Tag: Paul Cezanne

Resident Artist

Two Coats Resident Artist Marie Thibeault, June 15–19

Contributed by Sharon Butler / From June 15 to 20, Two Coats of Paint will be hosting LA artist Marie Thibeault for her second residency. Marie has spent years immersed in the world of color and geometry, vividly translating the rigid language of architecture, the logic of technical data, and the unpredictable realm of human emotion onto the canvas. She explores the intersection of science and imagination in visual stories of environmental instability that incorporate references to scientific diagrams, predictive models, cartographic references, geological graphics, weather charts, and photographs. Although she employs abstraction to clear and substantial effect, she considers herself primarily a landscape painter and counts among her strongest influences Paul Cézanne, drawing especially on the dynamic horizontal planes of his work.

Solo Shows

Nora Sturges’ sublime dystopia

Contributed by Mark Wethli / “Edgy” is a word we commonly use to describe daring or provocative art. If anything has been a measure of artistic success in the modern era, it’s been the degree to which new art pushes the boundaries of the work that came before. The term is usually rooted in the theoretical and formal aspects of art making, but the paintings of Nora Sturges – now on view at Sarah Bouchard Gallery in Woolwich, Maine – transport us to edges of another kind…

Museum Exhibitions

Jack Whitten at MoMA: Indelible

Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / “The Messenger,” Jack Whitten’s momentous and flawlessly curated exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, is a signal event not just in American art history but, arguably, in American history simpliciter. To be sure, it showcases an art polymath who broke and cultivated important ground across a broad swath of artistic endeavor. But its timing as a socio-political statement seems perhaps singularly important.

Solo Shows

Dannielle Hodson’s infectious imagination

Contributed by Margaret McCann / “Chasing Rabbits,” the name of Danielle Hodson’s show at Kravets Wehby Gallery, refers to the cautionary Chinese proverb, “if you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” Hodson accepts that risk, bypassing clear purpose to embrace multiplicity. Impelled by curiosity – as Alice was, and Grace Slick advised – Hodson’s visual gestalts, though far livelier than Cezanne’s, similarly invite the viewer to re-experience their becoming…

Solo Shows

Elizabeth Flood’s numb sublime

Contributed by Margaret McCann / Elizabeth Flood’s landscapes in “Lookout” at Storage Gallery included oil paintings that emphasize realism and expressionistic ink drawings. The latter express vigorous engagement with the outdoors. Gettysburg (Pickett’s Charge, October 9) channels the drama of that day. Stirring energy like that of George Nick’s alla prima work drives the eye deep into a field under a sensational sky. Conversely, mental distance accompanies Flood’s large polyptychs, whose combinations resemble photographic contact sheets, art website layouts, or bulletin board accruals. At their best, artifice is imbued with the existential doubt of Edwin Dickinson or Giacometti. Repetition and variance become metaphors for modern contingency and ambivalence. Multiple views rouse a mix of ennui, curiosity, taste, and choice, like that fueling our daily shuffle through cyberspace.

Solo Shows

Cathy Lebowitz: Restoring the Landscape

Contributed by Michael Brennan / In Cathy Lebowitz’s “Dark Skies, Rocks, her second solo exhibition at Skoto Gallery, about two dozen themed works on paper wrap around the walls of the cinderblock space. Many are washy gouache paintings, others are dash-marked drawings. Her paintings are painterly and her drawings graphic, exemplifying soundly medium-specific discipline. The works are refreshingly small, about the size of a writing tablet or an iPad, inviting closer inspection. I felt an unusually direct connection to the artist through what can be described as microcosmic meta landscapes, extending from her hand through her studio, as if directly sourced in real life