Chelsea, the Beautiful

Trenton Doyle Hancock at James Cohan: a textural relative of the stylized forms in
Dana Schutz's show at Petzel earlier this year

Hancock, tactile and wild

Surfaces are dense and surprising--hard to know what's on top and beneath. They are a pleasure to behold.

A fine blob on a scrambled pink and yellow ground.

Small kitty painting by Hancock in Cohan's front room.

Keltie Ferris - a handsome show at Mitchell, Inness & Nash
This is featured on many blogs, including those linked here, lower right.

Soft, sprayed color with a small, digitized mark on top.

Barnaby Furnas at Marianne Boesky:  this room looked fantastic.

Jonah and the Whale--see Jennifer Wynne Reeves below for another version of the Biblical tale.
Furnas' palette is so icy and cold, perfect for winter ocean tales.

Drawings by Furnas on a wood panel wall. Straightforward like the paintings, strange mix of Leger and David Bates among others.

David Humphrey, this painting in Fredrick and Freiser's back room.
Like Sue Williams in a way--and then not.

David Brody just reviewed the show for Artcritical.com

Color is skewed on my iPhone but I did love this painting, particularly the caput mortum with brilliant blue and yellow.

Tree language.

Stephan Mueller at Lennon, Weinberg

A most gorgeous example of Mueller, though the crimson surround is compromised by iPhone.
Makes me think of the Met's Matisse armchair painting center of three where the model's arm becomes part of the chair, framing her body.

Stephan Mueller

Jennifer Wynne Reeves at Stux, group show: another Jonah story on coated paper, with a surprising array of textures.
Check her page on FB for better images--these again, are iPhone.

Jennifer Wynne Reeves: another pictorial hybridizer.
These framed works are hard to capture straight on but they are wonderful paintings!

Whale threatening to devour one of Reeve's emblematic paint-figures, with which she has worked for many years.
Reeves is a Guggenheim Fellow this year.

Annie Attridge at Asya Geisberg Gallery

This joyous porcelain work summoned memories of See's Candy Easter Eggs
...with picture windows revealing narratives of a sugar animal kingdom

An adult version of same replete with wood paneling.
The artist also showed drawings and prints of wood grain and the sculpture.

Last gallery of the day: Gary Snyder, featuring the wall hangings of Al Loving.

This museum-quality show will be extended yet again, which is great news for everyone. I first saw Al Loving's work at David Reed's studio, in an exhibition of work from the 1970s after the High Times, Hard Times show.

After this, headed uptown to the Met to see Matisse, In Search of True Painting. What a cap to a splendid day! Paintings paired, sometimes tripled, with repeat motifs through which he "searches for true painting." Through serial photographs and the doubling of works, one encounters the tremendous dedication and drive behind what we perceive as light and simple compositions. Make it look easy?
Matisse Press Release