Body, Landscape, Space: Top Ten Painting Shows in the U.S.

After surveying March exhibitions at more than 300 galleries throughout the United States, two things became clear: 1) Painting still holds a central place in the exhibition programming of most galleries and 2) it is a medium that never seems to lose its vitality. While some of the great contemporary masters of painting are on view this month--Ellsworth Kelly and Ed Ruscha among them--I focused my attention on artists that are lesser known, yet worthy of attention. These ten artists each, in their own way, continue to push painting forward, while actively embracing what has come before them.

--Steven Zevitas, Editor/Publisher, New American Paintings

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Gianna Commito

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Gianna Commito, Tunk, 2011, watercolor, casein, and marble dust ground on panel, 30 x 24 inches. Courtesy of Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York

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Gianna Commito, Tunk, 2011, watercolor, casein, and marble dust ground on panel, 30 x 24 inches. Courtesy of Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York

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Comments

[Joan Zetka]

08:54 AM on 03/10/2011

Good to know that painting is still alive and well in the USA. Onward and upward!

[CMcConaughy]

10:11 PM on 03/09/2011

I think you chose some excellent shows.

[poorpearl]

09:45 PM on 03/09/2011

My facebook status right now is a quote by Sally Mann, something like "I think it's important, but maybe it isn't, maybe nobody wants to see it, maybe nobody needs to see it."
The thing that I find fascinating and illuminating is the certainty some viewers have about what makes good art. I suppose I am guilty of this as well. I am drawn to art that moves me emotionally and probably I think that makes it good. Whether it looks "purposeful" doesn't cross my mind. Its purpose, I assume, is a communication from the artist to the viewer; at least, that's my purpose when I paint... I think. Is it? It's complicated. Maybe it's just a communication- period. And hopefully- as Sally Mann puts it, someone "wants to see it."

[poorpearl]

10:28 PM on 03/09/2011

Or even more hopefully, needs to see it.

julia schwartz aka poor pearl

[Dennis Aufiery]

07:23 PM on 03/09/2011

Steven, All ten artists are interesting, Clare Sherman especially. However there are no artists in this group who are working from direct visual experience - think Matisse at Collioure or Interior with Violin painted in Nice. All about color, paint and space and importantly about being there. Much of the work you selected is about photoshop, indirect experience and a shallow sense of presence. I think your missing an important part of visual experience. Perhaps that will change.

[Steven Zevitas]

11:01 PM on 03/09/2011

Dennis. I am all about being here, there and everywhere. Your point is well taken. I think that for many artists of a younger generation "there" is a very indeterminate place. To a large extent, I feel this way about any artist who has been born in the mass media age, but now with the Internet, social media, etc. a direct sense of place is more fugitive than ever. Not surprisingly, this sense of dislocation finds its way into the work of many contemporary artists. How could it not? "There" is a different place for each artist, so I think work needs to be addressed from this point of view. That having been said, a good Cezanne can take me more places than I probably need to go.

[Me atlast]

05:52 PM on 03/08/2011

Some of these are pretty nice pieces, but most just seem juvenile to me. Like art school experimental. Perhaps it's because I think paintings should look purposeful. I know art is subjective, but the Josh Smith one... I mean really. Is the key to success to make your work look like you didn't care enough to make an effort?

[Chris White 1]

06:04 PM on 03/08/2011

i was thinking pretty much the same thing.

[Steven Zevitas]

08:21 PM on 03/08/2011

Josh is a challenging painter, and he is representative of a wider "didn't care enough" aesthetic, or what has been referred to as provisional painting. Beauty is clearly not a core issue for him. For those who believe that "good" painting needs to involve careful consideration and labored craftsmanship his paintings can be shocking at first - at least they shocked me when I first came into contact with them several years ago. I stood in the middle of his current show over the weekend and thought a lot about what painting is, what it is capable of communicating and how its history informs our current way of dealing with it. Josh's work addresses these issues in a raucous and irreverent way, but there is no doubt that he is a serious artist.

[eric14]

02:44 PM on 03/09/2011

I recall seeing some tiles done in that wild, careless fashion. At first they can be repellant, but they work in contrast to a surrounding tidiness.

[Cody Benton]

02:59 PM on 03/09/2011

art brute? how is this any different?