STEVEN ALEXANDER JOURNAL

21.5.13

Superb Painters: JULIA ROMMEL

Julia Rommel, Big Soda, 2012, 12 x 11 inches, oil & wax on linen

Julia Rommel was born in Maryland, and now lives and works in Brooklyn. She attempts the near-impossible -- an original and deeply felt approach to monochrome painting -- and arrives at works of such delicate materiality and color as to be utterly disarming. Recently, her process has expanded to removing the canvas from its stretcher and re-stretching it on a slightly larger format to reveal the imprinted edges of the previous dimension, adding a more assertive physicality. Earlier works featured raw linen with the most subtle of interventions.

Here is an excerpt from an artist's statement that accompanied her show at Bureau last year:

"If I am drawn to moody landscapes, why don't I just paint them? I allow myself to do so little. Clean, smooth, spare, cool, and hard. Impossible for a softy like me. But allow any more in and I'm telling you my slow sappy stories. I know better."

Julia Rommel, Skillet, 2012, 12 x 12 inches, oil & wax on linen

Julia Rommel, Dr Unk, 2012, 27 x 26 inches, oil on linen

Julia Rommel, Hobby, 2012, 16 x 10 inches, oil on linen

Julia Rommel, Jasper, 2012, 38 x 38 inches, oil on linen

Julia Rommel, Lazy Bones, 2012, 16 x 11 inches, oil on linen

Julia Rommel, Grandparents Ave, 2010, 9 x 10 inches, oil on linen

Julia Rommel, Simpatico, 2010, 8 x 8 inches, oil on linen

Julia Rommel, installation, Frieze NYC, 2013

Images from the Bureau website.

17.5.13

Superb Painters: GONZALO GONZÁLEZ

Gonzalo González, Nocturno de Inverno, 2013, 14 x 28 cm, acrylic on aluminum

Gonzalo González was born and still lives and works in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. His exquisite small scale works reflect a deep connection to the natural world, as well as to his materials and the history of painting. He creates installations comprised of long cinematic abstract paintings that read like running notations of color and sensation. He also makes sculptures based on natural forms that are extraordinary for their delicate simplicity.

Gonzalo González, Refliejo, 2012, 14 x 10 cm, acrylic on aluminum

Gonzalo González, Muro, 14 x 18cm, acrylic on aluminum

Gonzalo González, Al Amanecer, 2012, 14 x 15cm, acrylic on aluminum

Gonzalo González, Se Apaga Una Luciernaga, 2012, 15 x 75cm, acrylic on aluminum

Gonzalo González, Suite, 135 x 184cm, acrylic on aluminum

Gonzalo González, Untitled, 2012, 18 x 23cm, watercolor on paper

Gonzalo González, sculpture

All images from the artist's website.

10.5.13

Superb Painters: HERNÁN ARDILA

Anyone who follows this journal has noticed that posts have been rare lately. My recent studio schedule has made it hard to find time for other projects. So this summer I will post a series of features that focus on excellent, but somewhat lesser known painters who I think everyone should know. Here is the first Superb Painter:

Born in 1964 in Colombia, Hernán Ardilo lives and works in Barcelona. His work combines a distinctive color sense with an adept sensitivity to materials to create highly charged dynamic configurations. In the past few years, he has expanded his scope from self-contained oil paintings to wonderful installations of diverse but related objects that activate the space with color and rhythm.

Images from the artist's website.

27.4.13

LÊDO IVO: MORMAÇO
Paintings by Steven Alexander

I am immensely pleased to announce and celebrate the publication of MORMAÇO -- 120 collected poems of the great Brazilian poet Lêdo Ivo, with 42 of my paintings.

It is my deepest privilege to have known Lêdo, and to have had the opportunity to contribute to this project. My intent was to make a visual embodiment of the energy and spirit of the extraordinary man who welcomed me into his home and his extended family, in hope that these paintings might somehow touch upon the essence of his world.

Excerpts from MORMAÇO, published by Contra Capa Livraria LTDA., Brazil

18.4.13

In the Studio

Steven Alexander, as yet untitled, 2013, 14 x 12 inches each, acrylic on linen

21.3.13

JIM DINE at Pace

Jim Dine, It's the End of the Evening, 2011, 72 x 72 inches, acrylic & sand on canvas

Jim Dine, It's the End of the Evening (detail)

Don't miss this surprising exhibition of new paintings by Jim Dine at Pace through March 23. For the first time (to my knowledge) in his long and illustrious career, Dine abandons objective subjects, and makes monumental abstract paintings that present the distinctive sensuality of his signature touch in its full effect. Of the eleven huge paintings in this show, seven are celebrations of color in all its exuberance. The other four works are in black and white. All are built of layers of organic oval gestures that create a teeming kinetic painting space. with crusty sand-infused surfaces. It appears that the masterful and liberated Mr. Dine is having himself a funky good time...to our delight.

Jim Dine, Regretting the Possible, 2012, 72 x 72 inches, acrylic & sand on canvas

Jim Dine, The Cerebral Theme, 2011, 72 x 60 inches, acrylic & sand on canvas

Jim Dine, The Cerebral Theme (detail)

Jim Dine, installation view, 2013

3.3.13

DOUGLAS WITMER at Blank Space

Douglas Witmer, Tonight We Do, 2013, 30 x 24 inches, black gesso and acrylic on canvas

Extended through March 8, 2013 -- don't miss Douglas Witmer's exhibition of new paintings at Blank Space. Continuing his exploration of the nuances of the painting language, Douglas wrings an amazing amount of painterly incident out of spartan formal structures. The compositions focus on the contrast between an opaque rectangle and a washy field, and the proportional relations between the interior rectangle and the perimeter of the canvas. But this dry description does not hint at the beautiful soft surfaces and subtle slippages that occur within the structures. Employing a keen sensitivity to the most minute attributes of his materials, Witmer builds paintings that breathe with a quiet living presence.