contemporary art – Page 76

October 29, 2019November 21, 2019, by Katie Hector

When the Artist Speaks

A Review of Michael A Robinson’s Solo Exhibition

The Object as Evidence at SL Gallery, New York

Michael A. Robinson, The Origin of Ideas, 2013, found lamps, tripods, and electrical cords, 6 x 6 x 9 ft,, Image: courtesy of SL Gallery

Trekking down 38th Street in the heart of the garment district on a Thursday evening in October, I made my way to SL Gallery where Michael A. Robinson’s solo exhibition, The Object as Evidence, was on view. As I pushed open the large steel door to the gallery I found myself immediately subsumed within a group of onlookers similarly clad in all-black. The artist’s talk had already begun and attention was fixed upon Robinson, a tall slender man with sandy-blonde hair standing beside a projector that cast images of artwork onto the wall behind him. Arms extended and eyes twinkling, Robinson elucidated upon the evolution of his work.

October 21, 2019May 30, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Olive Ayhens: Unique Improbabilities

Olive Ayhens, Camelid In the City, oil on linen, 51″x39″ 2019

Olive Ayhens paints unexpected landscapes in which roaming animals, lush fauna and zooming cars frequently co-inhabit familiar urban environments. In her world you may encounter by a vivid East river shore a Prehistoric animal, utterly oblivious to a dazzling Gotham vista on the horizon. Olive Ayhens talks with Art Spiel about her process, ideas, and “Urbanities and Ur-Beasts” , her upcoming show at Bookstein Projects opening October 30^th .

October 19, 2019October 19, 2019, by Katie Hector

Americana Archetypes Frolic Centerstage in Rebecca Morgan’s Solo Show Town and Country at Asya Geisberg Gallery

Image courtesy of Rebecca Morgan and Asya Geisberg Gallery. Photography by Etienne Frossard.

Rebecca Morgan’s solo exhibition “Town and Country“ at Asya Geisberg offers viewers a subversive and unflinching look into aesthetics of Americana. Panty raiding hillbillies, buxom bonnet sporting milkmaids, and characters engaged in Appalachian revelry scrupulously rendered in paint, graphite, and brass galavant throughout the exhibition. Morgan’s cringeworthy figuration walks the line between portraiture and allegory and highlights the pitfalls of romanticization. Inspired by the sucker-punch illustrations of R Crumb, Morgan’s depictions of rural life speak to notions of voyeurism, power dynamics, and the ubiquity of toxic masculinity within contemporary American culture. The works included in “Town and Country” strike a balance between hilarity and horror and provide a fantastical portal into the American psyche. I had the opportunity to chat with Morgan about her fourth solo show with the gallery and reflect upon her personal fascination with the subjects she portrays.

October 17, 2019November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Natsuki Takauji: Sensuous Abstractions

Natsuki Takauji, String, stainless steel, aluminum, hydraulic oil, pigment, steel base, H72″ W40″ D40″, at WHA, Williamsburg, photo by Etty Yaniv

Natsuki Takauji sculptures create a stimulating tension between the monumental and the minute, the calm and the stirring. They are grounded yet flow, at times literally with fluids, and range from intimate indoors sculptures to large scale outdoors interactive structures. The Japanese born artist who draws upon Japanese culture and Buddhist philosophy share with Art Spiel some of the origins to her imaginative work, her process, and her projects.

October 7, 2019November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Elizabeth Velazquez: All Realities

Elizabeth Velazquez, Cigar Factory Final Exhibition, 2019, installation view- 2 of 4 rooms, photo courtesy Sakeenah Saleem

Elizabeth Velazquez makes powerful installations in response to the history and geography of a site. While her work often unleashes dark secrets from a hidden past with particular sensibility to social injustice, it also elevates our gaze upwards, conjuring an essence of spirituality out of the materials she is using. The artist shares with Art Spiel the ideas and process behind her recent body of work.

September 16, 2019November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Jada Fabrizio: Ardent Fables

Jada Fabrizio, The commuter Photograph, 13×19, photo courtesy of Jada Fabrizio

Mixed media artist Jada Fabrizio is an insatiable story teller. Her appetite for narratives covers wide grounds and results in dioramas and photographs ranging from a domestic scene of a hen with a fried egg at hand, to a melancholy rabbit sprawling on an armchair. Fervently surreal and underscored with dark humor, these sculptural sets and photographs offer open-ended stories that tease us and draws us in. Jada Fabirzio shares with Art Spiel a bit about herself, her approach to art making, and what triggers her narratives.

August 26, 2019November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Patricia Spergel – On the Verge of Recognition

Patricia Spergel, Sita Ram, 2018, oil on canvas, 18” x 24”, photo courtesy of Tim Grajek

Patricia Spergel‘s vibrant oil paintings interrelate gesture, color, and form, to create imaginative spaces that are on the verge of being recognized – both playful and incisive, lightweight and massive. Patricia Spergel shares with Art Spiel her approach to color, how printmaking informs her painting, and her painting process.

August 14, 2019August 14, 2019, by Paul D'Agostino

Nota Bene with @postuccio [ix]

TSA & Transmitter, The New York Studio School

TSA & Transmitter

It is often the case that the immediate juxtaposition of aesthetically kindred galleries TSA and Transmitter allows, maybe accidentally encourages visitors to make observations about concurrent exhibitions with relation to one another. I’m not sure the curators at the respective spaces are always keen on hearing such thoughts – especially from me, since over the years they’ve likely tired of knowing that I’ll always be looking for something – but there are times when the formal or conceptual fluidities or contrasts between shows are so striking that commentary of the sort proves simply irresistible. Continue reading “Nota Bene with @postuccio [ix]”

August 12, 2019November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Seren Morey: Growing Roses with Thorns

Seren Morey, Stranger Thing, 2017, Ultralight, dispersions, pumice, and glitter on panel15x10x4 in, photo courtesy of the artist

Seren Morey is a maximalist . Her lush mixed media painting- reliefs resemble mutated life forms in the process of proliferation – organic and artificial, funny and freakish, decorative and disorienting. Seren Morey shares with Art Spiel experiences that brought her to art, including some particularly fascinating encounters; in-depth know-how paint-making and painting processes; and reflections on her development as an artist.

August 3, 2019November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Kate Teale: Landscapes of Void

Kate Teale, Going Dark 15x12x8” paintings, on graphite wall drawing 120″ x 164″, Grand Rapids MI, 2018, photo courtesy David Henderson

No matter what subject matter Kate Teale’s drawings, installations and photographs depict – a house, a sleeping couple, bed sheets, a Tsunami – her images always lead us into an urgent psychological landscape, prompting us to pause and reflect on what we are looking at. Precise like poems and complex like dreams, her subtle and highly focused artworks take diverse forms ranging from works on paper to tromp l’oeil murals. Kate Teale shares with Art Spiel some concepts behind her work, process, and thoughts about her evolution as an artist.