By Craig Drennen
Mid-December every year I convene with familiar art world veterans to hear about their favorite pieces from the Miami art fairs. And every year I’m told that the best thing seen was an obscure Picabia, a forgotten Fontana, or a newly available Alice Neel. In other words, within the froth [...]
“Critique, etc.”
“…I had a teacher one whole summer who never told me/
anything and it was wonderful.”
Frank O’Hara
Hotel Particulier
From Lunch Poems, 1964.
By Craig Drennen
Let’s be clear. The art school critique is not just talk. It is a conversation that’s supposed to cause improvement. Mentors and peers talk about a student artist’s work to [...]
Carl Ostendarp entered undergraduate study at Boston University in the twilight of the Phillip Guston era. He went on to Yale as part of a cohort group whose work gave a shot of adrenaline to 1990’s painting. He is an associate professor and graduate director at Cornell University who has had over 33 [...]
Gladstone Gallery - New York
By Craig Drennen
Lari Pittman occupies a special place in the world of contemporary painting. His exhibitions in the mid-1990s had paintings so energized by their own amphetamine crackle that they looked ready to explode out of their frames. The patterns, pilgrims, books, words (”CUM”), numbers (”69″), credit cards, caution [...]
Cheim & Read - New York
By Craig Drennen
Jonathan Lasker’s recent solo exhibition at Cheim & Read looks remarkably relevant right now. It’s easy to forget how few painters from the Neo-Geo era survived unscathed into the 21st century without looking dated and overwrought. There’s an even smaller number who’ve gotten continually better over [...]
David Humphrey is a New York-based painter who also writes art criticism. He received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, studied at the New York Studio School, and finished up with an MA from New York University. He’s received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rome Prize, NEA Fellowships and other awards [...]
