The Easel

19th September 2023

The deadpan precision of Ed Ruscha’s L.A. sensibility

Jerry Saltz | Vulture | 8th September 2023

What is it about Ruscha’s word paintings? Their lineage goes back to Picasso and Braque who put advertising text in their collages. Ruscha’s works feature deadpan phrases plucked from the “clamour of American life”. Sometimes, their meaning is so literal, so obvious, that the viewer doubts themselves. Such works are like “billboards that are empty of sentences but have plenty to say.” Little wonder the writer calls Ruscha the “genius of Pop Conceptualism”.

Is Keith Haring’s Art for Everybody?

Jonathan Griffin | Frieze | 16th June 2023

Haring’s graphics were so effective that, decades later, the style he developed is integral to our visual environment. He saw no fixed meaning in his own work, believing instead that art is inherently social. His immense influence owes much to self-promotion, his egalitarian media – subway drawings, for example – and the “strength” of his line. Says the writer, “ the enormity and impact of Haring’s output is awesome … never boring”. Images are here.

29th August 2023

Kehinde Wiley is selling kitsch

Sebastian Smee | msn.com | 29th July 2023

Wiley’s show An Archeology of Silence is a big hit, further increasing demand for his work. To cope with these pressures, the artist has a streamlined production system. This seems not to have helped his art. “The exhibition is … pure kitsch. Kitsch is rooted in emotional cliché … and [presumption]. The presumption is that everyone feels the same way as you. His works offer none of the pleasures and surprises afforded by good painting. Their surfaces are immaculate … and utterly dead”.

Ick Art: Why a Rising Generation of Female Sculptors Is Embracing Body Horror

Taylor Dafoe | Cultured | 2nd August 2023

Describing Lee’s work as “kinetic sculpture” is way too polite. She uses motors, scaffolding, fabric and hoses to create bizarre organic systems that slop, squish and drip goo. It’s “a bit grotesque” she admits, identifying one inspiration as the desire to devour or be devoured. Where are we going here? Her objective is to create art that makes us feel, not think. One critic calls her work “unflinching”, another says it’s “not pleasant and certainly not nice. But it works.”

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