In “Up and Down,” Icelandic artist Guðmundur Thoroddsen presents Rorschach-like paintings that segue back and forth from micro to macro. Lichen, fungus or rot simultaneously appear as precipice, gorge or stream. Although Thoroddsen attempts to disassociate himself with the baggage of landscape in western thought and imagination, the matter-like pigment and scumbled voids are still subjected to our emotional and spiritual experience of them. More
#gudmundurthoroddsen
While I usually do an update every couple of weeks on a line of thinking I’ve been following or snapshot of what’s going on in my studio (you can also follow me on Instagram to get some of that), this week what’s on my mind is the impact of Hurricane Helene on the western part of my home state.
I know for a lot of artists that are full-time, making the ends meet is an ongoing reality that doesn’t leave capacity for giving financial help to other artists. In that context, the amount of damage done to western NC’s Arts communities is doubly heart-breaking, as many of the creatives impacted lost equipment, supplies and work which replacing probably seems out of reach. I hope those of you reading who can make a donation (still, I’m sure many of you have already) will check out the NC Arts Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund. If you’d rather make a general contribution to help local organizations doing work to keep people fed, clothed and able to access everything from meds to cell service (no disrespect to Red Cross et. al. but these are orgs in the region on the ground who know the people they are helping) please check out Appalachian Voices resource page.
In the interest of tying this back to much of what I write about, I’ll note that I have seen and read about so much destruction and loss, and, I have seen Americans looking out for each other and giving without any need or desire for anything back. People are good, y’all.
Please leave details on other resources in comments as the spirit moves, and please share this information widely (and thank you to all who have been amplifying good work and ways to help online)!
is in Variations with Richard Hogan and Sam Pie Projects, an exhibit which centers these three masters living in New Mexico who were inspired by music, particularly by modern jazz and its framework promoting improvisation around a theme.
#paulbloch
gets a nod from Two Coats October painting-centric gallery guide. Deep Play looks like exactly that.
#brookemoyse
has new installation work, paintings and drawings framing explorations of space, geography, mapping, and land/waterscapes, especially of the African diaspora in New Suns at Lawndale in Houston.
#ayannajolivetmccloud
Michael Brennan at Two Coats gave Martha a lot of words in his Letter from Venice Biennale. Click on the links and read the whole thing (Jeffrey and Willem get mentions). Jungwirth (b. 1940, Vienna) has likened her artworks to a diary that traces her physical engagement with the creative process. She sees her drawings and paintings as dynamic extensions of herself, where intelligent structures of lines and blotches emerge, propelled by her emotions and movements.
#marthajungwirth
Antunes’ practice provides a unique contemplation on modern art, architecture and design through a reinterpretation of sculpture in a given space. Inspired by important figures in the realm of creation in the 20th century, and often influenced by female protagonists, her work begins by measuring features of architecture and design that interest her. She then uses these measurements as units which can be translated into sculpture.Embracing traditional craftsmanship from around the world, she employs materials such as rope, leather, cork, wood, brass, and rubber to create unusual forms.
#leonorantunes
work explores contemporary and historical notions of abstraction. Composition is developed through collage and layering, growing in scale and depth into expressive canvases, providing a stage for three-dimensional shapes that allude to painterly brushstroke and sculptural form at once. Whilst formalist in nature, the resultant paintings’ titles and manner of execution allow notions of reference and recollection to provide the viewer with an entry point to the work; the experiential effect of gesture and colour, interplaying with shadows cast, to imbue the work with emotional content.
#williambradley
The Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation is dedicated to Aaronel’s practice. She attended Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Institute of Technology through 1936 until 1940 and enjoyed a multifaceted artistic journey beginning with abstract painting and moving through sculpture in metal, dimensional works in plastics, and finally photography. Her work is included in the permanent collection of The Carnegie Museum of Art, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, the Frick Art Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Kawamura Museum of Modern Art, Japan.
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#aaronelderoygruber
This is certainly a well worn topic of discussion among creatives. Definitely one of the main reasons my awareness of it is raised this week is the opening of the exhibit Open Source, an exhibit which I curated, at Wilma Daniels gallery in Wilmington, NC. Central to the show is the idea that not only the literal material of the work but also its content can have a multitude of sources. I would say my relationships with the artists are source material for me as well.
A number of you have asked about the object making part of my practice recently (we all do this- “watcha workin’ on?”) and my answer has been “material studies.” Which is to say there are new-ish sources at play (yeah I am using that noun on purpose). I feel a pull from the material itself to highlight their more physical qualities more (glass, wood, non-canvas surfaces, even paint is now more obviously dimensional and plastic) while composition becomes more optical (simplified compositions focused on color and in many cases leveraging light as a “material”). Which isn’t intellectual or even really an idea, it’s an impulse.
I noted this direction in an Instagram post this weekend where I pointed to a loose tie between a recent study, a book about Clyfford and a couple of photos.
An Instagram post by Nick Aguayo also really resonated for me. (I think) he notes the source of work can actually be a somewhat mysterious to (even) the artist, that its general direction can trusted- its “point” doesn’t have to be that all aspects are formed and understood:
“I am deeply interested in color and experimenting with it, but I think that the deeper concern of the work is a matter of structure and meditating on how the making of something in itself can carry a certain energy and attitude towards looking at the world.”
So for now I’ll continue to accept many inputs and trust my fascination with materials as one of the same.
Knot’s work center around the exploration of light and color, with a notable series being “Colliding Colors.” This ongoing project delves into the complex interplay between colors of light and their profound impact on human perception.
#sebastiaanknot
is currently included EQ in the 2024 II International Biennial of Contemporary Fibre Art at the Museum of Embroidery and Textiles in Valtopina, Perugia, Italy.
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#deborahkruger
Painting After Art is Dead 