studio – Art Spiel

October 14, 2026October 13, 2026, by Etty Yaniv

Call Mom: Olive Ayhens and Ezra Johnson at Bookstein Projects

Olive Ayhens and Ezra Johnson, installation view at Bookstein Projects

Pairing artists with assorted bodies of work spanning over a decade is not an easy task. In the current two-person exhibition at Bookstein Projects, it helps that each artist, regardless of subject matter, has a distinct approach to color and composition. And then, there is a story. Call Mom features paintings on canvas and paper by mother and son Olive Ayhens and Ezra Johnson. The family tie is a good cue for the curator and for us. Yet it may be more interesting to set aside the biography for a moment and, as you enter, experience the vibrant visual dialogue unfolding between two painters.

April 4, 2020November 2, 2022, by Catherine Kirkpatrick

Artists on Coping: Rodney Dickson

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

Born in 1956 in Northern Ireland, Rodney Dickson grew up during the troubled years of civil disorder that engulfed that country. Having drawn and painted since childhood, he reacted to his early experience by considering the futility and hypocrisy of war through art. As time went by, he developed an interest in Vietnam and Cambodia where he researched and completed a number of art projects since 1992. There he witnessed the aftermath of conflict in its indiscriminately brutal form and it is from that point that his work proceeds.