Anthony Caro, British sculptor dies...

Anthony Caro, 'Early One Morning' 1962

Anthony Caro, British sculptor dies..here is a geat little video here from the RA show a few years ago..

What I think is interesting about Caro, is that he studies engineering, eventually took up sculpture in a figurative style, became an assistant to Henry Moore, travels to America, realises his direction is through abstraction from visiting Kenneth Noland and David Smith, changes direction when he comes back and still makes it as a British sculptor in the UK!

'Painting's dead!' (again..) Ryan Sullivan at Sadie Coles/Basil Beatie, Jerwood Gallery, London..

Ryan Sullivan, 'January 30, 2013 - February 11, 2013'

These are great works by the American artist Ryan Sullivan currently being shown at Sadie Coles HQ, London. These show a loosening up of our current 'Richteresque' aesthetic needs, into a new open and expansive possibilities, this show is on until 2nd November. Much has been written over the years about the 'Death of Painting' and to be honest it's poor art journalism to even go there now, it's not dead, it hasn't died and never will, it's been around since man/woman spread pigment on the cave wall and it would be arrogant to suggest we've moved on from those basic unconscious needs and wants felt then, even in the 21st Century.

 

Ryan Sullivan 'July 6, 2013 - July 26, 2013'

Ryan Sullivan 'June 3, 2013 - June 22, 2013'

 

There is a fascinating article in The Art Newspaper this week,  that touches on the resurgence of painting, in 'Paint, canvas, action!' see it here. and below is an extract from Sadie Coles Press Release:

 

'In his first exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ, Ryan Sullivan presents a series of new large-scale paintings. The exhibition marks the inauguration of Sadie Coles HQ’s new gallery on Kingly Street. Sullivan’s singular painting style arises from an open-ended process that is focused on the physical properties of his media. Each canvas bears witness to its making – asserting the dynamic movements and mutations of its raw materials.'
 

 These works are also an example of someone at the top of there game through selection of nuances and surface and a continuing questioning of the processes used. Unfortunately, I don't feel the same about the current show of Basil Beatie's at Jerwood Space, where they are busy comparing him to Rothko and Guston, he's not in the same league in my books and they've got his old mate Mel to big him up..(yawn).....

“These new paintings are exhilarating: terrifically energetic, urgent and mysterious... Beattie is in full flight.” - Mel Gooding, Guest Curator

see what you think? Let us know..

 

Basil Beattie, Ascent, 2012 © the artist

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spotlight on: Erin Lawlor, George Lawson Gallery, San Francisco

Some gorgeous exploration of the viscosity of oil paint here at George Lawson Gallery...

Erin Lawlor, Untitled 15 (cat. no. ERL15) 2012
oil on linen
26 x 19.5 in.

 

Erin Lawlor, Those Hats (cat. no. ERL29) 2013
oil on linen
63.75 x 51 in. (162 x 129.5 cm.)

 

Beirut artist, Saloua Raouda Choucair at Tate Modern, London

There is a very powerful exhibition by the Beirut artist Saloua Raouda Choucair curated by Jessica Morgan. An unknown artist largely in the international scene and now suffering from Alzheimer's disease. There  are beautiful sculptures in polished wood, see below..

 



Saloua Raouda Choucair, Poem 1963–5, © Saloua Raouda Choucair Foundation

and abstract paintings that suggest her early influence of European abstraction, she once worked in Leger's studio in Paris.

 



Saloua Raouda Choucair, Composition in Blue Module 1947–51 © Saloua Raouda Choucair Foundation

Also the work bellows still retains the glass fragments from an exploded bomb outside her studio apartment in Beirut..
 

Saloua Raouda Choucair, Two=One 1947-1951 © Saloua Raouda Choucair Foundation

 

Panel discussion: Painting in New York in the 1970's, Mary Heilmann...

The 1970's started in 1968..

Karel Appel painting

"Gerhard Richter Painting" by Corinna Belz

Video: JOAN MITCHELL: The Last Decade at Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, LA

A great little video of the exhibition of a couple of years ago. Cheim and Read have brought Joan Mitchell to London to new audiences recently. If you get a chance, I recently re-watched a great little film made of Joan Mitchell the year she died, which explores her last brilliant works and looks back on her career and the issues she had as a women and American painter living in France...

 

Joan Mitchell: Portrait of an Abstract painter by Marion Cajori, www.arthousefilmsonline.com

Against The Grain 2: Interview with Helen Frankenthaler

Against The Grain: Helen Frankenthaler collection of woodcut prints, National Gallery of Australia, Sydney

This a great collection of the subtle woodcut prints exploring abstraction of the late Helen Frankenthaler at National Gallery of Australia.

Frankenthaler standing in front of Freefall October 1992 photo: Marabeth Cohen-Tyler

For exhibition walk through click here.

 

Abstraction in The EY Exhibition: Paul Klee at Tate Modern, London

A new exhibition on the modernist works of the Swiss painter, Paul Klee is about to take place at Tate Modern this month. The exhibition entitled The EY Exhibition: Paul Klee, charts his development from his early years to his most prolific when working in the late 1920's and early 30's at the Bauhaus and beyond. The show runs from the 16th October until 9th March next year and is a steep £16.50 for entry (only £14.50 for Concessions, sorry art students, this will be expensive).

Paul Klee, Fire at Full Moon 1933 Museum Folkwang (Essen, Germany)

The Tate states: 'Witty, inventive, magical, his exquisite paintings resist easy classification. He is mentioned in the same breath as Matisse, Picasso and his Bauhaus contemporary Kandinsky. He cuts a radical figure in European modernism. His influence on abstraction can be seen in the works of Rothko, Miró and beyond. And yet, for an artist of such stature, there is still so much to discover about him.'

 

However, he is the master of beautiful and subtle paintings playing in and out of abstraction. These paintings are often much smaller than you think when you finally see them in the flesh. I am sure this will be a powerful exhibition and a re-evaluation of his work.

 

We'd be interested in what visitors have thought of the show..

Amy Silman at Campoli Presti

A Shape That Listens: new drawings
18 October – 15 December 2012 
Campoli Presti Paris

The show features fourteen new drawings along with one painting by Amy Silman.

A Shape that Stands Up and Listens #2, 2012 
Ink, gouache, pencil, chalk, charcoal on paper 
76.2 x 60 cm / 30 x 22 inches

Installation view, Campoli Presti, Paris

The mood is distinctly different from Amy's Thumb Cinema exhibition.