Bascha Mon’s Life and Journey of Dreaming at Tappeto Volante

In Dialogue
Image
A Celebratory Retrospective of an Artist’s Life and Journey of Dreaming, Perseverance, Activism, & Unconscious Expression.”

The retrospective of Bascha Mon’s paintings at Tappeto Volante offers a focused look at an artist whose career has been shaped by both creative achievements and personal struggles. Mon first gained recognition in the 1970s and 80s, with numerous exhibitions and critical acclaim. However, her trajectory was interrupted by health challenges that led to a long period of seclusion. During this time, she continued to work from her basement studio in New Jersey, expanding her creative vocabulary across various mediums while remaining largely out of the public eye. In recent years, Mon turned to digital platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Paola Gallio, the exhibition curator and gallery co-founder, describes this phase as “dissolving the physical isolation that had once defined her situation.” These platforms allowed Mon to reconnect with the art community and sustain an active, visible presence. Gallio emphasizes that “Mon’s modest basement studio became a metaphor for boundless creative space,” where the constraints of physical isolation were replaced by the limitless possibilities of virtual engagement. For deeper insights into the retrospective, Gallio’s interview with Art Spiel offers further reflections on Mon’s artistic journey and the significance of this exhibition.

Continue reading “Bascha Mon’s Life and Journey of Dreaming at Tappeto Volante”

CJ Hendry And The Rise of Photo-op Art

Opinion
CJ Hendry, Flower Market, 2024: CJ Hendry Studio

CJ Hendry’s recent Flower Market installation, initially planned for September 13-15 on Roosevelt Island, was shut down by police due to overcrowding and quickly relocated to Brooklyn. The event was both a celebration and a symptom of our evolving art world. Hendry, known for her hyperrealistic drawings of everyday objects and her massive Instagram following of over 800k, collaborated with beauty brand Clé de Peau Beauté to pair their perfume scents with plush flower sculptures. Visitors could take one flower for free and buy additional ones for $5 each, creating Instagrammable bouquets to share with friends.

Continue reading “CJ Hendry And The Rise of Photo-op Art”

Martin Wilner -The Case Histories: When We Cease to Understand the World (Extraterrestrials on The Couch)

A collage of drawings of people

Description automatically generated
June 2015- Seth Shostak. Pen and ink on Bristol board 161/2 x 171/8

Martin Wilner’s compelling new show at BravinLee Projects is both conceptually and visually complex, the work of an intellect working on several intersecting planes. Wilner is a practicing Freudian psychoanalyst, a scholar, and mentor to analysts in training. He is a self-taught artist whose work reflects his involvement with the human psyche, popular culture, and comic strip art. His artistic practice is intertwined deeply with his psychoanalytic work and comes with an interesting twist; Wilner the therapist invites the public to engage deeply with the world of Wilner the artist via social media.

Continue reading “Martin Wilner -The Case Histories: When We Cease to Understand the World (Extraterrestrials on The Couch)”

Feminist Connect

Curator Sally Brown in conversation with artists Marie Bergstedt, Amy Chaiklin and Laurence de Valmy

In conversation with the artists

A picture containing text, fabric

Description automatically generated
Marie Bergstedt: Fading, Hand embroidery on cotton fabric, 2017, 22”H x20”W x 1.25”D

Marie Bergstedt, Amy Chaiklin and Laurence de Valmy were featured artists in Feminist Connect, on view at Charles Adam Studio Project in Lubbock, Texas, in March, 2022 and as part of a larger online exhibition by the same name, running through February 2023. The artists Bergstedt (fabric), Chaiklin (drawing/painting) and deValmy (painting) discuss their processes, concepts and relations with the co-curator, Sally Brown, expanding on the discussion the exhibition provokes around the feminist lineage of art.

Continue reading “Feminist Connect”

Artists on Coping: Michael David

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

A group of people in a room

Description automatically generated

Brenda Goodman and John Yau in conversation at Life on Mars for her one -person exhibition

Michael David, a Guggenheim Fellow artist, has been exhibiting his paintings internationally since 1981, first with the Historical Sidney Janis and then with M. Knoedler & Co. for over two decades. His work is included in the permanent public collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Brooklyn Museum  in New York, The Houston Museum of Contemporary Art, the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art and was the subject of a one -person exhibition at Aspen Museum of Art . As an extension of his painting practice over the last six years David has established two reputable galleries, Life on Mars and M. David & Co., as well as an adjunct residency program at M.David &Co.

Continue reading “Artists on Coping: Michael David”

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]”