Sean Scully by David Carrier Thames & Hudson, 224 pages, $65 Sean Scully does for stripes what Giorgio Morandi did for bottles. He turns an unpreposessing form into the cipher for a fulsome range of painterly emotions. Morandi’s jugs and jars were things in the world, still-life motifs that precariously balanced specificity and generalization. Mr. … Continued

“Robert Ryman: Works on Paper, 1957-1964” until September 25 (closed for August, 99 Wooster Street, between Spring and Prince, 212-343-0441). “Band of Abstraction” until August 14 (819 Washington Street, between Little W. 12th and Gansevoort Streets, 212-243-8572). A painterly equivalent to the truism that the child is father to the man is that an artist’s … Continued

Book Review: Rudy Burckhardt, by Phillip Lopate with an essay by Vincent Katz Abrams, 2004 (224 pp, $65) Rudy Burckhardt: Selected Photographs through September 11, 2004 724 Fifth Avenue at 57th Street, 212 262 5050 Rudy Burckhardt’s Sense of Place What makes Rudy Burckhardt unique among many great photographers of New York is his magic … Continued

Willard Boepple continues through July 31 at Salander-O’Reilly Galleries (20 E 79th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, 212-879-6606) “Abstract sculpture has the wonderful potential of catching people coming around a corner and making them say, ‘what the hell is that?’” So says Willard Boepple (pronounced BUP-lee), whose point is proven at Salander-O’Reilly Galleries where … Continued

Bettina Blohm’s paintings are Haiku-like visual landscapes that distill emotion into abstract form. They reflect a love of Eastern art with its focus on intuitive states of mind. Blohm’s paintings also engage with a Matisse inspired sense of color and an Abstract Expressionist scale, both of which come across especially within her compositional placement of … Continued

Brent Sikkema Gallery, 530 West 22nd Street New York NY 10001 June 10 to July 17, 2004 Burt Barr’s work is, in many ways, unique in the field of video art. His work is technically polished and full of wit and reference to film arts of all types. Three recent pieces make up his current … Continued

on view at Michael Werner Gallery through July 9