self-portraits – Art Spiel

August 12, 2024August 8, 2024, by Etty Yaniv

Paula Modersohn-Becker: Ich bin Ich / I am Me at the Neue Gallerie

A room with art on the wall

Description automatically generated — Installation views of “Paula Modersohn-Becker: Ich bin Ich / I Am Me” at Neue Galerie New York. Photography by Annie Schlechter, courtesy Neue Galerie New York

German painter Paula Modersohn-Becker, born in 1876, is relatively unknown in the United States. This is quite surprising, considering she painted the first nude self-portraits known to have been made by a woman. Many of these audacious portraits capture her own pregnancy—another first among Western women artists, paving the way for later figures like Alice Neel. Modersohn-Becker’s portraits of women spanning all ages—bold in their composition, subtle in their detail, and utterly present—strike a powerful note throughout the first major retrospective of her art in the United States, curated by Jill Lloyd at the Neue Galerie New York, and fittingly titled Ich bin Ich / I Am Me.

July 26, 2024July 26, 2024, by Sara Farrell Okamura

Upstate Art Weekend, If You Missed It, It is Still Here!

Pauline Decarmo, *CHAMPION*, 2024, acrylic on wood panel, 24 x 24 inches, LABspace

145 galleries, venues, historical sites, performances, and a few fashion stops and upscale grocers for foodies thrown in for good measure, all scattered across 10 counties north of New York City. This comprised Upstate Art Weekend, a four-day festival highlighting the diversity and breadth of culture in Upstate New York. This was not for the faint of stamina. This is not an art fair. It is a celebration of the creative communities lining the Hudson and the enclaves embedded in the Catskills. I have to believe the intent was never for escapees from urbanity to stop at each little circle on clustered maps. Below are some of the galleries that are the marrow, the heartbeat of the cultural community in specific regions. These are also galleries that exhibit small group and one-person shows that provide a larger window into the artist’s or artists’ thought process. If you missed Upstate Art Weekend, don’t despair; these and other sites are a stable part of the Hudson Valley, enabling anybody to make their own Upstate Art Weekend on their own time. It’s always here, 12 months of the year.

November 27, 2022November 26, 2022, by Sara Farrell Okamura

Magic Mirror: Susan Carr at LABspace

Installation view of Susan Carr’s *Girls* paintings on top, and self-portraits below, in *Magic Mirror*

Tired of phrases such as best kept secret, finally receiving her due, and delayed recognition it is time to recognize artists, particularly women artists who are in their prime, evolving both in facility and content. Susan Carr is a quintessential example, an accomplished artist who, over decades, has fearlessly mined the history of her own existence. Her latest exhibit, Magic Mirror at LABspace in Hillsdale New York is a tribute to her dedication, talent and courage.

September 9, 2022December 30, 2022, by Art Spiel

Fran Beallor – Self at El Barrio’s Artspace

Featured Artist

The artist at work in the studio, arranging the drawings in a month grid photo courtesy of Fran Beallor, 2021

In her solo exhibition at the El Barrio’s Artspace PS109 in Harlem, NYC based artist Fran Beallor shows every one of the 366 self portraits she created in 2020. While drawing a new self portrait each day, a number of sub-series organically emerged, on themes such as the iPhone, Boxes, Gravity, and Shadows. Each brings forth a distinct angle of the pandemic experience. Fran Beallor says, “I make self-portraits to see and interpret my world.”

November 11, 2020November 12, 2020, by kelsey Renko

In My Room – Susan Carr at LABspace

A Photo story

Upon entering In My Room, Susan Carr’s solo show at LABspace in Hillsdale, NY, my senses are overloaded in the best way by the colorful and tactile work. The gallery is teeming with an impressive amount of work that fills the walls, floor, and pedestals. As I walk around, I am greeted with the fond familiar smell of fresh oil paint— thick, bold, and often mixed on the surface. This application is important to the overall sensation of Carr’s work. It makes me grasp the immediacy and the confidence that are necessary to make the work. Squeezing paint directly from the tube onto the canvas requires a commitment from the artist and Carr dives in headfirst to create paintings of zombies, clowns, self-portraits, and eyeballs.

April 27, 2020April 26, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Artists on Coping: Patricia Fabricant

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

Patricia Fabricant, Alexi Rutsch Brock, Beth Dary at the opening for Among Friends, May 2019

Patricia Fabricant is a painter and book designer, from New York City. She received her BA from Wesleyan University and studied painting in Italy. Her abstract paintings have been exhibited widely at such galleries as SFA projects, M David & Co, Front Room, Morgan Lehman, the Painting Center and the National Arts Club. More recently she has worked figuratively, both on a political series, Paper Dolls, and on woven self-portraits, which she began in response to the 2016 election and its aftermath. She is also curating shows. She lives in Brooklyn and shares a studio at the EFA, in Manhattan.

November 20, 2018June 4, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Patricia Fabricant – Weaving a Fluctuating Self

After November 2016 Patricia Fabricant‘s paintings shifted from dense and layered abstractions to self portraits depicting fluctuating expressions and altogether underscoring post election malaise. Fabricant developed an intriguing mechanism of observation and layering. Her gaze is meant to be neutral, just a stare into the mirror but throughout the weaving process, chance yields unintended emotions – knowing, anxious, sad. The artist describes in this interview for Art Spiel her process, ideas, and on going projects.

Patricia Fabricant, Emotions: Angry, Love, Confused, Sad, Shocked, Anxiety, 2016. Each gouache on paper, 16 x 12 inches, photo courtesy of the artist

Continue reading “Patricia Fabricant – Weaving a Fluctuating Self”

September 8, 2018May 30, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

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.

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

Continue reading “Susan Carr – Getting Used to Being Uncomfortable”

April 2, 2014November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Middle Ass Bad Age

Sue McNally’s whimsical series of self-portraits at Auxiliary Projectsresemble pages from a carefully edited diary. Deeply personal, humorous and honest, most of these drawings depict a frontal view of the artist in various states of mind. Caricature-like with sometimes darker undertones, her drawings reveal a no fuss look at aging, femininity and change. Continue reading “Middle Ass Bad Age”