I hadn’t sent the novel out in a while. In fact, I hadn’t sent it out in months. What was the point? Even if they loved it, they didn’t want it. At this point I was too dispirited to send the work out or describe the ensuing demoralization. But I needed to send it out...
Publication in the Age of Negation, Part VII
OUTSIDE LA: Nicole Eisenman Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles
It’s one thing to engage in a discourse about the influence of art historical movements on contemporary painters, and another still to analyze a particular artist’s specific set of influences, such as Nicole Eisenman’s robust relationship with the European...
Publication in the Age of Negation, Part V A Tiresome Outpouring of Fribbling Expatiations
I don’t know how to create the impression of time passing. But it passed, weeks passed by, during which nothing much happened. The sense of futility engendered by these dealings with the literary establishment hung over other potential undertakings. There didn’t seem...
Art Writer/Author Frances Colpitt Dies (1952–2022)
Frances Colpitt, renowned art historian, author, curator, feature writer and contributing editor for Art in America for over 20 years; teacher and mentor, died in her Fort Worth, TX, home September 12, 2022. Colpitt, who recently retired from her position as the...
Publication in the Age of Negation, Part IV Wasted Words
One sends out this precious, all too precious, closely guarded work to complete strangers: they might initially take an interest, but after being presented with the entire manuscript, they can’t be bothered to get back to you at all, not even with a brief cordial...
Beautyful Migrations The Diaspora According to Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Njideka Akunyili Crosby is having quite the year. Her figurative paintings are on the walls of esteemed museums and institutions across the country, often featuring portraits of herself, friends and family. Akunyili Crosby’s unique style consists of painted, drawn and...
Racial Reckoning Mark Steven Greenfield Illuminates the Black Experience
In 2020, Mark Steven Greenfield unveiled a new body of work, “Black Madonna,” followed by “HALO” in 2022, both at the William Turner Gallery in Santa Monica. Gallery owner William Turner told me in an email that the “Black Madonna” show was a natural progression of...
Let There Be Light Daniel Hawkins’ Desert Lighthouse Turns Five
“It looks like the unlicensed pot farms have ceased operations.” Daniel Hawkins is surveying the Mojave Desert landscape surrounding the hill on which he built a fully functioning 50-foot solar-powered lighthouse in 2017. Below us, an elaborate compound of white tents...
Layering Subjectivity Q&A with Zoe Walsh
Zoe Walsh is a Los Angeles–based painter originally from Washington D.C. They received their BA from Occidental College and Masters from Yale University. Represented by M+B Gallery, Walsh has exhibited their work in group shows around the world. In 2019, they were...
CHEECH MARIN’S NEXT MOVE An Explosion of Chicano Art in Riverside
How apt that the new Cheech Marin Museum for Chicano Art and Culture in Riverside, California should open in a repurposed public library. Libraries are historically accessible spaces for learning and intellectual research. Museums, on the other hand, still struggle to...
FALL 2022 PREVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
Get ready for the big 2022 Fall art season. This is traditionally the biggest show of any other time in the art world where most galleries put their best foot forward with their September and October exhibitions. We’ve selected a few highlights coming...
Tara Thomas ( 1966 –2022) Chef to the LA Arts Dies
Artillery is sad to report that Los Angeles Chef Tara Thomas passed away on August 11, 2022. Tara was an enthusiastic supporter and early adopter of the Los Angeles art magazine. “I consider Tara a friend,” said Editor-in-Chief Tulsa Kinney, “She was generous with her...
Publication In The Age of Negation, Part III Compassion and Contempt
Let the disgust pour through me. Let it seethe. Let it sink in and settle. I wasn’t capable of doing anything more than lying on the sofa, stewing in bitterness and resentment. One likes to think that one’s work will be well-received by these commercial...
Publication In The Age of Negation, Part II Pillorying the Pillars
Four weeks passed. I was about to resign myself to not hearing from Charles Wersing, a top New York literary agent, when I checked my inbox one afternoon. “Good to hear from you,” he wrote, and apologized for taking a month to get back to me. He complimented me on my...
Ways of Reading On the Road with Tim Youd's 100 Novels Project
When I first encountered Tim Youd, he was sitting at a metal table outside an art gallery in Chinatown, tap-tap-tapping away on a portable typewriter, just minding his own business. Most of the crowd didn’t pay him much mind either. Earlier that summer, Youd found...
Publication In The Age of Negation, Part I Humility and Humiliation
Perhaps you remember me… No, that wasn’t right. It was senseless to open a letter of entreaty by suggesting that I was forgettable, especially when I knew only too well that the party in question would remember me. Hello Charlie, it’s your old friend here… No, that...
Book Review: A Measured Coolness Building + Becoming by Amir Zaki
Building + Becoming By Amir Zaki 272 pages X Artists' Books and DoppelHouse Press The works of Amir Zaki subtly subverts analog photography’s long-held truth claims. His photography, surveyed in the newly published artist book Building + Becoming, addresses the...
Book Review: Heartfelt Moments Portrait of an Artist by Hugo Huerta Marin
Portrait of an Artist By Hugo Huerta Marin 424 pages Prestel What exactly is a portrait? In art, “portrait” is generally understood to mean a visual likeness or representation. One could argue that a photographic portrait captures this visual likeness more closely...