The Easel

10th March 2020

Against understanding

Sebastian Moll | Süddeutsche Zeitung | 4th March 2020

Richter is a skeptic. Perhaps this reflects his background – growing up with East Germany’s Socialist Realist aesthetic; and as a German, processing the memory of WWII. Some paintings begin with a photographic image which is then worked until virtually gone. Richter is, says one critic, the “greatest of living painters”. This writer offers a different perspective: “a master of indissoluble ambivalence”. (via Google Translate)

How ‘The Gates’ Triumphed Over New York’s NIMBYs

Kriston Capps | Citylab | 2nd March 2020

An appreciation of the 2005 The Gates project of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Bureaucrats initially declared it “the wrong project, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.” Fourteen years later it was realised. “The gates were … a live civic spectacle, proof that a vision could serve as a beacon to the public commons. Witnessing the gates as a visitor felt peaceful — even underwhelming. It was supposed to be.”

3rd March 2020

The cold, imperious beauty of Donald Judd

Peter Schjeldahl | The New Yorker | 2nd March 2020

Realising that his paintings were a bit so-so, Judd switched to 3-D “objects” (boxes to you and I). Even though abstract expressionism was dominant, this work made a big splash. This New York retrospective acknowledges that Judd’s minimal aesthetic is now so influential it is “engulfing”. Still, his objects are visually austere. “I would tell you my emotional responses to the gorgeous [Judd] works … if I had any”.

‘Vida Americana’ Is the Most Relevant Show of the 21st Century

Jerry Saltz | Vulture | 24th March 2020

After the Mexican Revolution, leading artists such as Rivera, Siqueiros, and Orozco left for the US. There they greatly influenced artists like Jackson Pollock and Phillip Guston who were “looking for a way around Picasso”. A “stupendous” show acknowledges their contribution. “Siqueiros [works] … are among the most physically original and innovative paintings of the 20th century.” A video (6 min) is here.

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