abstraction – Page 6

May 17, 2020December 21, 2021, by Etty Yaniv

Artists on Coping: Paul Behnke

During the Coronavirus pandemic, Art Spiel is reaching out to artists to learn how they are coping.

Paul Behnke and Gulley in his studio in Lambertville, NJ. Photo courtesy of Robin Stout.

Paul Behnke’s painting comingles references from pop culture, religion, and imagery associated with mysticism and the occult with an abstracted interplay of pure color and open and closed spaces and forms that become further complicated by realistic collaged references. His works ultimately relate to the intersection of pop culture and spirituality and how sacred beliefs become co-opted in a disconnected, consumptive society. Behnke’s work has been exhibited in the United States and internationally. He has edited Structure and Imagery art blog since 2011 and was the co-director of Stout Projects in Brooklyn. Behnke currently lives and works in Lambertville, NJ.

April 15, 2020March 27, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Artists on Coping: Daniel John Gadd

During the coronavirus pandemic, Art Spiel is reaching out to artists to learn how they are coping.

Screen Shot 2020-03-26 at 4.34.30 PM.png — Daniel John Gadd, Assembling an Octopus, 2019,111 x 100 x 12 in. – oil, wood, copper, rope, mirrored glass, steel, epoxy resin and marble on wooden supports

Daniel John Gadd is an artist living and working in New Jersey. His work blurs the boundaries of painting and sculpture, abstraction and figuration, and “high” and “low” art. His work is fragile, violent, aggressive, and sensitive all at once, reflecting (literally, with his use of mirrors in much of his work), and sharing our complexity with an acceptance of all of what we are, and in the end, what makes us human. His most recent exhibition Animal was on display at M. David & Co. last fall.

April 9, 2020November 2, 2022, by Catherine Kirkpatrick

Artists on Coping: Elisabeth Condon

During the Coronavirus pandemic, Art Spiel is reaching out to artists to learn how they are coping.

*Elisabeth Condon in front of Urban Idyll at Ditmars Blvd., Queens, in 2019. Photo Phillip Reed*

Informed by scroll painting and 20^th century abstraction, Elisabeth Condon’s landscapes intersect nature and décor. While the overlap of New York and Florida inspire the majority of her compositions, Condon frequently travels to numerous residency fellowships from Shanghai and Mexico City, to the Grand Canyon and Florida Everglades. She recently completed Urban Idyll, thirty-six laminated glass panels for the NYCT Astoria-Ditmars Blvd. Station in Queens, commissioned by MTA Art & Design. Her work has been recognized by the Joan Mitchell Foundation, Pollock Krasner Foundation, and State of Florida Individual Fellowships.

November 21, 2019November 21, 2019, by Julien Langevin

Plastic Expressions in Particularity: Nature Moves in Tracy McKenna’s Shift at Able Baker Contemporary

Elise Ferguson. Pebble. Pigmented plaster on MDF panel, 2018. Photo courtesy of Able Baker.

“Wisdom was the feeling for what is high, great, broad, sharp, even, heavy, bright, light, colorful . . . Wisdom was the feeling for an essentially shared reality, for the mystical, for the indeterminate indeterminable, for the greatest determinacy of all . . . but art is reality, and the reality we share must assert itself beyond all particularity.” Hans Arp, Introduction to a Catalogue

March 30, 2019March 31, 2019, by Danielle Burnham

Lizbeth Mitty & Dana James: The Thread

at M. DAVID & CO. GALLERY extended thru APRIL 21st, 2019 and an artist talk on April 14th at 4PM with Lilly Wei

Lizbeth Mitty in her studio. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Dana James in her studio. Photo courtesy of Drew Reynolds

I met with rising talent artist Dana James and her mother, veteran NYC artist Lizbeth Mitty, prior to their joint exhibition, “The Thread,” which opened March 15th at M. David & Co. Gallery in Bushwick. It was late February, and the artists were trying to answer the lingering question: Which new works should we display?

The debate was an extension of a conversation that had been running for months. Throughout the creative process, alone in their respective studios, the artists had frequently exchanged feedback on works in progress, eschewing criticism for constructive, “technical” suggestions that served to “open the floodgates” and renew the other’s creative energy.

February 26, 2019February 26, 2019, by Etty Yaniv

HyperAccumulators at Pelham Art Center

All photos courtesy of Alexandra Brock

Artist Talk: “HyperAccumulators”

Sat March 2nd from 2-4PM at Pelham Art Center

Hyperaccumulators are plants capable of growing in soils with very high concentrations of metals and are known for extracting contaminants; thus, helping the ecosystem. This duality of destruction and restoration underscores “HyperAccumulators” – the current vibrant group show at Pelham Art Center. In their upcoming artist talk, curators Alexandra Brock and Elizabeth Saperstein will lead the panel on how contemporary artists interpret connectivity between nature, toxicity, and possible regeneration. And not merely in nature. As curator Alexandra Brock says, “we have become ‘HyperAccumulators’ dealing with the everyday environmental and political climate we are living in. The artists are taking in all this- and helping us return to a better state.”

January 30, 2019February 1, 2019, by Etty Yaniv

Ashley Norwood Cooper – Grappling with Color of the Ordinary

Ashley Norwood Cooper, Deviled Eggs and Pink Cake, oil on panel, 16” x 20,” 2017, photo courtesy of the artist

Ashley Norwood Cooper is having a solo painting show at First Street Gallery in NYC. The show title, “The Likes of Us,” is taken from a line in “Waiting for Godot,” about the moon looking down on our ordinary lives. The first thing that caught my attention in Cooper’s work was the just right mix of raw quality and subtle sensibility to detail, depicting narratives that both intimate and universal. In this interview the artist talks about her process of painting from the imagination, her approach to color, and how she got to art.

December 18, 2018June 4, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Anne Sherwood Pundyk With Art Spiel – Part 1

Art Spiel’s Interview with artist and writer Anne Sherwood Pundyk has evolved into a cohesive and richly layered personal essay that will be published in sections over three days – one part a day. Anne Sherwood Pundyk’s essay in three parts seals Art Spiel’s Interview series for 2018, while opening a portal into 2019 with fresh insights and new writing formats.

November 28, 2018May 30, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Tamar Zinn – Field and Geometry

Throughout her drawings and paintings Tamar Zinn has developed her own visual vocabulary, rooted in abstraction. Zinn shares with Art Spiel her growth as an artist, work process, and current art and curatorial projects.

Tamar Zinn, Pavane 21, 2017, pigmented charcoal and conté crayon on paper, 17 x 9”. Photo courtesy of the artist

Continue reading “Tamar Zinn – Field and Geometry”

October 2, 2018December 14, 2025, by Nina Meledandri

Paint, Film, Thread: Three Current Shows

By Nina Meledandri

All Photos courtesy of Nina Meledandri

Louise Bourgeois, Sutures, 1993, Mixed Media

When an exhibition feeds you, enlightens you, or centers you, it remains with you. Each of the three shows below resonate with me for very different reasons and collectively they create a rich and thought provoking reminder of why we look at art.

Sutures at Mark Straus Gallery presents works which rely in some way on fabric, thread, weaving and/or sewing. The title is shared with one of the show’s focal points: a Louise Bourgeois sculpture, that is itself worth the visit. Continue reading “Paint, Film, Thread: Three Current Shows”