The Easel

27th April 2021

The light fantastic

Wil Hylton | Smithsonian Magazine | 1st May 2021

Turrell reveals previously unknown details of his 45-year project, Roden Crater, situated in a dormant volcano in the Arizona desert. It will comprise a series of tunnels and chambers each of which will “capture celestial light”. It won’t be your standard museum – “Guests will be encouraged to wake before dawn and walk to a small pool, and swim through an underwater passage to a larger pool … [where they can] watch the desert sun rise over a watery horizon.”

Archie Brennan At Dovecot Studios Edinburgh. – Shockingly Overdue!

Clare Henry | Artlyst | 25th April 2021

Archie Brennan achieved local prominence as a body builder but global prominence as “the most significant tapestry weaver of the 20th century”. Believing that tapestry had become “imitative” he set out to re-establish its “long-established graphic pictorial role”. Taking inspiration from mass media his woven images were important early examples of Pop art. Said he, “the artist who is a weaver is still an artist”.  Images of some key works are here.

Getty Villa reopens with ancient treasures from the Louvre

Christopher Knight | LA Times | 21st April 2021

The Getty gives three solid reasons for paying attention to the art of Mesopotamia. That civilization invented the city, monarchy and writing, so its art speaks to many modern concerns. Obviously sophisticated craftsmanship testifies to ancient desires to decorate and to commemorate. Soon enough poetry emerged, and public art … and of course, the desire of rulers to portray themselves as wise and powerful. How contemporary!

How One Photographer Covered the Unfolding of the Pandemic

Kathy Ryan | Aperture | 19th April 2021

A prominent US photographer and his editor discuss their coverage of the pandemic. The images showcase the narrative power of photography while the discussion reveals decisions about the ethics and aesthetics of portraying illness and death. “I didn’t really know what to prepare for, emotionally or visually. I always asked [doctors] What is important for the public to see? … [But] what if that were my father or my mother?”

Chaos magic

Albert Mobilio | Artforum | 25th March 2021

When does an art trend become a “school”? In the 1930’s, a group of American painters adopted “magic realism”, an exact representational style. Was this just surrealism by a different name? Its supporters say no – these artists were not interested in the subconscious mind but rather the “strangeness of the human condition”, in particular “a profound sensation of aloneness”. Whether this differentiates magic realism from surrealism is probably a matter of taste.

Ancient Chinese Jade, to Soothe the Soul and Restore Perspective

Brian Allen | National Review | 24th April 2021

Appreciation for an exhibition of ancient jade at a specialist New York gallery. Jade, a hard stone, requires laborious (expensive) carving. This, plus its exceptional colouration, made it the pinnacle of Chinese decorative arts and “the foremost of imperial gems”. Some pieces were intended as burial items. Others, notably carved bi discs, were symbols of the cosmos and displayed on altars. Overall, “they pack a punch”.

20th April 2021

The Swirl of History

Fred Kaplan | Slate | 25th March 2021

The writer greatly admires Mehretu’s retrospective but what is he seeing? She has developed a distinct visual language, of city grid patterns – and more recently photos – overlaid with “ink-and-acrylic swirl storms”. These works, gorgeous, strikingly original and complex, achieve a “fusion of historic sweep and minute human drama [that] is stunning”. Mehretu, he states, is “the most exciting visual artist of our time”.

New tricks, but this show still finds the soul in everyday objects

Florence Hallett | iNews | 14th April 2021

Whiteread sculpts household objects – hot water bottles, chairs and once, famously, the inside of a terrace house. Her first post-pandemic show comprises derelict sheds, made from reclaimed materials and painted deathly white – “mortal remains, like piles of bones”. These “unsettling” works share a family resemblance to Whiteread’s previous work – revealing the marks that life leaves on things. They are masterpieces, says one critic – “great lockdown art”.

Philip Guston’s Peculiar History Lesson

Barry Schwabsky | The Nation | 13th April 2021

Elegant description of Guston’s famous self-transformation. Unlike his school buddy Jackson Pollock, Guston was cautious. He had doubts about abstraction, but stuck with the style until, finally, he couldn’t. Perhaps, despite his renown, his self-view was “a child of immigrants, a man on the margins”. Guston’s wariness was motivated by doubt while Pollock’s motivation was audacity, “yet one went as far into the unknown as the other, each at his own speed”.

Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkins and Polka Dots Have Officially Taken Over the New York Botanical Garden

Stephanie Sporn | Architectural Digest | 9th April 2021

Will this be New York’s most welcomed show of the year? Kusama’s work is immensely popular. Even so, her works will surely gain something extra from being shown in a springtime garden. It’s not a cerebral art event but, as a sensory experience, it could be right up there. As Kusama advises “Become one with eternity. Obliterate your personality. Become part of your environment.” A video is here.

Architecture as Philosophy

Greg Thomas | Aesthetica | 13th April 2021

Kahn was a committed modernist architect. A purist modernist, though, he was not, happily admitting to finding virtue in buildings like medieval monasteries. His great contribution to Western modernism was “an integrated union of space and mass, solid and void”. Many Kahn buildings are monumental but, through attention to light and space, they also have a contemplative quality. Architecture, he said, is “an elementary expression of human consciousness”.

Dawoud Bey on 6 photos that have pushed his work forward

Sasha Bonet | Vulture | 12th April 2021

The deluge of interviews, now that Bey’s retrospective is in New York, are mostly spoiled by inane questions. It’s more interesting when Bey talks about his favourite images.  Of one, “even the warm-brown backdrop … related to what I found interesting about Rembrandt. With these two I like their style and how they are performing coolness for the camera. I think the human community always wants to be in conversation with its own image.”

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