Lesley Vance - Slipstream a Xavier Hutkens - Through July 17th, 2021

With light, depth and seemingly airborne movement, Lesley Vance’s paintings invite us to experience visual momentum. The work in her solo, Slipstream, at Xavier Hutkens highlights Vance’s skill for using rich hues and muscular mark-making, evident as our eyes flow effortlessly throughout the various compositions allowing for a fluid experience from painting to painting. Seen alone or as a series, the gestural impact and illusionary depth allows Vance’s work to continually inspire a means of visual escape and renewal, a reward that will multiply well into the future as her art gains eyes.  
The show runs through July 17.

See the Sky, T.L. Solien - Nemeth Art Center  May 1st - July 17th, 2021

TL Solien's elastic imagination is one that is difficult to ignore once experienced as the imagery unfailingly delights.  Packed to the brim with clever content, the appeal lies within his random yet  seemingly  logical narrations that humorously play out ideas percolating in the artists mind.  Lead by characters who appear to look the way they feel inside, each composition comes to life with  gemlike colors and a melody of both abstract and recognizable activity that act as props to the story at hand.  All in all, TL’s work is genuine to the core and this exhibition is one that pays tribute to his lasting contributions within the visual culture, both the mid-west and beyond, as TL is highly regarded as a visionary worthy of praise

TL is currently showing work at the  Nemeth Art Center.  The exhibit, titled See the Sky, is a compact survey of Solien’s career thus far, curated by Christopher Atkins.

Keltie Ferris, Feeeeeling - Micthell Iness and Nash, April 16th - May 29th, 2021

Viewing the work of Keltie Ferris is a trip for the eyes and this is especially the case in his new show, Feeeeeling at Mitchell-Iness and Nash.  A  range of techniques are presented, all rendered by Keltie’s capable hands.  The show consists of three distinct abstract techniques that together, feel like kin in spirit.

Many of the paintings are seen through a  painterly chromatic haze that floats upon the surface, leading the eye to a space of  bold pixilated form beneath.  A  technique that  allows for a similar experience to the mind awakening from a deep sleep where dreaminess and clarity co-exist, something similar to hypangoia.  The addition of four grisaille pieces are a mark makers dream, with wild graphite application  fully contained within a colorful boarder.  At first these pieces felt manic to me,  but after sitting with them for a bit,  they reveal themselves in extraordinary  ways.  Your eye will surely guide you.  A third style (did I mention he was a capable painter?) is pretty clever.   Applying color to canvas and pressing the wet canvas on a newly stretched canvas, Keltie repeats this step to build a wonderful surface where he then adds spray paint in a way that brings a softness to the show as they feel more tame in content and stylistic approach.   Three styles that prove Keltie is a wizard with paint with an innate  ability to turn  changes of styles into an event of substantial proportion. 

Ana Benaroya - Carl Kostyal April 4th - May 10th, 2021

I have been watching the work of some incredible female figurative painters and taking extreme joy in the  compelling characters that are showing up,  from the free spirited and fearless Fatabe by Ebecho Muslimova to the  unapologetic and powerfully raw self portraits by Eva Beresin.     Ana Benaroya is one of the more recent additions to the growing list and has quickly become a strong player with shows  in numerous cities around the world.   Her most recent at Carl Kostyl gallery, The Passenger,  tackles the way women have been portrayed, specifically in automobile culture.  Here instead of the usual portrayal of the female as sex object and commercial lure, we are able to witness women with alarming muscle, powerful in pose and bold in  spirit.  The car becomes a mere accessory, a tool used by the female protagonist as a prop for her epic stature.  A nice change and one I will not tire of seeing anytime soon.  

Passenger is on view until May 10th and can be seen both IRL and virtually. Don’t miss this one.  Ana is incredible!

Emma Soucek - Parrasch Heijen  April 7th - 28th, 2021.

Emma Soucek takes construction paper to a precious state through a transformative process, mutating the material and proving its potential is much more potent than imagined.  Through some clever manipulation, this fabricated material is made raw again, an undoing in order to reimagine new possibilities. Emma takes the newly realized raw material and makes it dance with colorful reinterpretations, showing pulp as a powerful emotive surface.  Color is integral to her vision as much as the surface and its voice is strong, carrying emotional weight and depth in both its  bold and faded presence. The result is perceptually uplifting and visually engaging, as well as a reminder that materiality is as much a part of the art experience as the content.  

Claire Grill There’s the Air -  DerekEller  March 25 - April 24, 2021

Clare Grill shows incredible strength both personally and in her painting practice with her new show at Derek Eller Gallery.  Produced during a time of extreme weight and fragility for the artist,  one would expect to feel a heaviness in the work,  however, these paintings are not about that. The work is rich with layers of soft color that breath in and out of visibility.   Inspired in content and style by antique commemorative documents like birth certificates and embroidered samplers, elements of color and form present themselves quietly as if we are seeing the imagery under shallow film of water or through a smoke filled lens.   Tender and awe inducing,  each piece holds a name and this is where the artist points to her own recent  experience.  It is the naming of the work that delivers the message as names are used as mental placeholders for those no longer with us.  This idea of naming acts as a reference to the artist's own experience with miscarriage and loss and   provides the viewer a means for accessing a healing space to insert their own.  Even more, this work, along with the artist’s words for the exhibit, elevates a necessary  awareness of an issue many women find too heavy to tell.

This show runs through April 24th.  Hop online for a virtual viewing.   IRL viewing also available.

Fabienne Lasserre - Turn Gallery opening March 10th - April 

Fabienne Lasserre shows us an alternative path to access feeling with, Eye Contact, her new show  @turngallery.    The work activates the space through bold painterly abstraction situated in dialogue with  transparent color-field surfaces.  A mix that recalls the light filled sculptures of Larry Bell as well as the painterly abstract configurations by Mary Heilmann.    This opposition of material and form has an effect that fills the room with perceptual activity and life.  Hovering out of time with only color and medium to narrate the scene,  we are able to connect intuitively  to these chromatic bodies as color is a universal language.    At once energetic but also contemplative, the strength of Fabienne’s work  is felt in the way it challenges our senses and floods our emotions, showing s us a new way of engaging with abstract elements of color and material as a vehicle for personal revelation and thought.

Off the Wall at SFMOMA - March 3rd - September 7th 2021

@sfmoma Associate Curator of Photography, Erin O’Toole, has put together a  new exhibit, Off the Wall: Photography Beyond the Frame, @SFMOMA.  This exhibit shines a light on photography’s ability to extend beyond  expectations, transforming  the space into a 3D threshold for a multitude of experiences. By featuring photography on non traditional surfaces and through new configurations, the idea of photography is expanded upon, adding a new layer of elastic to the idea of what is possible.     The exhibiting artists vary in process and idea but have the unifying interest in taking photography to a new level by giving the viewer agency through perceptual involvement.  The artists listed;  Dayanita Singh, Sarah Sze, Oliver Chanarin, Liz Deschenes, and Lieko Shiga, all of whom compel through their own unique conceptual practices.  

The show is up through September

Petra Cortright - Predator Swamping - 1301PE, February 13 - March 27 2021

There is no doubt that there is a surge of art that is dependent on the the Internet as medium, often times reflecting on the technological process itself.   This more current form of making that has been heavily influenced by a number of tech artists, including the profound work of Petra Corttright.  For her third solo show at 1301, Petra takes us into her 2020 mindset with a new body of work, Predator Swamping.  The work is created in photoshop and printed on Belgium linen featuring images of landscapes sourced from the internet.  Petra adds her sophisticated touch to the images, digitally painting in a way that adds layers of  intrigue to the existing image.  For the first time, Petra also incorporated a full on black and white to the mix, adding an additional layer to the idea of isolation felt during lockdown.  However, it appears from the work on view that Petra is happy to be alone in creativity mode.  The work feels fresh and vibrant.  An indication that this down time may have felt necessary, at least for for this forward thinking mind.

Erin O'Keefe - Seventeen Gallery January- February 7th, 2021

Through perceptual enlightenment, Erin O’Keefe’s work offers a means of communicating through ambiguity in scale and abstract compositions, while paying a nod to the influence of architecture on her practice. Each piece begins as a ‘still life’ with forms (wood blocks are common) composed and hand painted by O’Keefe. Once the composition and colors are actualized, the set up is photographed only to be dismantled. What remains is an image of the once existing sculptural concept, now a 2D image. The transformative process from 3D to 2D allows the imagery to act like elastic, revealing itself slowly as nuances in color, light and form shake up our interpretation while magnifying our viewing experience . It is through O’Keefe’s ambiguous formal relationships that our imagination, left to its own devices, fills in the blanks of what is seen and what might be possible for those willing to take in all the visual cues.  

Certain Things is on view at Seventeen Gallery through February 7th. Check it out virtually while its still up.

The Current: Eric Sall Philbrook Museum January 10th - April 12th, 2020 The Current: Eric Sall explores the colorful abstractions of Tulsa-based artist Eric Sall and how a transformative—and performative—event, in which he participated in 2018 augmented his risk-taking in abstract painting. In October of last year, Philbrook and the Tulsa Ballet collaborated to create an innovative, original ballet in which Sall created a live, gestural painting on stage while dancers in black-and-white costumes—created to reflect Sall’s abstract shapes and wave-like marks—spun the painter and his canvas across the stage on a rolling platform. This 22-minute event staged in the Philbrook gardens pushed Sall to experiment with quick-drying acrylics and to extend his practice into the performative realm. Since creating his Pentaptych suite on stage, the artist has turned increasingly toward the use of opaque, hard-edged geometries and images, which he overlays on top of gestural waves of diaphanous color. The Current will combine ballet paintings, costumes, a video of the 2018 event, and newer, large-scale works that energetically weave references to movement, popular culture, textiles, and design. As they walk through the upper level of the Villa Philbrook, visitors will experience this historic and domestically-scaled space like never before, newly enlivened with contemporary paintings inspired by action and dance in the Philbrook gardens.

Tabitha Soren Davis Museum at Wellesley February 7th - June 9th, 2019 Tabitha Soren’s Surface Tension intervenes into the cool, disembodied, transactional relationships we conduct with our digital devices—and meddles with the “neutrality” of the information we receive through them. Her subjects are united by a focus on touch, reinstating the haptic as an essential aspect of humanity, and the images carry a charge that is at once familiar and uncanny. Soren shoots iPad screens with an 8 x 10 view camera under raking light to reveal the grime we leave behind—the fingerprints and greasy smears of our embodied selves, so seemingly at odds with the chilly detachment and objectivity of the information that flows towards us, unrelentingly. The photographs are titled simply as urls, bringing viewers back to the “original” of the image while signaling both instantaneity and mediation. Soren’s pictures are rendered with painterly detail, luscious and beautiful, by virtue of the surface mess posed in contrast to the discernible subjects that emerge below. The project is simple, suggestive, and transformational. It not only considers “how people consume, manipulate, dismiss, cherish, interact with image-driven content online—and the relentless layering that accompanies this experience,” but insists that we pause to reconsider too. Curated by Lisa Fischman, Ruth Gordon Shapiro ‘37 Director of the Davis, the exhibition is generously supported by Wellesley College Friends of Art at the Davis, the Alice Gertrude Spink Art Fund (1963), and the Anonymous '70 Endowed Davis Museum Program Fund.

Kim Keever Figge Art Museum February 9th - May 12th 2019 The word sublime in art history is often used to refer to scenes whose magnitude and splendor inspire awe and wonder, but also a twinge of fear. Artist Kim Keever manages to create such scenes within the confines of a fish tank. Using his engineering background in fluid dynamics, Kim Keever takes photographs of compositions he creates using various paints and inks added to the water inside a 200-gallon tank to produce compelling atmospheric effects. Through the combination of handmade diorama elements, carefully orchestrated lighting, and the uncontrollable effects created by paints dissipating in the water, a bizarre landscape appears in front of Kim Keever’s lens. The resulting large scale photographs have often been compared to the paintings of the Hudson River School and simultaneously feel like an image of an aquarium, a primordial landscape, and a vision of a post-apocalyptic future. Kim Keever lives and works in New York City. His work can be found in numerous collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Hirshhorn National Museum of Modern Art in Washington DC.

Rachel Hayes Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art July 4th - December 30th Hayes’s fabric structures explore color theory, quilting, pattern making and modern design. They often respond to specific sites ranging from outdoor settings to interior architectural spaces. She has been collaborating with Italian fashion house Missoni for a series of installations since 2017. Hayes will take over The CityWay Gallery curated by iMOCA with a floor to ceiling installation similar to current installations at 108 Contemporary and the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa (OK). “I have created textile panels that reveal and conceal one other, beckoning viewers to walk through the unfolding landscape of textiles, and notice new perspectives through the layers of fabrics,” says Hayes. She hopes to create an intimate moment of personal space within the gallery. Her monolithic works are vibrant with color, supple and looming, yet they yield to touch, and are not meant to intimidate, but embolden.

Eric Sall Ballet in the Gardens September 14th - 29th Eric will be painting on stage for the first major collaboration between Tulsa Ballet and Philbrook Museum of Art on September 29th. The event will feature new choreography by Ma Cong and Music by Ryan Lott.

Henry Jackson Seattle Art Fair 2018 Henry Jackson will be featured at the Seattle Art Fair with Stewart Gallery dealer, Stephanie Wilde. Work will include both Oil Paintings and works on paper including his painting, Salva, which has been featured at the Palo Alto Art Center's exhibition, Spectral Hues, in 2016.

Kim Keever Georgia O'Keefe and Contemporary Art May 26th - September 3rd - Crystal Bridges Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind exhibition, developed by and debuting at Crystal Bridges. Featuring paintings, sculptures, works on paper, photographs, site-specific installations and more, in The Beyond, you’ll enjoy the renowned artwork of Georgia O’Keeffe while discovering a new generation of American artists working today.

Ward Schumaker Book Publication - Hate is What We Need On March 27th, Chronicle Books will release Ward Schumaker's book of paintings titled, "Hate is What We Need". This book translates the political context of our current moment into visceral works of art. Schumaker turns some of Donald Trump’s most egregious statements into emphatic text-based paintings. Hate Is What We Need reminds us that no matter how numb we have become to the constant barrage of vitriol and dishonesty emanating from the current White House, this state of the union is not normal. afterward for Hate Is What We Need I am an artist, a painter––of books. Big, messy, one-of-a-kind hand-painted books. Frequently containing stenciled lettering, sloppy calligraphy, approaching and often accomplishing incomprehensibility. Subject of these books? Beauty, for the most part, but including snippets of spiritual texts, fragments of dreams, and apparently irrelevant and/or inscrutable instructions. Not for the reader in search of plot, betterment, or popular imagery. And nothing political. Never anything political. But then the night of horror arrived, that night in which the world itself became less comprehensible than many of us had previously assumed (and hoped) it to be: the night Donald J. Trump was elected president of the United States. Not with a majority (we all know Hillary won that) but an officially authorized win, nevertheless––a frightening, disheartening, dangerous and destructive win. Since that night, my wife and I have awoken each day with the questions we share with so many: what new horror had Donald committed while we slept, what vile inanity had he voiced, who had become his latest victim? How much closer was the world to nuclear holocaust? My personal vision of Beauty had always seemed sufficient subject for my painting. Living under Trump seems to have changed that. This book is a small effort to respond to Trump's menace: a collection of hard-to-believe, highly regrettable, dangerous, mean-spirited and ill-informed words from the orange-faced comb-over, himself. I am certain to have missed some of your favorites, and I am certain that each week there will be more statements that deserve to be included. All I can answer to that is: Resist.