On Lispenard Street
On December 11, when the little o was just a thought wafting through the air, I walked down Lispenard vaguely wondering if anyone might might appreciate a designer [...]
What Meets the Eye
The Bowery Bums
Loren Munk has performed a strange feat of reverse engineering. He has deconstructed his own paintings by curating a show of individual artworks from the artists listed on [...]
William Eckhardt Kohler: If I Were Going*
Since the OpeningUp, I’ve been looking for a show like this (without really knowing what I was looking for, of course.) I mean paintings that are thoughtful and somehow [...]
Jane Freilicher and Thomas Nozkowski Together
The strict may cavil, but not I. Pre-opening, the staff at the foundation were wondering how people might [...]
Some Painters of “Greater New York” at PS1
My filmmaker friend said, “Most of these artists don’t seem to be from New York.” But I said, “No, they are all New Yorkers, they just came from somewhere else.” [...]
Lisa Yuskavage and John Currin Tweak Again
To become a well-known (and well-paid) figurative painter, it takes a recognizable style and subject. Once that goal is achieved, haha, just keep doing it for the rest [...]
Immersive Van Gogh? Hell No!
If the painters—and the art critics—in this town gave a crap, we would be circling Lower Manhattan with placards decrying the abuse of our dear brother Vincent. Two [...]
Painting Shows in the Lower East Side
LES Gallery tour last week left me dispirited. Post hiatus and after experiencing some but not all (thank god!) of the effects of the Covid Era, I want more. Most of the [...]
Matt Bollinger’s American Tragedy
Bollinger’s paintings are animated by a combination of sharp edges and soft transitions, bright lights and dark shadows, and a contrast between silhouettes and delineated [...]
I like Albers and Morandi—But Not Together
…because they are so elegant and so tastefully presented that I keep imagining a living room in shades of ecru with earth-toned pillows. The concept of the curator seems to [...]