As Winter Wanes, Color Blooms

Un-Fair at at Sikkema Jenkins: Kay Rosen, Prismism, 2020, colored pencil on paper, app 22 x 30 inches

(Exhibition closed)

I spent a much needed several days  looking at art in Chelsea, the Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Bushwick. There was a lot of spirit-lifting color on the walls. Within its chromatic embrace, one could see geometry, reductive rigor, provisional playfulness, bold brushwork, sumptuous surface, sculptural construction, and allover patterning in paint, fiber, wood, and paper. Here’s a look at some of what I saw. Some of the group and solo shows remain ongoing, while others have closed. Most of the various exhibitions’ images can be seen online.   

Doug Ohlson: Paintings from the 1980s at Washburn Gallery, Chelsea
Exhibition up through April 3

Lost Child, 1986, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches

Cool Blue, 1981, oil and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 inches; Harlequin, 1983, acrylic on canvas, 

76 x 104 inches

Below: Detail of Harlequin

Close Tone, 1984, oil and acrylic on canvas, 62 x 60 inches; Untitled, 1985, acrylic on canvas, 32 x 33 inches

Below: side view of Untitled

. . . . . .

Eccentric Color at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, Chelsea

Group exhibition with Celia Johnson, Conny Goeltz Schmitt, and Fran Shalom 

Exhibition up through March 27

At Kathryn Markel: Conny Goelz Schmitt, Long Haul, 2020, vintage book parts, 16 x 16 x 4 inches

At Kathryn Markel: Main gallery, three paintings by Fran Shalom

Below: Shalom's Amplify and Encounter, both 2020, oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches

Moving clockwise around the gallery: Fran Shalom, Dastardly, 2020, oil on canvas; Celia Johnson, Seanoir, 2020, acrylic on panel

At Kathryn Markel: Celia Johnson, clockwise from top left: Na Fuire L, Comhra, Na Fuire LI, Cumasc, all 2020, acrylic on panel, 24 x 21 inches

View exhibition catalog 

. . . . . .

Martha Clippinger: Textiles & Objects at Elizabeth Harris Gallery, Chelsea

Exhibition up through April 17

Above: Spiral, 2021, machine pieced and hand-quilted reclaimed fabrics

Below: reverse side

Cuadricula Quilt, 2019, machine pieced and hand-quilted cotton and polyester; right, Ups and Downs, 2021, acrylic on wood

Below: Detail of Cuadricula

Connection, 2021, acrylic on wood, 22 x 5.5 x .5 inches

Step Fret #3, 2020, hand-dyed wool, woven by Licha Gonzalez Ruiz and Augustin Contreras Lopez, 58 x 37.5 inches

. . . . . .

Distinctive/Instinctive: Postwar Abstract Painting at Michael Rosenfeld Art
Group exhibition up through April 10

Above: Charmion von Wiegand, Vajrayana, 1969, oil on canvas

Below: Installation view of Untitled and Vajrayana

Charmion von Weigand, Untitled, 1952, oil on canvas

Distinctive/Instinctive: Postwar Abstract Painting at Michael Rosenfeld Art, Chelsea: 
William T. Williams, Walter's Advice, 1970, acrylic on canvas

Distinctive/Instinctive: Postwar Abstract Painting at Michael Rosenfeld Art, Chelsea: 
Sam Gilliam, Untitled, 1970, acrylic an dye pigments on canvas

Distinctive/Instinctive: Postwar Abstract Painting at Micahel Rosenfeld Art, Chelsea: 
Alma Thomas, Red Rambling Rose Spring Song, 1976, acrylic on canvas, 58 x 35.25 inches

. . . . . .

At The Word for World is Forest at Essex Flowers, Chinatown, curated by Linnea Vedder

Group exhibition up through March 28

Above: Nancy Azara, Rhubarb Portrait, 2018, carved and painted wood and canvas

Detail below

. . . . . .

Thread at Foxy Production, Chinatown: Ulrike Muller, Rug (con triangulos), 2015, wool, handwoven in the workshop of Jeronimo and Josefina Hernandez Ruiz, 86 x 64.75 inches
Group exhibition up through March 21

. . . . . .

Selections from Un-Fair at Sikkema Jenkins, Chelsea, group exhibition now closed
Above: Cameron Martin, Mr. Mr., 2020, acrylic on canvas, 75 x 60 inches

Un-Fair at Sikkema Jenkins: Sheila Hicks, foreground, Procope 2, 2020, various fibers, 16 x 16 x 8 inches; William Cordoba, Untitled, 2020; enamel, paper collage, gold leaf on paper, 130.25 x 90 inches

Cordoba detail below

Un-Fair at Sikkema Jenkins: Three by Cameron Martin, all permanent marker on paper, 11 x 9 inches. Above: Reticulation, 2019

Reticulation, 2017

Reticulation, 2016

Un-Fair at Sikkema Jenkins: Zipora Fried

Un-Fair at Sikkema Jenkins: Kay Rosen, Spectrum, 2020, acrylic gouache on watercolor paper, 24 x 20.75 inches

. . . . . .

Shift 2021, group show at Thatcher Projects: Installation view with William Badur and Nobu Fukui

Shift 2021 at Thatcher Projects: Nobu Fukui, Majestic, beads and mixed media on canvas over panel, 48 x 48 inches

Detail below

Shift 2021 at Thatcher Projects: Omar Chacon, Ich Operatica, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 26 inches

Detail below

Shift 2021 at Thatcher Projects: Cheonae Kim, clockwise from top left: Luna's Day, Luna's Day, Jupiter's Day, Mars's Day, all 2020 or 2021, flashe on panel, 16 x 16 inches

Shift 2021 at Thatcher Projects: three by Frank Badur

Above: #D12-25, 2012, all pencil and gouache on paper, 12 x 8.5 inches
Below: #D12-29, 2012

Below: #D12-20, 2012

. . . . . .

Two exhibitions at the Milton Resnik/Pat Passlof Foundation, Lower East Side, both curated by Geoffrey Dorfman

If you haven't been to this venue, 

you must visit. Located in a former synagogue that had been Milton Resnick's studio, the three-story building has 

been renovated to house the work 

of the late artist and his partner, Pat Passlof, as well as to exhibit 

the works of contemporary artists. 

(Passlof had her own former synagogue 

a few blocks over; the proceeds from its sale helped with the renovation and to maintain the Foundation.)

This image is from the Foundation website.

Pat Passlof, Memory of P., 1977

Detail below

Installation view of The One and the Many: Rosaire Appel, Brett Baker, Ruth Ann Fredenthal, Marcia Hafif, Alan Kleiman, Howard Smith, curated by Geoffrey Dorfman. Image from the Foundation website. Exhibition is up through March 27

Above, from left: Marcia Hafif, Brett Baker, Ruth Ann Fredenthal

Images of work by all the artists are viewable here

Marcia Hafif, Mass Tone Painting: Hansa Yellow, March 12, 1974

Brett Baker, Evening Reflection 1, 2016

Detail below

Howard Smith, Universe #30, 1991-2020

A few individual works below

. . . . . .

At Marc Strauss, Lower East Side: Otis Jones, Red Oxide with Blue Circle, 2020, acrylic on linen, 36 x 36 x 4 inches diameter and depth. Exhibition is up through April 18

Side view below

. . . . . .

Cordy Ryman: Constellations, at Freight & Volume, Lower East Side

Exhibition up through April 4

Detail below

Another wall of  works

Detail below

Also from the exhibition, but no info available (app 60 x 60 inches)

Detail below

. . . . . .

Sharon Butler: Morning in America at Theodore Art, Bushwick. Exhibition has closed (and gallery is moving to Tribeca)

Above, left wall viewed from the entry: November 19;  Favorite-April 17, 2019; May 29, 2018; Mueller Report (January 11, 2017), all oil on canvas

Favorite-April 17, 2019, 2019, oil on canvas, 52 x 42 inches

Detail below

Right wall viewed from the entry, with a selection of works shown below

March 8, 2020, 2021, oil on canvas, 12 x 12 inches

May 9, 2019, 2020, oil on canvas, 12 x 12 inches

February 13, 2019, 2020, oil on canvas, 14 x 18 inches

September 26, 2019, 2020, oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches

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Counting Down the Days

Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1612-13, oil on canvas, 78 x 64 inches

Museo Capodimonte, Napoli 

Felice Capodanno. That's Italian for Happy New Year, literally Happy Head of the Year. After today there will be 19 days until the Orange Beast leaves or is removed from office. What better way is there to express the ending of a bad year and a bad presidency than by showing images of Judith beheading Holofernes. Of course I hope we have a peaceful and bloodless transition on both counts. However, until President Biden and Vice President Harris take charge, I'm satisfying myself vicariously with the story of Judith and Holofernes. As you know from art history, or perhaps the Bible, Judith is the Old Testament heroine who stopped King Nebuchadnezzar's general from attacking Palestine. Slipping into Holofernes's tent, she seduced him with her beauty, plied him with drink, and then—when he was in a drunken stupor—cut off his head with his own sword. She returned to her people with his head in a bag. Without their leader, the Assyrian forces were defeated by the Jews. 

Master of Jean de Mandeville, Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1360-70; tempera, gold and ink on parchment, 13.75 x 10.25 inches; J. Paul Getty Museum

Detail below

Sandro Botticelli, Judith Leaving the Tent with  Holofernes' Head, ca 1497-1500; oil, tempera, and gilding on panel, app. 14.3 x 7.8 inches; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Giorgione, Judith, 1504, oil on panel, 57 x 26 inches; Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1530, oil on linen; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Peter Paul Rubens, Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1609-10, pen and brown ink,  app. 9 x 6.25 inches; Stadel Museum, Frankfurt

Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1598-1602, oil on canvas 55 x 77 inches; Palazzo Barberini, Rome

Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1620, oil on canvas, app 57.5 x 42.5 inches; Uffizi, Florence

Johan Liss, Judith in the Tent of Holofernes, ca. 1652, oil on canvas, app. 50.75 x 39 inches; National Gallery, London

Orazio Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, 1621-24, oil on canvas, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut

Cristofano Allori, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1631, oil on canvas,  app. 47 x 39 inches; Royal Collection, London

Elisabetta Sirani, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, ca 1650, oil on canvas, 92.9 x 72 inches; Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria, Illinois

Maker unknown, England, Judith and Holofernes, mid1600s; needle lace of linen, silk, and human hair; Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney Australia

Goya, Judit y Holofernes, 1819-1823, oil on canvas, app. 57 x 33 inches; the Prado, Madrid

Gustav Klimt, Judith and the Head of Holofernes, 1901, oil on canvas, 33 x 17 inches; Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna

My favorites are Artemisia Gentileschi's strong-armed women (she painted two versions) who make a bloody mess but get nary a drop on their voluminous silk garments, and one that was new to me: Johan Liss's broad-backed beauty who, having done the deed, looks back at us while stuffing the head into a sack. May we stuff this annus horribilis into a metaphorical sack the same way. And may there be no looking back.