“For more than thirty years, the Los Angeles–based artist Henry Taylor (b. 1958) has portrayed people from widely different backgrounds—family members, friends, neighbors, celebrities, politicians, and strangers—with a mixture of raw immediacy and tenderness. His improvisational approach to artmaking is hinted at in this exhibition’s title, Henry Taylor: B Side, which refers to the side of a record album that often contains lesser-known, more experimental songs. “
Henry Taylor: B Side
Oct 4, 2023–Jan 28, 2024
Whitney Museum of American Art 99 Gansevoort Street, NYC
I’m asked “Why did you give a certain name to a painting” and I don’t know. Sometimes it just shows up in my head. Nothing deep or heavy, it just sounds right.
This painting was done this morning, mostly with a pallet knife and some glazes. The edges reminded me of glass. That is about as close as I can get to “why” this name.
It is not necessary that we come to an agreement about what is good works of art. It is important that we independently see value in the art that we like and appreciate. To have our own listening, our own sight, that we are not relying on what others think. We don’t need talking heads for everything.
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to chat with Joan Waters about her exhibit, “Undivided Attention: New Work in Welded Steel and Paint”, at the Chandler Center for the Arts. We spoke about being an artist and the people who played a role in her career. Here is a portion of what we talked about.
The work of Jasper Johns is being presented concurrently at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC & the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror is the most comprehensive retrospective ever… Featuring his most iconic works along with many others shown for the first time, it comprises a broad range of paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures from 1954 to today across two sites…The artist “helped spark movements including Pop art, Minimalism, and Conceptualism, among others, and has inspired successive generations of artists to this day.”
“Conceived as a whole but displayed in two distinct parts, the exhibition appears simultaneously here at the Whitney and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, two institutions with which Johns has had long-standing relationships.”
Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror Until Feb 13, 2022
*Whitney Museum of American Art 99 Gansevoort Street, NYC
“I paint to try to reveal the struggle, tragedy and joy of life.”
— Neel quoted in the New York Times (1976)
Alice Neel: People Come First is the first museum retrospective in New York of American artist Alice Neel (1900–1984) in twenty years.” “…The exhibition consists of “approximately one hundred paintings, drawings, and watercolors “.
“There’s never been one New York. Alice Neel’s portraits and street scapes show us her version: a vibrant city made up of ugliness, struggle, and brutality, but also strength, resilience, and beauty—the constant hustle. Every corner has a story.
