Filed under: Art World | Tags: Analia Saban, Andrew Masullo, Anna Betbeze, Dave Miko, Dona Nelson, Echo Eggebrecht, Forest Bess, Gabriel Hartley, John McAllister, Jonas Wood, Matthias Dornfeld, Steve Roden
2011 was a strong year for the ever-resilient medium of painting as artists continued to push the idea of just what a painting can be in terms of materials, scale and subject. I expect that 2012 will be no different. Over the past twelve months I visited hundreds of gallery exhibitions and did dozens of studio visits. Because of New American Paintings, I was also privileged to review the work of the more than 5,000 artists who applied to our competitions in 2011. In short, I looked at a lot of painting, and still, I regularly came across artists whose work took me somewhere completely new. - View the complete list of our 12 to watch in 2012 after the jump!
Forrest Bess | Untitled, 9 x 12 inches. Private Collection.
Filed under: New York, Review | Tags: 97, Alex Ebstein, Anne Ellegood, Damned Sparkling Pump, James Fuentes Gallery, John McAllister
In his fourth solo exhibition at James Fuentes Gallery on the Lower East Side, John McAllister (on Curator Anne Ellegood’s list of recommended painters, as seen in NAP #97) presents a series of medium and larger scale paintings that touch on Modernism, Fauvism, Zen, and interior design. The works in Damned Sparkling Pomp vibrate with lush color, swatches of pattern and abbreviated paintings of paintings, a la Matisse. These flattened interior scenes emphasize the push and pull of the material and flat picture plane, suggesting depth within the foremost layer in flattened space. Within the larger painting, the suggested paintings are often askew, slightly disturbing the evenness and balance of the outer borders. Unlike Matisse’s Red Studio (1911), which depicts paintings arranged in a flattened, red artist’s studio, McAllister has painted his paintings into cropped views of luxurious domestic walls, an element in an overall design and color scheme. Mixing a reverence for painting’s history with a tongue-in-cheek nod to the realities of being a contemporary painter, McAllister’s works are fresh and nostalgic, if not also a little breathtaking. - Alex Ebstein, Baltimore Contributor
See more pictures after the jump!
Damned Sparkling Pomp at James Fuentes LLC installation view
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Filed under: Art World, Curator Watch List, Pacific Coast | Tags: 97, Allison Miller, Anne Ellegood, Dianna Molzan, Hammer Museum, Jay Stuckey, John McAllister, Jonas Wood, Kim Fisher, Lesley Vance, Mary Corse, NAP, Pacific Coast, Ruby Neri, Tom Lawson
We are currently putting together the Pacific Coast issue (NAP #97). Anne Ellegood, Senior Curator, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, did a terrific job selected 40 artists from over 1,000 that applied to the competition. You’ll have to wait to find out who she selected from the region. But, when we asked her what other painters she would recommend to our readers, she names quite a few. So, check them out after the jump! And look for the Pacific Coast issue on the newsstands in December.
