texture – Art Spiel

June 18, 2026June 16, 2026, by Taylor Bielecki

Strata of Time: a burying and unearthing of new discoveries at Elorea

Stepping into the exhibition Strata of Time at Elorea, the focus is not only on the works hanging on the walls but also the fragrances around them as well. With works placed throughout a perfume shop, Herok was given the opportunity to respond to the fragrances surrounding his works. He uses his process of layering to overlay different colors, materials, and experiences of both to mimic the processes the perfume makers used to create their products, as they mix and meld various scents. The works are nicely displayed throughout the space; some works, like Out of Field 5, Out of Field 4, and See You Again, are displayed alongside products, while other walls allow works to stand on their own. This is an interesting exhibition collaboration that grew from studying the products and interviewing store personnel, a process that generated a new body of work carrying as many small details within the surfaces as the fragrances carry within the perfumes.

December 2, 2024December 7, 2024, by Etty Yaniv

Louise P. Sloane: Optically charged text-ures

From an early age, Louise P. Sloane has been compelled by an intense fascination with how color and texture influence mood. “I was one of those art nerd kids who went nuts each time there was a new color crayon from Crayola!” she recalls, describing a childhood shaped by a relentless curiosity about different mediums and textures. Making art quickly became the dominant force in her life, guiding her on a creative journey that has spanned over fifty years.

April 26, 2024April 26, 2024, by Riad Miah

Farrell Brickhouse Looking Back at Tomorrow at JJ Murphy Gallery

New Bather, 2023, 20″ x 16″, oil, glitter on canvas

Farrell Brickhouse’s exhibition at JJ Murphy Gallery in the Lower East Side marks a significant milestone in Brickhouse’s artistic journey. It is his first solo exhibition at the gallery and his first one-person show in over a decade. The works on display, all created between 2020 and 2024 at his new home and studio in Hudson, NY, provide an insight into the artist’s evolution in painting and picture-making over this period.

March 23, 2024March 23, 2024, by Etty Yaniv

Kosuke Kawahara – Exotic Star at RAINRAIN

photo story

A room with paintings on the wall

Description automatically generated — Right: Kosuke Kawahara, Forever Waiting, 2018-2023, Oil color, encaustic, spray paint, ink, pencil, gesso on wood panel, 773⁄4 x 621⁄2 x 3⁄4 inches / 197.49 x 158.75 x 1.9 cm. Left: Kosuke Kawahara, New Poison, 2023-2024, Oil color, acrylic, encaustic, spray paint, ink, gesso on synthetic fabric, 311⁄4 x 261⁄4 x 11⁄4 inches / 79.38 x 66.68 x 3.18 cm

Kosuke Kawahara’s solo show at RAINRAIN represents a multi-faceted approach to materials, exploring what are conventional ways of organizing knowledge? Or, perhaps, how cosmic, biological, and cultural systems intersect? Throughout the paintings, I recognize forms resembling distorted body parts and hinted symbols from astronomy, depicted with oil paint, acrylic, chalk, spray paint, fabric, and wood. When Kawahara’s surfaces manifest their materiality—a patch of exposed woodgrain or a peel of paint revealing found fabric—they suggest the existence of other dimensions and bring me to question the characteristics of processes like reproduction and decay.

December 1, 2023November 27, 2023, by Etty Yaniv

Elizabeth Gilfilen: Denouement at Yi Gallery

In Dialogue

*Unearth,* 2023, oil on canvas, 64 x 72 inches

Elizabeth Gilfilen’s debut solo show at YI Gallery presents oil paintings that exhibit a meticulous yet bold exploration of color and texture. Her strokes span from boldly assertive to gently nuanced, each adding to her work’s visual depth and dynamic feel. Eschewing neat conclusions, her paintings are presented as evolving works, with each layer suggesting new narratives in an unfolding journey. The synergy of color and form in her paintings creates a dynamic tableau, inviting viewers to interact with the canvas, drawing them into the active narrative of the art’s continuous unfolding.

November 16, 2022November 15, 2022, by Alicia Puig

Love Letters to Paris: Ekaterina Popova at Cohle Gallery

Ekaterina Popova in her studio, Photo credit: Helena Raju

For the past several years, Philadelphia-based painter Ekaterina Popova has been exploring the theme of interiors in her work. The interest in this subject began as a way for her to reflect on her upbringing in Russia, but eventually evolved into a deeper investigation of the overall idea of “home” and what it means to her now. Her paintings highlight the warmth and beauty of lived-in domestic spaces, including items and objects that refer to a human presence without including the figure.

September 10, 2021September 10, 2021, by Lauren Krasnoff

Briana McLaurin: Unlearning Portraiture

Briana McLaurin in front of her painting titled, Hope, Love, and What Else…?, 2020, Oil, pencil, and sharpie on canvas, 40 x 30 in. Photo courtesy of the artist

Briana McLaurin takes on an intimate subject matter in her large scale oil paintings, as her practice primarily consists of painting her family members. Her vibrant portraits serve as a tribute to her own experiences and upbringing, while creating a relatable narrative that celebrates African American presence. The honesty and value of family are extremely present in McLaurin’s recent body of work, where she reflects on her relationships with loved ones by depicting intimate snapshots of domesticity.

November 26, 2019May 30, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Actual and Implied – Gregory Coates at Monica King Contemporary

Gregory Coates, My Big Brown Peace, 2019 deck brushes 76 x 252 x 3 inches

Each of Gregory Coates’s wall-based assemblages in Actual and Implied, the artist’s solo show at Monica King Contemporary, commands the space with its own powerful presence. Altogether, the show features over a dozen new mixed media assemblages made of found objects created with post-minimalist sensibility, for which Coates is mostly known for. It is a bold encounter with the objects of art at first, but the longer you look, the more subtle and fragile it becomes. The seemingly simple monochromatic surfaces from afar transform to complex arrays of color, line and dot from close-up.

November 9, 2018May 12, 2024, by Sharilyn Neidhardt

Color Matters at Galerie Richard

Color is a function of reflected light and it is intrinsic to everything we see. Color is also freighted with emotion for humans – certain colors can excite or depress us even without our awareness – teases, shouts, whispers, sings. Color can be fugitive or it may sound an alarm. As a painter and former paint-maker, color has been a lifelong obsession for me. It’s also the focus of a new, stunning group show at Galerie Richard on the Lower East Side.