Travel Slide Show II: Wupatki National Monument Residency

Approaching Great Falls on Navajo land, one hour's drive from Wuptaki National Monument where I spent 8 days in July.

Mud flows through lava formations

...into the Little Colorado, surprisingly full for the summer months. San Francisco Peaks beyond

Overview of the stepped falls into space, as far as the eye can see

Mesas loom, seemingly from nowhere...

View from the Visitor's Center. 

Daily light show, 5 am

Asked about the day one could say, "the earth turned." Near Citadel and Lomaki ruins.

Rock piles at Wukoki.

Near Wukoki, an old dirt road to the Little Colorado.

Passing through the forest near Sunset Crater Volcano's lava flows

Cinder cone

A Brooklyn sunrise, after 37 days in the desert.

A Florida sunset

Wupatki, the largest trade center in the area was built after the 1100 Sunset Volcano eruption.By 1250 its inhabitants had moved on, yet rocks on the pueblo collect water, and plants grow in the volcanic cinders even now. Read, and view more here: Wupatki National Monument: NPS Link

New York Interlude Part III: Raphael Rubinstein's Reinventing Abstraction

There are a lot of things to love about this show--the exquisite placement of works, the perfectly proportioned galleries, the knowing title taken from a review of Stephen Mueller by Carrie Moyer, the amount of talent, intelligence and thoughtfulness invested by artists and curator alike--as well as the pleasure of revisiting works seminal to artistic development in the '80s.

Jonathan Lasker--once shockingly dissonant, now harmonious though the ideas are still present and viable.

David Reed detail--the variety within economical means astounds.

A very close detail of Reed's painting. Two down for a full view of this painting.

Pat Steir's precursor to waterfalls. I love seeing the work develop over time.

Left, Mary Heilman, right, David Reed in a gorgeous pairing. Look at Reed's white edge, acting as its own color.

Louise Fishman--a beauty, 25 x 22.

Detail.

Stephen Mueller, detail. Various textures and blank canvas not unlike works made today.

The strangest example of a Mueller I've seen--the later work more refined and coherent within its disparity.

Thomas Nozskowski

Gary Stephan

Detail, Stephan

Joan Snyder's lavish surface

Weirdness! incised incisions.

Textural joy

Jack Whitten

Stanley Whitney! An exciting surprise--the backstory to his current grids...

To be able to see the work develop over time is one of the greatest payoffs of this show.

Terry Winters

I used to dream of painting paintings like these

The hand so delicate, while slathering it on.

Carroll Dunham, seen from now, nascent vision

I first saw Bill Jensen's work at the Phillips Collection. Its arc is as radical and thrilling as Stanley Whitney's.

New York Interlude Part II: Endless Summer at Brian Morris with one Lauren Luloff from last post tacked on

Liz Markus--I am taken with her light touch, transparent washes, brilliant color and use of glitter. Added: I keep forgetting that painter GARY PETERSEN curated this show--and a fine job he did.

Mathew Fisher--weird paintings in hard-to-photograph locations--a strange, Japanese-screen-or-woodcut-like stillness within natural forms. He was in a three-person show at Heskin some years ago.

Gregory Botts - reminds me a little of Richard Bosman in his graphic, straight-up approach that gives way to the painterly

More Liz Markus

Amanda Church, dense, flat surface and pinstriped form

Elisabeth Kley - fanciful glazes on sun-like forms

Erik den Breejen

Osamu Kobayashi

It's so simple, I wanted to hate it, but couldn't.

Judith Linhares, Drink, 2012

Bay-area inflected brush handling...popping bright flat color against neutrals.

Lauren Luloff from Summer Session, imported from last post.