Artblog | abstraction

March 19, 2024 by Pete Sparber

‘The Cost of Sleep,’ Elizabeth Johnson’s swirling dreamscapes defy narration

Pete Sparber talks with Elizabeth Johnson about her solo exhibit at Gross McCleaf Gallery. Titled ‘The Cost of Sleep,’ the show presents large and small oil paintings that are dreamscapes of tornado-like swirlings, very beautiful, energetic, and a little terrifying.

February 12, 2024 by Lane Timothy Speidel

‘Transcendent Mess’ at Vox Populi Gallery, Exploring Trans Experience through Art

April 11, 2019 by Andrea Kirsh

Artists united by opposition in ‘Artists Respond, American Artists and the Vietnam War 1965-1975’ at Smithsonian American Art Museum

Andrea Kirsh reviews “Artists Respond: American Artists and the Vietnam War 1965-1975” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, on view from March 15, 2019 – August 18, 2019.

January 16, 2018 by Andrea Kirsh

Thomas Wilfred’s early influential light art from 1919 rediscovered in ‘Lumia’ at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Andrea writes about the pioneering light artist, Thomas Wilfred, whose use of electricity and projected light in the early 20th Century was an influence on artists of later eras, including James Turrell. Wilfred’s works were on view recently at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in a show (closed Jan. 7) organized by Yale University Art Gallery. The works are difficult to conserve and that may explain why the artist fell out of circulation, as his works sat in storage waiting for tune-ups or fixes. The Museum of Modern Art owns one of Wilfred’s seminal works and Andrea thinks MoMA should bring the piece back for a new audience.

July 2, 2017 by Andrea Kirsh

Guggenheim Museum’s rare move fills rotunda with its own collection, a summer must-see

Andrea reviews “Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim,” curated by Megan Fontanella, with artwork from five collectors whose gifts to the museum helped the Guggenheim define itself as a pioneering institution. A rare chance to see beautifully-conserved works by Modern masters like Brancusi, Pollock, Mondrian, the show is a must-see this summer, says Andrea.

October 13, 2016 by Andrea Kirsh

Chicago Shine – The Freedom Principle at the ICA

Over the past couple of decades, almost all American art museums have claimed a mission to reach out to “underserved communities,” yet none of them have acknowledged that these communities have their own well-developed aesthetics of art and material culture. They differ from the mainstream, and the institutions have not been willing to embrace aesthetic values beyond their own. The first part of “The Freedom Principle” is remarkable for doing just that: exhibiting art–and music–that was selected by a group of artists largely excluded from the mainstream of their period, who developed a different set of aesthetic aspirations and standards.

December 14, 2015 by Andrea Kirsh

Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis at PAFA

Lewis’ reputation has been maintained within the African-American community, and this exhibition ought to bring him the broader attention he certainly deserves.

January 9, 2015 by Andrea Kirsh

V.S. Gaitonde at the Guggenheim Museum, N.Y.