Paintings in New York January and February

While demands of the studio, and preparing for my upcoming show have not left time for blog posts, there has been a steady stream of great painting visible in New York since the beginning of the new year. So here is an abbreviated rundown of some of the highlights... and more in the coming weeks.

Robert Ryman at Dia

 Amy Sillman at Sikkema Jenkins

Amy Sillman - one from a wall of black & white paper pieces

Doug Ohlson at Washburn

Logan Grider in a group show at David Findlay Jr

Matt Phillips at Steven Harvey

Emily Berger at the UBS Building lobby gallery

One of many wonderful works in The Onward of Art: American Abstract Artists 80th Anniversary, 

curated by Karen Wilkin

Terry Winters in a group show at Matthew Marks

David Row at Loretta Howard

David Row - Detail

Al Held at Cheim & Read

Al Held - Detail

AL HELD at Paul Kasminand the Best Quote of 2009 So Far

Al Held, Roberta's Trip, 1985, 96 x 144 inches, acrylic on canvas

The Paul Kasmin Gallery recently showed a group of magnificent Al Held paintings from the '80s. Exhibiting a steroidal elaboration of Held's trademark pictorial acrobatics, the complexity of the space and color nuance in these works is dazzling -- and overwhelming. Even more unfathomable is imagining the technical precision, the excruciatingly detailed process that must have been required to build these images. While the spirit of the work is playful to the point of celebratory, I found it hard to escape a sort of intimidating insistence of craft -- a sense that these paintings are just over-built.

In his recent video review of the show, our favorite guy on the bike and master of understatement James Kalm exclaimed, "This guy used alot of masking tape!" -- indeed.