Cary Smith

February 11, 2016, 8:54am

16 Artists to Watch in 2016 (+ 2)

The needs and priorities of artists are in constant flux. Art historians have attempted to document this flux by identifying a series of seismic shifts in aesthetics and attaching to each its defining characteristics. This practice has provided us with a litany of isms that stretch back centuries. Art history will continue to roll on, but it very well may be that the age of the ism is behind us. That’s not to say that there are not, and will not continue to be, clusters of like-minded artists whose combined efforts can generate an aesthetic critical mass that historians are able to delineate. But with instant global communication, the time in which new ideas are disseminated, assimilated, and ultimately disregarded is so compressed that the enterprise has been, at best, reduced to trend spotting.

The medium of painting, in particular, has always been prone to noticeable trends. For the better part of a decade, the trend of note has been the overwhelming amount of abstraction that has circulated, in particular that of the provisional, or de-skilled ilk. While there are some talented artists working in this vein––Richard Aldrich and Joe Bradley, to name two––much of the stuff is so hopelessly bland and devoid of meaningful content that it has garnered the moniker “zombie formalism.” In the past two years, however, the winds have shifted. Abstraction is out, and the figure is in; flatness is out, as artists begin to embrace a space that lies somewhere between reality and a digital simulacrum of it.

Both of these trends were widely visible in 2015. As I wandered though the various art fairs that make up Miami’s art week in early December I was overwhelmed by the amount of figurative painting on view…much of if it at galleries that have rarely, if ever, exhibited such work. The figure is everywhere, and being addressed with all manner of stylistic intonation. Even more conspicuous was the number of artists who, whatever their subject matter, are conjuring a kind of space that seems teasingly “real,” yet clearly relies on life as experienced through the computer screen more than the living room window. Perhaps this is not a surprise, given that a generation of artists weaned on the Internet is now coming of age.

Before getting in to this year’s list of Artists to Watch, I want to say how pleased I am to see the success of all of the artists featured on last year’s list. Sadie Benning had a knockout show at Susanne Vielmetter in Los Angeles that was critically acclaimed. Katherine Bernhardt took it to the next level with her outing at Venus Over Manhattan. Daniel Heidkamp, who just gets better and better, was heavily in demand. Eddie Martinez, whose current show at Mitchell-Innes & Nash is his best to date, is now firmly on the radar of serious international collectors. Most exciting to me is the attention given to mature painter, Katherine Bradford. Bradford has been making her quirky, extraordinary paintings for years and, finally, the world has caught up. Her work looked completely of-the-moment at NADA Miami, and her subsequent one-woman show at CANADA in New York City was a huge commercial and critical success. – Steven Zevitas, Editor/Publisher


Katherine Bradford. Courtesy of CANADA, New York.

Listed under: NAP News, Noteworthy

June 29, 2012, 8:15am

40 Galleries You Should Know if You Love Paint

It is a simple truth that in any given month, if you added up all of the available space in commercial galleries around the country, the amount dedicated to painting would dwarf that of all other media. The list that I have compiled consists of 40 United States’ based galleries that have a proclivity for painting. That is not to say that painting is the only medium that these galleries show; indeed, most represent artists producing work in a range of media. All of them, however, have shown a particular interest in the medium over an extended period of time, and all have stables of artists that are at least 50% painters.

Listed under: Art Market, Art World, Features
Tagged as: Aaron Parazette, ACME, Adam Sorensen, Ala Ebtekar, Alexis Stamatiou, Ali Smith, Allison Schulnik, American Contemporary, Andrew Guenther, Andrew Schoultz, Angela Dufresne, Angela Fraleigh, Angles Gallery, Anna Conway, Anthony Meier Fine Arts, Ben Snead, Ben Weiner, Benjamin Degen, Brett Reichman, Brian Zink, CANADA, Carlos Vega, Cary Smith, Catherine Kehoe, Corbett vs. Dempsey, CRG Gallery, Daniel Heidkamp, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Daniela Rivera, Danielle Tegeder, David Kordansky Gallery, Devening Projects + Editions, Dimitri Kozyrev, Domingo Barreres, Don Voisine, Echo Eggebrecht, Elaine Spatz-Rabinowitz, Eleven Rivington, Emily Eveleth, Erik Den Breejen, Feature Inc., Feodor Voronov, Franklin Evans, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Freight + Volume Gallery, Friedrich Petzel Gallery, Gregory Lind Gallery, Hannah Barrett, Harris Lieberman Gallery, Heyd Fontenot, Holly Coulis, Horton Gallery, Howard Yezerksi Gallery, Inman Gallery, International Art Objects Galleries, Jack Balas, Jake Longstreth, James Fuentes, James Gobel, James Harris Gallery, James Kelly Contemporary, James Siena, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Jered Sprecher, Jill Moser, Jim Gaylord, Joe Wardwell, John Sparagana, John Zurier, Jon Rappleye, Joshua Abelow, Jovi Schnell, Judie Bamber, Karla Wozniak, Kate Shepherd, Katherine Sherwood, Kelly McLane, Kent Dorn, Kiel Johnson, Kirk Hayes, Kristen Schiele, LaMontagne Gallery, Laurel Sparks, Leo Koenig Inc., Libby Black, Lisa Cooley, Lisa Sanditz, Liz Markus, Louise Belcourt, Mark Flood, Mark Moore Gallery, Marx & Zavattero, Matthew McClune, Melora Kuhn, Michael Scoggins, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Morgan Bulkeley, Nina Bovasso, Nuno de Campos, Paolo Arao, Patrick Wilson, Paul Shakespear, Paule Anglim, Pierogi, Robert Buck, Robert Kelly, Ryan Mrozowski, Sarah Awad, Sarah Cain, Sarah Walker, Shane Campbell Gallery, Shara Hughes, Shaun O’Dell, Sigrid Sandström, Sikkema Jenkins & Co, Siobhan Liddell, Steven Zevitas, Stuart Arends, Sue Scott Gallery, Susan Jane Belton, Susan Vielmetter Los Angeles Art Projects, Texas Gallery, Tim Bavington, Tommy Fitzpatrick, Wendy White, William Cordova, William Swanson, Xiaoze Xie, Yoon Lee, Zach Feuer, Zieher Smith

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