Something about abstract painting attracts dogmatic criticism. Figurative painting is understood to belong to millenia-long traditions in which so much is possible that a degree of pluralism is inevitable. And yet, despite abstract painting’s rich 100-year history, with roots deep into visual culture beyond that brisk century, its champions still fall for the habit of … Continued

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum 1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street New York City 212 423 3500 November 17, 2006 to March 28, 2007 What to think of yet another in the procession of general surveys the Guggenheim has served up?  In 2000, the late, great Robert Rosenblum presented the 1900 show as an expansive index that … Continued

We think there is a clue in Oursler’s work that provides us with a deeper insight into the nature of the relationship involved in the Albers-Judd pairings. This is a rather surprising state of affairs given that Oursler’s grotesque sculptures are hardly known for their imaginative use of color.

New York Studio School 8 West 8 Street New York City 212 673 6466 December 14, 2006 to February 3, 2007 traveling to the Wiegand Gallery of Notre Dame of Namur University January 20 to March 3, 2008 What is it to exhibit the black and white works on paper of Melissa Meyer made between … Continued

The Scottish-born painter Alan Davie turns 87 this year. He has been called one of Britain’s most significant living artists and one of its most famous beatniks. He wears a bushy, long white beard and is an accomplished jazz musician as well as a poet. Davie made a splash in the New York art scene … Continued

Exhibition curated by Katy Siegel with David Reed

Until February 17 541 W. 25th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-242-2772 Andrew Forge (1923–2002) was the author of shimmering abstract paintings of intense chromatic lyricism. His canvases are constructed from an even layer of closely woven, abutting colored dots, a kind of modernist update of Georges Seurat’s pointillism. His second notational device, a … Continued

The Brooklyn Museum October 20, 2006-January 21, 2007 “I don’t have two lives. This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it.” –Annie Leibovitz, A Photographer’s Life, 1990 – 2005 Why did so many people go to see Annie Leibovitz’s show at The Brooklyn Museum? First things first: … Continued

Greenberg Van Doren Gallery 730 Fifth Avenue at 57th Street New York City 212 445 0444 November 17, 2006 – January 12, 2007 Benjamin Edwards’s architectural landscapes are at once painterly and constructed, present and absent of human activity. The painter’s third exhibition at Greenberg Van Doren Gallery is titled “We.” This title, though seemingly … Continued

Just as Mr. Cemin’s somewhat romantic synthesis of the organic and the mechanical begins to relate to Mr. Hyde’s collision of the wayward and the contained, along comes Ms. Leirner, to remind the company that it is just art that’s being talked about.