The Easel

1st August 2017

Explore the Genius of Design Legend Ettore Sottsass

Alina Cohen | Galerie | 26th July 2017

When Sottsass designed the Olivetti “Valentine” typewriter he wanted it to appeal at an emotional level. Later in his protean career he founded the influential (but short-lived) Memphis design collective. Their first show created uproar with shrill colors, Pop designs and wacky ideas. And it stole the limelight, leading Sottsass to grumble about the group “it’s just like candy. Too much can make you sick.” Images are here.

Soul Of A Nation: Art In The Age Of Black Power @ Tate Modern

Simon | astrofella | 21st July 2017

Real progress on civil rights posed a question for black American artists – what role should art play? Expressing outrage and celebrating black heroes were, not surprisingly, high on the list but so too was finding an empowered black voice. So what most catches the eye after 50 years? “How stupid, wicked and evil racism is. What extraordinary beauty Coltrane – and many of the Black artists on display here – made from it.”

“I think in images” A review of Bill Viola: Electronic Renaissance

Martin Holman | The Florentine | 30th March 2017

A near drowning as a child is often used to explain the contemplative character of Bill Viola’s acclaimed video art. Art history and philosophy are more obvious influences. His “supreme” images “not so much relate a narrative as immerse his audiences in bodily experiences. [For his large scale installations] the viewer has no option but to look for meaning beyond any retelling of everyday events.”

Fernand Léger and the Rise of the Man-Machine

Joseph Nechvatal | Hyperallergic | 23rd July 2017

Anxiety about technological change isn’t new – it was also around in the early 1900’s. Leger was an optimist, believing that infinitely adaptable machines could bring harmony to society. His own role would be to communicate this with art accessible to the public. “I prefer Léger’s work … when it hums away in the space between the mechanic and the organic. This is when Léger functions as a mythic oracle of our times.”

Discovering the Brilliance of Hélio Oiticica

Peter Schjeldahl | The New Yorker | 31st July 2017

With Brazil under military rule, Oiticica decamped to New York. The career-defining installation pieces he produced were designed to transform the viewer “from a spectator into an active participant.” They are strange, influenced by the 1970’s drug scene plus the culture of Rio’s favelas. His work “anticipates subsequent generations of installation artists, none of whom can beat it for immersive and bracing cogency.”

Hello, Dollar The Greatest American Object in Art History

Felix Salmon | Art Agency | 6th July 2017

Benchmarking art today against a famous 1990’s exhibition, what has changed? Money, of course. With a few exceptions “of the 78 most expensive paintings of all time, all of the pre-1945 works are European, and all of the post-1945 works are American.’ Art critics were influential in 1993 but “the crucial role of ratification has been almost entirely outsourced to the market—the most expensive artists are entirely critic-proof.”

Henry James, a Pooh-Bah Who Painted with Words

Holland Cotter | The New York Times | 6th July 2017

Henry James aspired to be a painter but had to settle for being the most famous novelist of his age. Art, and the art world, remained central to his life and were a source of ideas for his novels. It was another way to express atmosphere, to probe the opaque psychological currents of life. And he said as much:  “The analogy between the art of the painter and the art of the novelist is … complete.” An excellent video (4 min) is here.

25th July 2017

Carol Rama: Outside the Institution

Sarah Fensom | Art and Antiques | 31st May 2017

A new book published in conjunction with a Carol Rama survey says the following: “Not just anyone can go mad. It’s not such a casual, easy thing to do. And even if you do, only the truly possessed and determined few can render their madness into enduring art.” Whether literally true or not, this captures something of Rama and her psychosexually charged art. Images and a detailed discussion of some of her paintings are here.

Canadian Art To 1967

Kristen Nord | Antiques and the Arts Weekly | 18th July 2017

Canada’s National Gallery has traditionally focused its collection on Western paintings, relegating indigenous ‘craft’ to the margins. No longer. Its new exhibition approach aims to be more inclusive of indigenous art in Canada’ art history, “telling two separate stories … but converging without assimilating”. As a curator notes “We can’t change history, but we can draw upon recent scholarship to tell the story more fully.”

Birds Like Us

Jenny Uglow | The New York Review of Books | 18th July 2017

Britain has a long tradition of illustration. More a cousin of fine art than a sibling, illustration is essentially intimate in scale and inextricably linked to narrative. Fine art need be neither. Eminent illustrator Quentin Blake, belongs to this tradition.  A longtime Roald Dahl collaborator, he is now renowned for his human-like birds. Why birds? “I say feebly that perhaps it’s because they have two legs like us”.

From the Great Wave to Starry Night, how a blue pigment changed the world

Hugh Davies | The Conversation | 20th July 2017

Perhaps Hokusai’s Great Wave is less than quintessentially Japanese? Its ‘Prussian blue” pigment and European concept of perspective made it too radical for local tastes. Europe, in contrast, was highly receptive. “Perhaps the single most vividly identifiable influence upon the European modernist founders is Van Gogh’s celebrated Starry Night, which owes everything to Hokusai’s blue wave from its colour to the shape of its sky.”

John Minton: A Centenary review – a wildly restless talent

Laura Cumming | The Guardian | 2nd July 2017

In post-war London John Minton had both talent and recognition. However, unlike his friend Lucien Freud, history is passing him by. Why did he “lose his footing” as an artist? Being a prodigious drinker didn’t help. More importantly, perhaps the art world was turning to modernism and despite his numerous changes in style, he was unable to tune in to that new outlook.

How Artsy finally convinced galleries to sell art online

Ben Popper | The Verge | 18th July 2017

A leading online art sales start-up has just received a big dollop of new funding. Even discounting for the “rah-rah” tone of the linked piece, online sales are proving attractive to some art buyers. But a second piece articulates a gallery counter-argument: “The way that galleries show and sell art is a touchy-feely process, it’s a very personal process.”

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