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Painters' Table: Top 10 Best Posts, September 2011

Given the abundance of great exhibitions it's not surprising that there were plenty of excellent painting posts in September. Ten fantastic posts are below, and you can find more daily at, the magazine of the painting blogosphere.
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Painter, Editor, painters-table.com

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Painting dominated the art scene in September, anchored by MoMA's Willem de Kooning retrospective exhibition. As Art in America editor Lindsay Pollock noted in the September edition, the show "rallied our attention to painting." Indeed, de Kooning's work has never before been seen in such depth. The retrospective, which closes January 9, 2012, is a must-see.

Don't stop at de Kooning; go straight to Chelsea and discover a lesser-known Abstract Expressionist master, Milton Resnick. A contemporary of de Kooning, Resnick's paintings on view at Cheim & Read (through October 29th) are moving, immersive abstractions. A must-read this month is painter David Reed's remembrance of Resnick as a teacher.

As singular and transporting as the de Kooning and Resnick exhibitions are (and you really should try to see them back-to-back), superior painting exhibitions were everywhere in New York last month, from Agnes Martin and Frederick Hammersley in Chelsea to Loren Munk and Carrie Moyer on the Lower East Side. Great shows opened abroad too, such as John Martin at the Tate Britain and Rothko in Britain at the Whitechapel Art Gallery to name only two.

Given the abundance of great exhibitions it's not surprising that there were plenty of excellent painting posts in September. Ten fantastic posts are below, and you can find more daily at Painters' Table, the magazine of the painting blogosphere.

Painters' Table: Top 10 Best Posts, September 2011
Nathan Oliveira's Final Visions(01 of11)
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Nathan Oliveira Applying a wash, late 2010 (Photo Credits: Works of art © The Estate of Nathan Oliveira, Other Photos courtesy of Joe Oliveira)

John Seed writes about Nathan Oliveira's last works which will be on view at John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco from September 8 - October 22, 2011.

Seed notes: "In the last year and half of Oliveira's life, there were wonderful developments in the studio. 'The old Nathan came back,' says Joe Oliveira, 'the guy who wanted to be in the studio every day. He couldn't wait to get back in there; something new and beautiful was happening.' Starting with rich, abstract washes of color, Oliveira was again inspired to conjure up haunting, solitary figures."

Read the full article on the Huffington Post
Philip Guston's Recklessness(02 of11)
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Philip Guston, Signals, 1975, Cincinnati Art Museum, Bequest of Musa Guston (source:aeqai.com)

Kim Krause ponders Philip Guston's painting Signals, 1975, in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Krause writes: "the painting presents a visual paradox of the artist’s inseparability of knowing/not knowing; the painting as result, sum, residue of action and real-time experience. Planning and execution become intertwined. Process and object become fused. It is a display of virtuosity and recklessness in the pursuit of truth. We become the explored and the explorer; simultaneously lost and found within the authentic."

Read the full post on AEqai
Jered Sprecher: Interview(03 of11)
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Jered Sprecher, Doves Pigeons, 2011, oil on linen, 48 x 36 inches (source: paintersbread.com)

Michael Rutherford interviews painter Jered Sprecher. About his painting process Sprecher notes: "The paintings are not planned out; in effect I am constantly introducing contingencies to each work. Limits and unexpected occurrences are barriers to be embraced, challenged, and creatively addressed. If I look at the logic that resides in a particular painting or work of art, there is what is known and unknown. It is that play between the two that creates a poetic challenge that we have to wrestle with..."

Jered Sprecher: Als Ick Kan was recently on view at Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston.

Read the full post on Painter's Bread
Edward Hopper in Maine(04 of11)
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Edward Hopper, Blackhead, Monhegan, 1916-19, oil on panel, Whitney Museum of American Art, Josephine N. Hopper Bequest (source: yankeemagazine.com)

Ed Beem reviews the recent exhibition Edward Hopper's Maine at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

Beem writes that the stars of the exhibition (which was designed by painter Alex Katz) are "30 small oils Hopper did on Monhegan Island over the summers of 1916-19. Littoral jewels, the little Monhegan landscapes, all about a foot in any dimension, are refreshing in their modesty. They are paintings painted for people, not institutions, art meant to be lived with not stored and studied to death."

Read the full post on Just Looking: New England Art/ Yankee Magazine
Ann Pibal: 'DRMN'(05 of11)
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Ann Pibal, FLS2, 2011 (courtesy: Meulensteen Gallery)

Caleb De Jong reviews Ann Pibal 'DRMN' at Meulensteen Gallery, New York on view through October 8, 2011.

De Jong writes: "While small, the work is not diminutive. Quietness leads to concentration that is parcel to the fundamental act of looking... Self-described as intuitive, her work is not painted linearly, but instead is made and remade, albeit carefully. Elliptical avenues of creation differentiate her from an overly strict formalist painting ethos."

Read the full review on Thoughts That Cure Radically
Clint Jukkala: In Conversation(06 of11)
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Clint Jukkala, Inside Out, 2010, oil and acrylic on canvas, 18 x 22 inches (courtesy Giampietro Gallery)

[VIDEO] Zachary Keeting and Christopher Joy talk with painter Clint Jukkala at his exhibition of new paintings Even If and Especially When recently on view at Giampietro Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut.

Watch the interview on Gorky's Granddaughter
Carrie Moyer: Interview(07 of11)
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Carrie Moyer, Into the Woods, 2011. Acrylic, glitter on canvas, 72 × 72 inches (courtesy CANADA Gallery)

Carrie Moyer discusses her career and work in an extensive interview with Phong Bui.

Moyer notes: "...even though I am naturally more comfortable making big paintings, the smaller ones have been a way for me to get ideas out on the canvas without giving into my tendency to overwork the surface. I have been interested in creating a seamless surface, a kind of inevitability, and I don't like having so much of the pentimenti show from underneath. That is starting to change in the new work and the paint surfaces are becoming much more built up, almost sculptural."

Carrie Moyer: Canonical was recently on view at CANADA gallery, New York .

Read the full interview on the Brooklyn Rail
Stephen Mueller (1947-2011)(08 of11)
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Stephen Mueller, Untitled (NYC, 2011), 2011, watercolor and gouache on paper, 12 x 12 inches, Courtesy of Lennon, Weinberg (source:artcritical.com)

David Cohen remembers painter Stephen Mueller, who passed away on September 16, 2011 at the age of 63.

Cohen writes: "In his mature work – which was characterized by vibrant yet ingeniously modulated color choices and increment-free paint surfaces (or in the case of watercolor, ethereal yet sumptuous stain) – the imagery manages to be at once cosmic and decorative... he traded in a kind of tantric gaiety that could collapse the boundaries between kitsch and the sublime."

Read the full post on Artcritical
David Reed on Milton Resnick(09 of11)
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Milton Resnick, Untitled,1988, Oil on canvas, 45 x 75 inches (courtesy: Cheim & Read gallery)

Painter David Reed remembers Milton Resnick on the occasion of the exhibition Milton Resnick, The Elephant in the Room on view at Cheim & Read from September 22 - October 29, 2011.

Reed writes: "Resnick told us that we had to decide between two ways of being painters. You could either “climb the ladder of art, struggle and sacrifice to make great works,” or “get on the moving belt, just move, you and the painting which equals your brain.” It took me a long time to figure out that he disapproved of the first and approved of the second. He told us that, as younger painters, we should put on “the shirt of Abstract Expressionism.” Each of us would then have to admit, “I can’t understand this shirt. It doesn’t fit my mind.” Only that way would we get on the moving belt."

Read the full article at Art in America
Emily Gherard: Interview(10 of11)
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Emily Gherard, Untitled, 2009, oil on canvas on board, 24 x 24 inches (source: gherard.com/)

Interview with painter Emily Gherard about her work and influences.

Gherard says: "The painting or drawing begins with an idea of a particular form and how it might fit in the space of the painting but as the work continues what keeps me in the piece is manipulating the materials... I look for when the use of materials adds more information, clarity and definition to the original idea."

Read the full interview on Studio Critical
(11 of11)
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Catch up on what's new in painting everyday. Painters' Table features daily posts from around the painting blogosphere.

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