Alison's Art Reviews

The Bowery Gallery in Chelsea is currently presenting a collection of work by Dena Schutzer for the show Agitation and Retreat . For this show, Schutzer, who’s based in the New York City area, unveils several oil paintings completed over the last two years that include cityscapes, rural scenes, still-lifes, and portraits of people and animals as they go about their daily lives in varying environments. Regarding the title, Schutzer explains that “Agitation” refers to the hustle-and-bustle feeling of scenarios she observes while “Retreat” refers to quieter and more personal moments she experiences. Some of the works depicting “Agitation” include Four Men Working that shows a group of construction workers diligently and fervently opening up a city street with clouds of steam rising. Other works in “Agitation” include the energy felt in Sparring showing a boy and his father in a boxing match in a park; Cables and Green Sky depicts a chaotic arrangement of power lines and thick, cur...

Addison Houses  (2023, oil on canvas) by John Goodrich By ALISON MARTIN The Bowery Gallery in Chelsea is currently presenting The Color's the Thing , an exhibition of recent paintings by John Goodrich. For this show, Goodrich presents a mix of landscape pantings, still lifes, and character studies all of which encourage the viewer to consider the relationship between color, shape, and open space.  Rembrandt is a major inspiration for Goodrich and Goodrich includes several paintings inspired by various renditions of Rembrandt's early skecthes including Bastion in Amsterdam , Three Women at the Entrance of a House , and Rembrandt's reclining nude series. Many of the landscape paintings in this show are countryside scenes of houses, water, cars etc. In Addison Houses, you can see the reflection of the houses in the water. In still-lifes such as Two Red Peppers , you can see how the bold red color of the peppers and their curvy shape and the large size compared to placed in ...

.                                  The Landscape Painter (2023, oil on canvas) by Stuart Snoddy By ALISON MARTIN The Massey Klein Gallery on the Lower East Side is currently presenting,  The   Dither featuring several new paintings by Stuart Snoddy. For his second solo show at the gallery, the Indianapolis based artist unveils intriguing portraits of mysterious and somewhat unusual looking people.  Some of the characters he portrays are goofy and satirical and exude animated vibes. Examples include The Method Actor  and  The Gonzo Painter.  The Method Actor depicts a man, short and stout in stature, with a balding head and droopy eyes and lips. Similarly,  The Gonzo Painter  portrays a young man with his face made up like a clown's but exhibiting a tired, unhappy expression as is indicated by his droopy facial features. The muted browns and grays add to the solem...

By ALISON MARTIN A collection haunting and dreamy images by Owen Gray is currently on view for the exhibition A World of Calm and Chaos . In this show, Gray examines how numerous crises going on in our world tap into human subconsciousness and appear in our dreams in various forms. The most prevalent global crises that is examined in this collection of work is that of climate change and how it's disrupting life on Earth with animals being removed from their natural habitats. Hieronymus Bosch, a 15th-16th century Dutch painter known for his expressive, fantastical masterpieces is one of Gray's biggest influencers and Bosch's vision is very much evident in Gray's paintings.  Exotic Gathering by Owen Gray (2022, oil on paper) One work titled  Exotic Gathering features flying insects, beetles, a purple butterfly and several mandolins that have come together in one dreamlike sequence. Another painting with a similar concept of creatures coming together is  Reptile Meeting ...

By ALISON MARTIN Picasso's prolific body of work never stops intriguing art lovers even after his death half a century ago.  The latest show at Park Avenue's Forum Gallery Picasso on Paper , focuses on his drawings and paintings done at various points in his eight-decade career that included portraits, nude figures, and other character studies. Some of the works on display include those from Picasso's blue period that spanned the years 1901 through 1904. The works in this period came from a place of extreme sadness and financial hardships Picasso was facing during those years as a young artist. One of these works titled Le Repas  frugal ("The Frugal Meal") features a gaunt couple sitting side by side at a table and have finished sharing a meal. What's left on the placemat in front of them is a plate, two glasses, and a bottle of wine. Their figures are elongated and they appear to be in a state of unhappiness perhaps contemplating how they are going to survive...