A Visit With Linda Schmidt
All Photos by Catherine Kirkpatrick
Just as it is hard to look at certain Matisse paintings and not feel the radiant sun of the Cote d’Azur, it is hard to see a piece by Linda Schmidt and not imagine a beautiful light-filled space. Recently she invited me to her studio that looks out over the low industrial rooftops of Bushwick, and seems, even on overcast days to be bright and filled with serenity.
Melissa Stern – Walking the Line
Melissa Stern‘s artworks depict abstracted narratives with complex emotional layers, projecting altogether an urgent psychological presence. The figures in her drawings and sculptures inhabit an absurd universe which is darkly funny in a deeply felt way. Her imagery is precise, poetic, and overall underscores a close affinity with language – bringing to mind an artist who is both an acute observer and a witty commentator. That said, it is Stern’s sensibility of raw and expressive forms that makes her not only an observant narrator but also an empathetic participant in her own human comedy. The artist shares with Art Spiel her modes of thinking, process of making, and some plans, including her solo show opening on Oct 11 at Garvey Simon Gallery.
Wild World closing at Cross Contemporary Art
Wild World: Ashley GARRETT, Catherine HOWE and Lily PRINCE, the current painting exhibition at at Cross Contemporary Art opened on Sat. September 8th. On Sunday, September 30th Richard Klin will be reading from his novel, Petroleum Transfer Engineer, at the Cross Contemporary Gallery in Saugerties, NY at 4:00 PM. Klin is also the author of two nonfiction books. Klin’s work–fiction and nonfiction–has been featured on Public Radio International’s Studio 360 and has appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, the Atlantic, the Forward, Flyover Country Review, Adelaide, NPR’s All Things Considered and others.
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Susan Carr – Getting Used to Being Uncomfortable
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.
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Alienation and Elation at Art During the Occupation
FIRST LOOK at Sharilyn Neidhardt’s solo exhibition
Opening later this week
oil on unframed canvas, approx 54 x 70 in, photo courtesy of the artist
Sharilyn Neidhardt’s vivid paintings in SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE, at Art During the Occupation Gallery resonate with the zeitgeist of late-stage capitalism, when human connections are strained by a barrage of information and convenience. The fractured urban landscapes she portrays bring to mind reflective surfaces and fragmentation, altogether projecting a simultaneous sense of alienation and elation that are associated with any big city life. Continue reading “Alienation and Elation at Art During the Occupation”
Keren Anavy and Tal Frank – Collaborative Breeding Grounds
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.
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Mie Yim – Her Gut Eye
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.
Mary DeVincentis – Conscious Rituals
Mary DeVincentis paintings conjure worlds that are simultaneously inner and cosmic, personal and universal, unexpected yet strangely familiar. Some of the core concepts of Buddhism, such as impermanence, emptiness, interdependence and the origins of suffering, aversion and ignorance, often surface in her work in allegorical forms. Her imagery, conveyed with a remarkable fluidity of color and form, takes the viewer deep into their own inner worlds. The artist shared with Art Spiel some of the experiences that led her to art, some of the ideas behind her work, and her overall process.
Carole d’Inverno: Down to its Barest
Carole d’Inverno’s paintings can read as a coded language – idiosyncratic and universal at the same time. Her preparatory work involves meticulous research, specifically on historical aspects of a place and its inhabitants; yet her paintings seem to come together in a highly intuitive and fluid process. Throughout our conversations over recent years we have exchanged ideas about art and life. In this interview with Art Spiel, she shares some notions on the impetus of her work, process, and plans. Continue reading “Carole d’Inverno: Down to its Barest”