Tag Archives: art

Peace, Love, Productivity

Posted on May 16, 2020 by JMN

Mr. Delsarte moved out West for a time in the 1970s, painting murals in and around Laguna Beach, Calif., living on a commune and settling in Arizona… Long after he went back East, leaving his hippie days behind him, Mr. … Continue reading →

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Detail

Posted on May 13, 2020 by JMN

Hockney has been looking into the mirror since he was a teenager. (Jonathan Jones, “David Hockney: Drawing from Life review — stripping subjects down to their gym socks,” theguardian.com, 2-25-20) [Celia Birtwell] and Hockney have a fond and teasing relationship. … Continue reading →

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Alphabeticalism

Posted on May 5, 2020 by JMN

I once had to choose Arabic or Greek, the sole elective, in a course of study. It made a lot of difference in what I did next. I enthuse time and again over instances of letters lateraled into graven imagery … Continue reading →

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Color in Shadow

Posted on May 3, 2020 by JMN

Jordan Casteel’s paintings come at you. There’s no subordination. They are like a roomful of stories told all at once. One figure hides in his colorful skin; two others iridesce, starkly defined. Sofas riot; a hot mirrored lamp commandeers its … Continue reading →

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A Words’ Worth of Picture

Posted on May 2, 2020 by JMN

I like this illustration to Roger Cohen’s column enough to leave it alone. (Roger Cohen, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” NYTimes, 5-1-20) (c) 2020 JMN

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Homemade Hope

Posted on April 28, 2020 by JMN

George Condo alludes to the pandemic as a species of “microbiological warfare” created to get someone re-elected. Then he gets down to art: As to what I’m doing as an artist, I’m just exploring the psychological impact of… how fear, … Continue reading →

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Only a Little Too Much

Posted on April 26, 2020 by JMN

Holland Cotter reviewed in February “Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925-1945” at the Whitney Museum of American Art through May 17, 2020. Cotter traces a thread of Mexican art history leading from the “big three” — Diego Rivera, … Continue reading →

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Hunker Work

Posted on April 24, 2020 by JMN

I’m at my dining room table sketching now. And they’re raw sketches. Just a Pilot pen on tracing paper. (Frank O. Gehry) I’ve actually been busy doing drawings similar to one from 2018 called “Anxiety Drawing.” They were black, and … Continue reading →

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Gladys Nilsson

Posted on April 19, 2020 by JMN

You and Jim [Nutt] have a significant collection of work by self-taught artists, such as Martín Ramírez and Joseph Yoakum. What draws you to that kind of work? The work that interests me is by people who have a need … Continue reading →

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Plaited Thorns

Posted on April 13, 2020 by JMN

Before reading the article I scanned this painting as a king and courtier munching a corona-bat monster that has been spitted and roasted. The courtier picks his teeth and licks his fingers while the king gnaws a bone ruminatively and … Continue reading →

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