, pal, I haven’t seen it all but I’ve seen enough to know that there’s gotta be more to all of this.” A long vision is at play here. Yes, things fall apart but only after they had come together. Congdon’s paintings border this celebration, dancing around fluorescent flames, caressing not what was lost but left behind. His work presents us with a place that we may not know but will eventually have to welcome. Like it or not. – Arthur Peña, Dallas Contributor


Dennis Congdon | Visuvi, Flashe & enamel on canvas, 94”x107", 2013

Listed under: Interview

March 19, 2014, 5:39pm

Kristen Dodge: Exit Interview

Artists come and go, and so do galleries. Last week gallery owner Kristen Dodge announced that DODGEgallery, which has been in operation since 2010 in New York City’s bustling Lower East Side arts district, was closing shop. The news took a lot of people, including myself, by surprise. - Steven Zevitas, Publisher


Andrew Judd, Kristen Dodge, Patton HIndle. Photo by: Carly Gaebe

Listed under: Art World, Interview

March 19, 2014, 8:38am

Guest Stars and Sci Fi: Brian Porray at Western Project

Brian Porray’s (NAP #84 & 2010 MFA Annual) second solo exhibition at Western Project is quite simply a must see and must feel.  He fills the large, open gallery space with his signature bright and bold explosions of color, movement, and energy.  In his last show, he focused on capturing the essence of his hometown Vegas and the complex power of the Luxor Hotel, and in this show, he moves to something else just as unsettling and unnerving as sin city can be to some – the ever-changing and impermanent night sky and the sci fi terrors and wonder it can bring to us mortals. – Ellen C. Caldwell


Brian Porray | installation view at Western Project
, 2014. Image courtesy of Western Project.

Listed under: Review

March 18, 2014, 9:43am

Everyday Evocative: Paige Jiyoung Moon

Something about Paige Jiyoung Moon’s (NAP #109) paintings stays with you. They are colorful, inviting, and familiar – and in them Moon captures her everyday experiences and environments in a way that is playful and realistic.

It isn’t her style that is particularly naturalistic though, it is her subject matter. Her style is slightly exaggerated in perspective, as she often places viewers so that it feels as if we are hovering above the scene, looking down on it from afar.  Her paintings make me consider memories and memory-making – how we experience a day, how we remember it, and how we reconstruct it in our minds. 

On the converse of the everyday, though, Moon also creates a dreamlike quality in her work, because as we hover over images of her painted memories – of a screen printing class, or a hike through Sequoia, or a weekend hotel stay – it conjures a memory-bank full of my own recollections from such classes, hikes, and trips.  It is personal and voyeuristic, everyday and evocative, and ephemeral eye candy that leaves me wanting to spend a day in the life of (or with) Moon. – Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor


Paige Jiyoung Moon | Printshop, Acrylic on wood panel, 14"x 11," 2013.

Listed under: Interview

March 14, 2014, 1:13pm

This is not a chair: the Paintings of Jon Reed

Jon Reed (NAP #109) paints objects – very ornate objects to be specific.  His paintings are bright, bold, and full of rich contrasts in their depictions of opulent material goods found at two of the most famous collectors’-homes-turned-museums in California: The Getty Villa and Hearst Castle.

Even if you didn’t know the furniture sources for some of his paintings, they immediately recall the lavish and ornamental furniture and chairs you might only find in a wealthy collector’s home or museum.  Reed takes three-dimensional furniture and various architectural spaces and captures them in time and space as flattened, two-dimensional paintings. Doing so, Reed simultaneously does something interesting to our eye and the way we read the paintings, calling our attention to both their “objectness” and their exact “non-objectness” all at once. - Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor


Jon Reed | Malibu Suite II, acrylic on birch panel, 24” x 36”, 2011

Listed under: Interview

March 13, 2014, 7:09pm

A Conversation: Raychael Stine

Something to consider: How does Painting handle love? Or better yet, can a painting be infused with love? Raychael Stine (NAP #78) believes that a painting that comes from a place of love can serve a greater function beyond an innocuous object. Painting can be used to cope and sometimes that coping deals with issues that pertain to love. I don’t remember the last time someone used the “L” word when speaking about their practice as it may come off as trite. But at the same time are we so cynical not to believe that painting and love do not go hand in hand? Stine pushes beyond these initial queries to a place where life, and love, is reaffirmed through the act of painting. - Arthur Peña, Dallas Contributor


Raychael Stine | Vision 4, 2012. Oil and acrylic on canvas, post card, 17 x 13 in.

Listed under: Interview

March 12, 2014, 5:37pm

Highlights From Armory Week

Armory Week is a beast. After experiencing a non-stop visual bombardment of incredible artworks from around the world for three solid days, my eyes needed a rest. But once the art hangover subsided, I was surprised by the clarity I felt surrounding some of my favorite pieces.  A few were immediate hits, while others were slow burns I found myself mulling over long after the fairs ended. That being said, I wanted to share with you some of the artists who captured my attention, brought something new to the table, and prompted my weary eyes to un-glaze during this year's Armory Week. – Elizabeth Devlin, Boston Contributor


Tim Kent | Of Numberless Pleasures, 2013, oil on canvas, 100 x 60 in, presented by Slag Gallery, NY at VOLTA, courtesy of private collection

Listed under: Art World

March 11, 2014, 1:50pm

Pat Steir’s Fluid Reality

There is a notable heaviness present in the galleries of Cheim & Read’s Pat Steir show currently on view in New York. The weightiness is evoked not by any darkness, but by the unique paint application the artist employs in her large-scale canvases, in which she lets gravity dictate the way paint falls, spills, and spatters across the expansive surfaces. Sidestepping any didactic elements in her particular style of feminist practice, Steir instead employs an approach to painting that makes metaphoric references to the leaks, seepages and flows of the female body, seeking to draw out allusions to something that is more random, intuitive, and created by chance circumstances. Rejecting the traditional use of a brush to apply paint, Steir also stands against the myth of the male-artist-as-genius in her choice to abstain from the decisive action of placing paint on surface. Instead, the artist has devised a non-traditional approach, choosing to pour thinned paint from the top of her canvases while they’re vertically mounted on the wall.


Pat Steir installation view, Cheim & Read, New York.

Listed under: Review

March 10, 2014, 11:38pm

Whitney Biennial 2014

Finally, from my trip to NYC this weekend, my visit to the Whitney. I'm no critic, that is for sure. I have opinions but I'm not in a position to tell you what's good and what's bad. I can only show you what I liked, and highlight some pieces for you in case you can't make it. However, I will say that I found the Biennial a bit overcrowded with work. There was just too much. I think less is more, but look at some of the installation shots and see if you agree. Oh, and it was almost 80 degrees on the 4th floor, and I have evidence, so if you come across a shot of a thermostat, that wasn't a work of art. - Andrew Katz, Associate Publisher

Check out all of the photos that I took of the Whitney Biennial on our Flickr page.

Molly Zuckerman-Hartung (NAP #95)

Listed under: Art Market, Art World

March 09, 2014, 10:54pm

VOLTA 2014

Yesterday I posted pics from the Armory Show, and I hope you enjoyed them. Today I bring you shots from the Volta Show, one of my favorite fairs around. So many great artists, but these are some of my favorites...Take a look, maybe you'll see something you like. Tomorrow...Whitney Biennial. - Andrew Katz, Associate Publisher

Check out the photos on our Flickr Page

Alfred Steiner | Poulsen, Copenhagen

Listed under: Art Market, Art World
Tagged as: volta, NY, NYC, Volta Show, Andrew Katz

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