Woke up This Morning, Got Myself a Gun – Erik Bakke’s Weatherby Painting James Kalm We Americans likeour guns! We like to pull out the “big guns,” “shoot straight,”“hit the bull’s eye,” and “blow away the competition.”Let’s face it, there are few objects or images that are more “loaded”than guns. Since 9/11here in New York […]

Seeing Red Joao Ribas A comprehensiveand exhaustive narrative of Western painting has been constructed by the analysisof how figuration transforms throughout history. The great cultural project ofthe visual arts develops across a range of representational tensions, with typologicalpeaks and valleys, and a long expressive tradition of mutability. Twists andturns define this history of representation, and […]

Comix Semiotix – Robert Reitzfeld’s “Landskapes” James Kalm To paraphrase MarshallMcLuhan in “Understanding Media,” mankind, because of electronic media,like TV and radio, is on the verge of reverting to a preliterate condition. Asthe transfer of information takes place in a more and more passive state, peopleare losing their ability to glean meaning from the older […]

The Aesthetics of Horror and Disgust Justin Lieberman The method of artmaking in which the interpretation of the work is entirely determined by theartist is a relatively new concept. This particular approach may be seen as onethat directly opposes modernism. As meaning ceases to become ambiguous, the ideaof a center (god, science, universality of experience) […]

ALAN PECKOLICK Kenneth Martina It can be reasonedthat for as long as there have been urban environments, artists have found inspirationin them. From Greek temple architects to Guy Dubord, creative people have mademeaning from the many layers of culture, changing technologies, sense of acceleratedtime or political and aesthetic allegiances within the cityscape. Alan Peckolickis an […]

SIRI BERG at ETS Brodsky Gallery Kenneth Martina The ETS Brodsky Gallery in Princeton is host to a series of works by the NewYork-based artist Siri Berg. The artworks are a selection of seven paintingsand an equal number of Japanese woodblock prints. The paintings rangein size and technique——from minimalist oils that adhere to a grid […]

“The Human Comedy: Portraits by Red Grooms” L.P. Streitfeld With the full participationof the artist, curator Isabelle Dervaux has assembled the first exhibition ofRed Grooms portraits in an adventurous show at the Katonah Museum of Art thathas to be experienced to be believed – which explains the word of mouthappeal. Ranging from early intimate sketches […]

Art as a Universal Language Hannelore Baron and Andy Goldsworthy L.P. Streitfeld The Neuberger Museumhas scored a significant coup this year with the simultaneous exhibitions oftwo exceptional artists exploring universal language. The dedication by whichHannelore Baron and Andy Goldsworthy express the injection of spirit into matterestablish them as artistic standard bearers for the 21st century. […]

SCI-ART: It’s all in the GUT (Grand Unified Theory) M-1000 For the past coupleof months, New York has been hosting the “DNAge Citywide Festival for the50th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Double-Helix.” Numerous arts exhibitionsincluding “How Human: Life in the Post-Genome Era” are being held atthe International Center of Photography (ICP) (through May 25). […]

Nina Meledandri: The Metaphysics of Twilight Mark Daniel Cohen It is not quite as dark here as we thought. On the contrary, the interior ispulsating with light. It is, of course, the internal light of roots, a wanderingphosphorescence, tiny veins of light marbling the darkness, an evanescent shimmerof nightmarish substances. — Bruno Schulz, “Spring”   […]