Carol Bove, Hieroglyph (2013), via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed

There’s an interesting approach to spatial relations that runs through most of Carol Bove’s body of work, almost always insisting on an awareness of the exhibition space, and how this space connects with the sculptural works that fill it.  For her newest show of works at Maccarone in the West Village, Bove continues this trend, running a number of enormous shell girders through that space, always appearing as if they had intentionally been placed there as part of the space’s construction.

Carol Bove, RA, or Why is an orange like a bell? (Installation View), via Daniel Creahan for Art Observed (more…)

Edward Hopper, Study for Nighthawks, (1941 or 1942), via The Whitney

An Edward Hopper painting inevitably leads the viewer to contemplation of the meaning and purpose of the simple and mundane moments that make up the majority of our lives. His scenes depict the usual, the all-too-familiar, and even the occasional melancholy moments of existence.  Empty gas stations, coffee shops, movie theaters, and bedrooms communicate the paradoxical isolation of American society;  while many of the inhabitants are depicted in social settings, in crowds or social establishments, they convey overwhelming feelings of remorse, isolation and resignation. Through his brushstrokes and pencil marks, Hopper provides a commentary on the American life of mid-20^th century, a commentary that is in many cases still applicable to the America of today.

Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, (1942), via The Whitney (more…)

Andy Warhol (Installation View), via Alexandra Bregman for Art Observed

On May 12^th, The Brant Foundation in Greenwich, Connecticut opened its first show of the year with a selection of works by Andy Warhol. Paper mogul and avid collector Peter Brant has been personally buying Warhol’s work since 1968, and has amassed a reported 200 paintings, prints, polaroid portraits and magazine covers, from which he has pulled for this impressive show. Mr. Brant co-curated the exhibition with Heiner Bastian, the latter of whom worked on the traveling Warhol retrospective of 2001-2002, which traveled from Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, London’s Tate Modern, and MOCA LA in Los Angeles. (more…)

New York Magazine has published a thorough analysis of the inspirations behind Edward Hopper’s iconic painting, Nighthawks.  Scouring the artist’s former midtown haunts, the article traces influences from the Flatiron Building’s curved window display to the storefronts of Greenwich avenue.  “People want to find the real diner, but Hopper was a synthesizer,” says Carter Foster, the Whitney Museum curator who is preparing to open “Hopper Drawing,” a new show examining the artist’s creative practice. (more…)

Elizabeth Peyton, Jonas Kaufmann, March 2013, NYC (2013), via Gavin Brown’s Enterprise

Gavin Brown’s west-side gallery is currently playing home to a new set of works by artist Elizabeth Peyton, continuing the artist’s ongoing series of portraiture through a series of works taken from the New York Metropolitan Opera, as well as Peyton’s well-documented self-portraits and depictions of celebrities.   (more…)