Structure and Imagery

John Hoyland, Survivor Man 17.08.08, acrylic on cotton duck, 152 x 140 cm. Abstraction is an old story with the philosophers, but it has been like a new toy in the hands of the artists of our day.  Why can't we have any one quality of poetry we choose by itself?  We can have in thought.  Then it will go hard if we can't in practice.  Our lives for it. Granted no one but a humanist much cares how sound a poem is if it is only a sound.  The sound is the gold in the ore.  Then we will have the sound out alone and dispense with the inessential.  We do till we make the discovery that the object in writing poetry is to make all poems sound as different as possible from each other, and the resources for that of vowels, consonants, punctuation, syntax, words, sentences, meter are not enough.  We need the help of context-meaning-subject matter.  That is the greatest help towards variety.  All that can be done with words is soon told. ...

From the press release: In Freewheeling , Deborah Brown exhibits paintings of car salvage lots, cement factories, and detritus at the end of the industrial age. The subject matter is familiar territory for Brown, who has depicted the landscape of Brooklyn’s Bushwick for several years. The new work enters the domain of fantasy, leaving literal interpretation in favor of a Bushwick of the imagination. Carcases of flattened and stacked cars resemble ziggurats from the ancient world. Cement trucks buried in heaps of sand masquarade as amphora; cement tanks become abandoned rocket ships. The palette is high key and odd; the light source, eerie. Through their lush paint handling and loopy lexicon of images, the paintings celebrate the power of a place to inspire the imagination. Deborah Brown : Freewheeling until July 1, 2012 The Active Space 566 Johnson Avenue (entrance on Stewart) Brooklyn, NY 11237

Gili Levy Rafael Fuchs Images from the Inaugural Show at Ethan Pettit Contemporary Art . Richard Humann Roger Egert Alicia Papanek (on left) and The Nose , a 1991 blueprint assembled by the Williamsburg artist community. It shows an areal view of the waterfront. The Nose was a periodical poster- magazine. Detail of The Nose   Henry G. Sanchez Mari Oshima Alkemikal Soshu Installation view Installation view Inaugural Show Alicia Papanek, Alkemikal Soshu, Eva Schicker, Rafael Fuchs, Gili Levy, Mari Oshima, Jan Holthoff, Konstantin Lange, Robert Egert, Henry G. Sanchez, and Richard Humann Until June 30, 2012 Ethan Pettit Contemporary Art 119 Ingraham Street #312 Brooklyn, NY 11237

Mel Bernstine Gary Petersen and Harriet Korman Steven Charles Mel Bernstine Gary Petersen Steven Charles Mel Bernstine Installation view. Harriet Korman Installation view. Gary Petersen Harriet Korman Chris Baker Andrew Seto Installation view. Harriet Korman There Are No Giants Upstairs Chris Baker, Mel Bernstine, Steven Charles, Harriet Korman, Gary Petersen, and Andrew Seto June 16 - July 29, 2012 THEODORE:Art 56 Bogart Street Brooklyn, NY 11237 Hours: Friday- Sunday 1 - 6 PM

Recently I stopped by the Bushwick studio of Sharon Butler just as she was preparing for her next solo exhibit at Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT. Butler's paintings seem to hold fast to the strictures of Minimalism but a closer inspection reveals a sensitiveness to form, a subtle use of color, and the importance of drawing sometimes found missing from that genre. That is not to say that Butler's work lacks discipline. Indeed, a mental and technical exactness are displayed as an idea is explored with a deft layering of forms and line that shows the maker's mind at work. This rigor is very often contrasted with the impulsive way the work is presented- often on un-stretched linen, pinned to the wall, or with supporting stretchers partially exposed. The result is painting that often combines the frankness and intellect of the Conceptual, with the fragility, pictorial inventiveness, and longing of the Modern. Sh...