Baltimore – Art Spiel

June 1, 2023June 1, 2023, by Etty Yaniv

Jim Condron: Collected Things at Art Cake

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Description automatically generated — Installation view, Jim Condron: Collected Things at Art Cake, photo courtesy of Etty Yaniv

Collected Things, Jim Condron’s terrific solo exhibition at Art Cake in Brooklyn prompts us to question our relationship with the objects we interact with—objects that we use, discard, and transform through memory and art process. At the heart of this exhibition are Condron’s recent series of sculptures, which brings together everyday objects and ephemeral materials he has collected from artists, writers, and thinkers who participated in the project—these individuals include personal acquaintances like Graham Nickson, Lucy Sante, Rebecca Hoffberger, Carl E. Hazlewood and Cordy Ryman. Among them is the pioneering painter Grace Hartigan, who was Condron’s teacher and for whom he also worked as a graduate assistant in 2004, four years before her death. This body of work highlights how Condron’s process of collecting, editing, and adding other materials, activates the lineage and history of everyday objects, transforming them into playful art objects with renewed vitality and psychological presence.

April 4, 2022April 5, 2022, by Etty Yaniv

Jim Condron: Texts and Textures

Jim MacBook Air:Users:jimcondron:Desktop:Art Spiel :Photos:1b.Condron with work.JPG — Jim Condron installing Close to You, Karen Condron’s clothes, straw, yarrow, 50 x 30 x 30 inches at Wings over Wall Street, Chelsea, NY, 2019

In his sculptures and installations Jim Condron merges found objects—fragmented or whole—to create colorful and textural hybrid entities with distinct yet very open-ended textual undercurrents. Bed frames and tractors, furs and fabric, painted pieces of wood and plastic refuse, assert their past function and hint at potential narratives in playful variations, revealing the artist’s hand and his vivid imagination along the way.

September 27, 2021November 2, 2022, by Art Spiel

Burbville – New Works By Kumasi Barnett

Jac Lahav and Kumasi Barnett in Conversation

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In his first solo exhibition at 42 Social Club (Lyme CT), Kumasi Barnett explores American culture, police violence, and stereotypes through the lens of comic books. Barnett’s immaculate paintings over vintage comic book covers masterfully transform well-known superhero tropes into brutal social commentary. Kumasi Barnett and 42 Social Club founder, Jac Lahav, share their reflections on Barnet’s new work.

June 23, 2020November 2, 2022, by Anna Mikaela Ekstrand

Artists on Coping: Reece Cox

During the Coronavirus pandemic, Art Spiel is reaching out to artists to learn how they are coping. This extended interview is part of an Art Spiel and Cultbytes content collaboration.

Reece Cox is a Berlin-based sound artist, DJ, and producer. Cox graduated with a BFA in Interdisciplinary Sculpture from MICA and has a cerebral approach to both club music and sound. His sets and track lists have recently been published by CRACK Magazine and for further at home listening you can find his interview series on 303 Gallery, ISSUE Project Room, and Cashmere Radio.

June 21, 2020June 21, 2020, by Melissa Stern

Artists on Coping: Merritt Johnson

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

Merritt Johnson was born in West Baltimore and spent her childhood navigating between trees, tarps and concrete. She earned her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and her MFA from Massachusetts College of Art. Her work navigates the spaces between bodies and the body politic, land and cultures by making images and objects that connect, reflect and refract vision and experience. The multiplicity of materials and processes Johnson employs embody her multiplicity, exploring layering, allegiance and agency in the face of continued threats to land, water and bodies. Johnson’s works are containers for story, feeling and thought: images of what cannot be seen, exercises for existence, and political bodies. She lives and works with her family on Tlingit land in Sitka Alaska.

April 18, 2018November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Andrew Cornell Robinson – Transgressing Across Time and Line

Andrew Cornell Robinson in the studio, photographed by Alex Reyes 2017

Andrew Cornell Robinson ‘s website indicates: “art + crafts research studio.” Largely known as a prolific ceramicist, Robinson’s oeuvre embraces a wide range of craft and design methods – resulting in an extensive body of drawings and diverse mixed media installations, all the way to performance. Throughout our multiple conversations I have been increasingly intrigued by his multi faceted imagination and asked him to learn more about his visual explorations. Continue reading “Andrew Cornell Robinson – Transgressing Across Time and Line”