NYC

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.

March 09, 2014, 7:26pm

The Armory Show 2014

Back from New York and combing through hundreds of pictures. If you didn't make it to the Armory Show this year, or if you're looking for a refresher, check out my pics! Obviously, not everything, but things that caught my eye while browsing the fair. The images are on our Flickr page.

In the next few days I'll post some images from my trip over to the Volta Fair and Whitney Biennial.

Enjoy!

- Andrew Katz, Associate Publisher

February 12, 2014, 4:35pm

Iva Gueorguieva’s Surface-Effect

Iva Gueorguieva’s (NAP #73) paintings, on view at Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe in New York, bring a breathe of California sun to our frigid New York winter. Working up the surfaces of her large canvases into almost a fetishized frenzy, the paintings are abstract, yet indicative of movement. By denying viewers the ability to rest their eyes on any one component for too long, her works are both mesmerizing and disconcerting, inducing frustration as one tries to pinpoint figures or structures within the compositions. Fractions, edges, and suggestions of such imagery exist, but are ungraspable as they dissolve into the chaos of each scene. – Nadiah Fellah, NYC Contributor

Installation view, Iva Gueorguieva at Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, January 30 – March 8, 2014. Courtesy Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe.

January 27, 2014, 5:03pm

Robert Bechtle at Gladstone Gallery

Robert Bechtle’s works can often be dated by the make and model of the cars he chooses to include in his paintings and drawings. The small suite of recent drawings on view at Gladstone Gallery in New York are no different. The centerpiece of the show is aptly a large oil painting titled Bob’s Sebring, in which the artist depicts himself standing next to a silver Sebring convertible. Known for working from photographs for his intensely detailed works, the image represents a typically awkward moment. While the car is shown from an optimal angle, parked at a diagonal as one might see on a car lot or in a showroom, the artist’s pose is one of humble reserve, and stands in sharp contrast to the ostentatiousness of his new car. Positioned in the crook of the open car door, we are unsure as to whether he has parked his car just so for the photograph, or about to drive away. – Nadiah Fellah, NYC Contributor

Robert Bechtle | Bob's Sebring, 2011, Oil on canvas, 40 x 57 3/4 inches, Courtesy Gladstone Gallery