Sunday, April 28, 2013


Tom Driscoll "untitled" cast cement dimensions variable 2013 
Museum purchase Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

Congratulations Tom Driscoll!
www.mcasd.org

Friday, April 26, 2013

Norbert Schwontkowski  "Purple Haze" 2008 Oil on Canvas 110 x 90 cm

Sunday, April 21, 2013


Alberto Di Fabio "Untitled" 2002 acrylic on linen 73" x 55.5"


Science meets kitch meets sincerity could be the leitmotif of Di Fabio's efforts as a painter.
He walks a tightrope as he balances decoration and beauty with investigative forays into contemporary painting. His work clearly acknowledges his antecedents while at the same time carving out his own path in the wilderness.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Philip Guston "Untitled" 1979 oil on canvas 48"x42"

www.mckeegallery.com

A nice celebration of the artist's 100th birthday. Should not be missed if you are in NYC.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Baker Overstreet  "Wrinkle Queen" 2012-2013 acrylic on canvas 36"x36"
www.fredericksfreisergallery.com

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Monday, March 25, 2013


Thornton Willis "Step Up" 2011 60"x48" Oil on Canvas




Thursday, March 21, 2013


Bernd Ribbeck  "Untitled" 2010 indian ink on paper 10"x13"

www.peterkilchmann.com

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Joseph Yoakum (1890-1972) Mt. Raelene near town of Perth Australia  22"x14" n.d.
ball point pen and colored pencil on paper
www.fleisher-ollmangallery.com

Yoakum lived most of his adult life in Chicago. His drawings were inspired by his memory of travels either real or imagined. An outsider that was invited into the world of contemporary art by the Chicago Imagists who discovered his work in the 60's. Wonderfully imaginative compositions developed using the most simple and humblest of materials. Many of today's contemporary artists could learn a lot from looking at his work.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013



Sam Windett  "Second Tavern" 2009 oil on canvas 39.37" x 31.49"
www.theapproach.co.uk

Somewhere between abstraction and figuration Windett finds a path to his eloquent paintings. He revisits the modernist era with a unique trope of his own. He also shows with Marc Foxx in L.A.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Thomas Nozkowski Untitled (98-112) oil on panel 22"x28"

www.stephenfriedman.com

Nozkowski has a show up at Pace in New York that is getting much attention from critics and artists alike. His unique take on abstraction with his quirky compositions and allusions to figuration are resonating with many younger artists today.

Saturday, February 23, 2013


Conrad Marca-Relli  (1913-2000)  collage on canvas 54.3"x 67.7"
www.ronchinigallery.com

Marca-Relli was an american born of Italian immigrant parents in Boston, Mass. He attended Cooper Union and would become part of the abstract expressionist movement in the mid century. His work was influenced by Italian painters Alberto Burri (1915-1995) Georgio Morandi and De Chirico. Architecture, the figure and the natural world were the touchstones for his  compositions. Although his style would be mimicked by countless designers and found on everything from curtains to fabric design in the 50's and 60's, his unique vision and commitment to that vision still captivate today.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Anja Schwoerer  "Untitled"  38"x34"  2001 bleach on fabric


www.nicellebeauchene.com

Schwoerer's painting is hand intensive, reductive, additive and evocative. All the afore mentioned are elements used by good painters. Her process of dying the fabrics of her paintings via a batik method using bleach on velvet or linen is not new, however, the application of this technique in her hands yields extraordinary results. Her statement "making ornaments to express the indescribable" is an apt description of her process based painting that is infused with a mystics eye for the sublime.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Steve Gibson "New View" 24"x18" oil on linen 2012 permanent collection of Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

New work is turning a corner. Also, has had a piece curated in the Bradley International
Print and Drawing exhibition opening March 9th 2013.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Martin Durazo "Om" 9'x6'  acrylic on canvas 2012


The subtitle of this exhibition could be "I like to party. I like to disco". The artists has constructed a black light installation complete with a Trance, Dance and Rap sound track in the back gallery of Luis De Jesus' Culver City gallery. It is the first thing you hear as  you enter the door. When you pull back the black plastic wrapped "Club Room" curtain you might feel you just got transported back to the early 70's lower east side New York, L.A. or any of a myriad other cities engulfed with club culture during that time. It's interesting but not enlightening.

The paintings in the front gallery however, are. Here, the artist has managed to increase the size of the painting format from previous works and we are all the better for it. These works could have devolved into murky riffs on Richter but they didn't. Insulated by swaths of silver and black paint along with the white of the canvas to subordinate the high key color, each composition finds it's equilibrium. Familiar techniques of scraping and scumbling are used by Durazo, however, he manages to pull off a unique take on contemporary painting using his own voice as he subverts pop culture in his own meaningful way.

The exhibition continues through 2/18/13


Friday, January 25, 2013

Craig Taylor "Influence of atmosphere"  2012  72" x 54"  oil on canvas

http://cb1gallery.com

Clyde Beswick, owner and director of CB1 gallery in downtown L.A., has the rare ability to understand contemporary painters and their work.  Years of looking at and collecting art have honed his eye and his aesthetic. His passionate education manifests itself with a program that yields exceptional exhibitions of unique painters and their work.

The current exhibition of Craig Taylor's paintings in the west wing of his spacious gallery is the latest example of Beswick's efforts to bring the best work he can to Southern California.

Taylor, who lives and works in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Providence R.I., has a unique approach to painting. His work wrestles with tradition and art history while at the same time pushing new ground in abstraction. There is a wonderful ambiguity and subtle mystery to these mostly modest size works. They fall into a sort of hybrid abstract/narrative. All together, quite a beguiling experience.

The exhibition will be up through Feb. 17, 2013

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Raoul De Keyser     (1930-2012)
  "Again"  watercolor and charcoal on canvas mounted on wood panel 6 1/2 " x11 4/5" 2012
www.davidzwirner.com

 Work that appears deceptively simple, in reality, has much nuance and complexity. The hand is always present in his painting but more importantly, so is his inquisitive mind. Sadly, passed this past year.

Saturday, December 15, 2012


Tom Driscol New Sculpture at ICE gallery 3417 30th st. San Diego Ca.

If you are not familiar with Tom Driscols sculpture, here is a chance to see the latest in his innovative approach to object making. ICE gallery has invited Tom to show these polyurthethane pieces for their last show in the current space. They will be moving to Logan Heights after the first of the year. As usual, Tom has hit the cover off the ball with this latest offering.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012


Alexander Kroll  "a bird is not an ornithologist"  76"x67"  2012 oil on linen
http://www.jamesharrisgallery.com               http://www.cb1gallery.com

Controlled exuberance, deft paint handeling, performative, open ended are just a few of the adjectives that come to mind when viewing the new paintings of Alesander Kroll at CB1 gallery in downtown LA. There is a toughness to this group of paintings that is lacking in much of the current work being exhibited in galleries around town. These paintings were hard fought and the final result gives us that evidence. Kroll builds on the vocabulary of abstract painting and in doing so has found an authentic voice. His expansive fields of color are loosely held together with an ambiguous structure the sets up an unusual dialectic. Raw linen interacts with  impasto and wash to become portals to a new way of seeing what painting can be.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Jim Lee
  "Behind the Drapes, Under the Draft"  2012 acrylic on canvas with plywood and staples
    27"x21"x6.5"
http://www.nicellebeauchene.com

"Whether it's pieces of wood, a slice of linen, graphite marks, oil, latex paint, rubber, aluminum, I try to be open and not get caught up with prescribed hierarchies. I don't want to have limitations when I work----I want more possibilities." Quote from interview on www.paintersbread.com

Lees' work is idiosyncratic, multifaceted, straight forward, ambiguous, questioning, intriguing,  Steeped in history while jumping of the cliff of certainty. These odd configurations are very satisfying to say the least.