Susan Carr creates playful and bold paintings, sculptures, and everything in between – all characterized by her thick, chunky, and layered painting application. Carr’s work comes from a deep and highly intuitive place, always guided by her vibrant curiosity. The artist shares with Art Spiel what brought her to art, some of her thought process, and exploratory approach to material and form.
Susan Carr, Piece of Pi, 2018, hand cut wood with silk over the wood and yarn painted in oil with pieces of wood painted in oil 7×10 inch, photo courtesy of the artist
David Wojnarowicz , Untitled (Face in Dirt), 1991 (printed 1993). Gelatin silver print, 19 × 23 in. (48.3 × 58.4 cm). Collection of Ted and Maryanne Ellison Simmons. Image courtesy the Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W, New York
Like a gut-punch for the eyes, The David Wojnarowicz show History Keeps Me Awake at Night at the Whitney Museum of American Art hits the viewer with a visceral, almost-physical jolt of emotion. Bodies are veiled in photographic shadow and light, primary colors leap off large canvases stuffed with collage, lighted globes and spoken words combine to map out the passion and rage experienced by the artist in his relatively short life. There is such variety in the exhibition that my friend and I almost missed a whole gallery, mistaking it for a different artist’s work.
Ever since the Israeli born artists Keren Anavy and Tal Frank started working in their nearby studios in Tel Aviv, they have developed a unique artistic collaborative process in addition to their individual thriving art practices. Their collaboration has resulted in multiple imaginative and rigorous installations that have been exhibited internationally. For Art Spiel, each of the duo sheds light on their collaboration, individual art, and upcoming plans. They also share their recent formative experience at the Everglades National Park residency in Florida (AIRIE), where they have further perfected their work process dynamics.
Keren Anavy & Tal Frank, Compositions for Stones of Gold, 2018, Installation view, site-specific installation, wood, The Gallery of the Cultural Institute Mexico-Israel, Mexico City, oil on linen, each painting 76.7X37.4″, wood, Pyrite stones, video animation screening. Photo credit: Zony Maya.
For Mie Yim painting is like falling backward without a net. Her approach to painting is highly intuitive and her process seems to grow organically out of her life experience. In the interview with Art Spiel she shares some background on her art, process, and current show at Ground Floor Gallery.
Mie Yim, Pearly whites, 2018 ,,Oil on canvas, 16”x20”, photo credit Christian Nguyen
Christine Romanell’s fascination with science and math is evident in her artwork. Her installations typically involve kinetic elements, light, and at times she is also collaborating with scientists, engineers, or other artists. Romanell shares with Art Spiel the impetus for her work, process, and exhibitions, including her current exhibition at “Everything Is Connected” at 1978 Maplewood Arts Center in NJ, a culmination of a year of work investigating rotational symmetry.
Christine Soccio Romanell, Cubed, 2018, 25 x 25 x 60 inches, Laser cut colored acrylic, courtesy of the artist
Carol Salmanson, Lightshift 1 with the artist, LEDs, reflective sheeting, plexi, beads, 50.5″ H x 69″W x 5.5″D, 2018
Carol Salmanson began as a painter and then gradually started embracing the use of LED lights in her work. In “Two Sides to a Coin,” Salmanson’s recent solo show at SL Gallery, she shows her paintings and light work side by side. This results in a dynamic conversation between the two forms. Salmanson shared with Art Spiel the genesis of her work, thought process, and projects. Continue reading “Carol Salmanson: Two Sides to a Coin”
Leslie Kerby,Shots and Ills, 2015, mixed media collage, oil, paper, litho transfer ink, 18-x-20 inches. Photo credit Bill Orcutt
Leslie Kerby creates mixed media collages, installations, and diverse collaborative work with nuanced commentary on current social and cultural climate. In her interview with Art Spiel she sheds some light on her diverse professional background, art-making process, ideas, and plans. Continue reading “Leslie Kerby: At a Moment of Change”
In her poetic and playful installations Viviane Rombaldi Seppey coalesces everyday objects and materials, altogether bringing to mind contemporary issues of identity, culture and environment. Maps, phonebooks, and books become directly embedded in her work as drawings, collages or sculptural objects. She has recently shared in an interview with Art Spiel some of her ideas and experiences. Continue reading “Viviane Rombaldi Seppey – Mapping her Road”
Get Loose, installation view, photo courtesy Rick Wester Fine Art
Get Loose, the three person show Curated by Tracy McKenna at Rick Wester Fine Art, features work by Cat Balco, Ben Godward, and Jason Rohlf, who all show a knack for unexpected twists of material resulting in exuberant abstracted forms and unorthodox color across the board. The abstract paintings and sculptures in the show prompt loose interpretations of Geometric Abstraction, where the hand is rigorously present. Continue reading “Get Loose at Rick Wester Fine Art”
“Containment”, partial Installation view at Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, (right wall: Erin Diebboll, center front: Linda Ganjian, left: david Packer), photo by Etienne Frossard
The group of international artists throughout the two exhibitions at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey – “Containment” and “Oh what a world! What a world!” are altogether reflecting on social, political, and cultural changes in recent history. “Oh what a world! What a world!”, located in the Main Gallery, addresses a wide array of issues related to immigration, gender equality, civil rights, policing, protest, and the state of our Democracy. “Containment”, at the Eisenberg and Strolling Gallery, addresses specifically hot trade issues – how the use of shipping containers affects our ability to trade and ship goods globally, coming to the forefront with Trump’s attempts to remove the country from existing trade deals. Both shows were curated by Mary Birmingham. The following preview on the two shows is largely based on text provided by the NJ Visual Arts Center.