List from Doug Witmer
One of our contributors, Doug Witmer, responded to our list of art-world dislikes (see post) with a list of his own with a positive spin. Modern Art Notes‘ Tyler Green infected us with list-eria, and we’re hoping some of you catch the fever and send us your own art world list of 10 best or worst with a one or two-word description.
Here’s Witmer’s top 10:
Piet Mondrian. Utopia. (looking better and better to me…I especially like the way the work has aged physically)
Thomas Nozkowski. Gut. (From where and with what he paints. Great interview in “The Brooklyn Rail” back in January. http://www.brooklynrail.org/arts/jan04/nozkowski.html)
Anne Truitt. Unity. (I’m totally beguiled by her seemingly effortless work)
Wes Mills. Quiet. (I imagine him sitting at a small wooden table, the landscape of Montana visible through the window. So far from…)
Fra Angelico. Devotion. (see also, Utopia. I think it’s hard for artists who posess this type of yearning to exist today and be taken seriously)
Pierre Bonnard. Seamless. (…can’t take those surfaces apart…)
Peter Halley. Wattage. (His recent Mary Boone show was pretty eye-popping and pretty fresh, too, not to mention rad)
Agnes Martin. Silent. (She’s a kind of standard-bearer. Though I must admit I felt disappointed when I saw her recent set of paintings in real life.) (Left, “Praise”)Henri Matisse. Relax. (It doesn’t have to be so hard. Go with what makes you feel good visually)
Ellsworth Kelly. Clear. (See also, Relax. But just be beautifully concise about it.)
–Witmer, a Philadelphia artist, expects his Web site to be up and running soon.
