Ana Sophia Tristán: NaturalMente at Galería Matices in San José, Costa Rica

In Dialogue with Ana Sophia Tristán

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CO-VIDA, Acrylic on canvas, 2020, 48 x 35 inches

Costa Rican painter Ana Sophia Tristán was set to open her solo show NaturalMente in April, but as was the case with many art events scheduled for this year, the exhibition had to be postponed until further notice as a result of the pandemic. Fortunately by the end of September, Galería Matices – located within the halls of the historic Costa Rica Country Club, felt ready to revisit the task of mounting the emerging artist’s exhibition and Tristan was able to hold a socially-distanced vernissage in late October. NaturalMente had always planned to present paintings from her ongoing series of semi-surrealistic works of figures immersed in nature, but the several month delay allowed the artist to debut a few new pieces inspired by COVID-19 as well.

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In My Room – Susan Carr at LABspace

A Photo story


Installation view of In My Room

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.

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Aaron Alexander – What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stranger

In Dialogue with Aaron Alexander

Aaron Alexander, You are Annoying Me

In his first solo exhibition, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stranger”, Aaron Alexander shows works inspired by the events of 2020, from life in lockdown to political and racial unrest. The artist works with discarded bits of cardboard, embracing the torn, uneven edges. “It’s not perfect. It’s a reflection on life,” says Alexander in a statement.

Aaron “Aaron the Great” Alexander is a Bronx native, born in 1996. The exhibition is curated by Jac Lahav at 42 Social Club, Lyme CT. It is up until Oct 31 by social distant appointment.

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Artists on Coping: Zoran Crnkovic

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

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Zoran Crnkovic

Zoran Crnkovic was born and raised in Croatia where his early focus centered on drawing, painting, carving and sculpting. He has been a resident of New York City for last 24 years, with a multi-disciplinary practice based in Long Island City. He has had 20 solo shows, and teaches life drawing at the Salmagundi Club in Manhattan.

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‘Fabrications’ at George Billis

Art Spiel in Dialogue with Steve Hicks

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Installation image, from left to right: No Exit, In Flesh, Night Sequence. Image courtesy of the artist

Painter Steve Hicks shares with Art Spiel his reflections on the body of work he is currently exhibiting at George Billis gallery, focusing on how he sees these paintings within the wider context of his overall work.

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Stay High – Leah Tacha at Gold/scopophilia

In Dialogue with Jennifer Wroblewski Founder of Gold/scopophilia

Leah Tacha, Notice Me. 2019. 20 x 11 x 3 inches. Ceramic with digital decals. Photo by Maeve Fitzhoward.
Leah Tacha, Notice Me. 2019. 20 x 11 x 3 inches. Ceramic with digital decals. Photo by Maeve Fitzhoward.

Gold/scopophilia is a rigorous artist run art venue in Upper Montclair NJ, founded in 2017 by Jennifer Wroblewski. The founder shares with Art Spiel the story behind her gallery, programming, and current exhibition featuring the work of Leah Tacha.

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In the Precipice – Karen Margolis at Foley

Karen Margolis, Separation Anxiety 2019, 24×36, Watercolor, gouache, thread, map fragments on Abaca

Karen Margolis’s intricate wall pieces and sculptures featured in her current solo show In the Precipice at Foley resemble topographic mindscapes or cosmic maps. The sum of her dense cell-like circular shapes in some works create a sense of condensing inward, and in others exploding outward. Close up it is like taking a journey through a complex network of neurons, galaxies or emotional states of mind. It is enjoyable to identify recognizable fragments such as remnants of old maps with readable places, trace the multiple burnt holes and biomorphic shapes created with a soldering iron, focus on the hypnotizing miniscule dots of paint on circular clusters painted with watercolor or gouache, and then follow a complex net of crisscrossing dark linear threads which create an engaging tension with the curvy forms.

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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.

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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.

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Nota Bene with @postuccio [iii]

Five Myles, Slag Gallery, Fresh Window, SOHO20, Studio 10, SARDINE,Sikkema Jenkins

Five Myles

Barbara Campisi at Five Myles, photo courtesy of Paul D’Agostino

No matter how banal it might seem to say that Barbara Campisi‘s “Sound of Light” — the artist’s massive and joyfully interactive, labyrinthine installation at Crown Heights gallery Five Myles — is lit, it’s still a fully legit thing to say: it’s both lit and LIT. Lit up in both senses was also Campisi’s packed opening, during which visitors were invited to ‘draw’ their own light doodles all throughout the translucent-panel maze of sorts while listening to live music, encountering meandering dancers, and constantly running into strangers who didn’t feel like moving — not out of confusion, but because they were just fine and dandy right where they were, playing around with LEDs like all adults should do more, as every single kid in attendance that night would’ve surely agreed.

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