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.”

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”.

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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