Current Issue

Art

In Conversation

Dore Ashton with Phong Bui & Deidre Swords

by Phong Bui

Art

On a late Saturday afternoon, Rail publisher Phong Bui and the painter Deidre Swords visited the art critic and art historian Dore Ashton at her East Village home to talk about her life and work.

The Painted World P.S. 1

by Roger White

Art

In 1921, only 10 years after Kandinsky made the first abstract paintings, Russian avant gardists at the Vkhutemas school in Moscow sounded the death-knell of all other painting genres in an exhibition called The Last Picture has been Painted. Given that kind of childhood, it’s no surprise that abstract painting has always gone hand-in-hand with polemics.

In Conversation: Stephen Shore with Noah Sheldon & Roger White

Art

Currently on view at P.S.1, Stephen Shore: American Surfaces is an exhibition that re-presents the photographer’s 1972–73 collection of small-format travel pictures. Since garnering acclaim—and some criticism—for his pioneering color photography in the early seventies, Shore has continued to deepen his engagement with the culture and techniques of photography, influencing generations of fellow practitioners through his work and teaching. We spoke to Shore in his New York apartment about his early photographic collections Uncommon Places and American Surfaces, his fine art and commercial work since then,and his series of brilliant self-produced books made using Apple’s iPhoto software, as well as the art of teaching photography, the issue of conventions, and the challenge of depicting the style of everyday life.

Hwang Young Sung: Painter from GwangJu

by Robert C. Morgan

Art

GwangJu is a city in the southwest area of Korea, known by some Europeans and Americans as the location of the first biennial in Asia. Before Beijing, before Shanghai, before Singapore, before Taiwan, there was Gwangju. The first Biennale was in 1995–a mere decade ago–and now the sixth installation is expected to open in September 2006. For those who have visited Korea’s fifth largest city, situated in the mountains near the end of the peninsula, there is the puzzling question as to why GwangJu was chosen as the site for one ofthe world’s important art events.

Performa 05

by Ellen Pearlman

Art

Performa 05, the first biennial ever of “new visual art performance,” that ambiguous yet agreed-upon term encompassing spoken word, theater, film, video, computer art, photography, music, sound, travel, and lectures, stormed across the alleyways, byways, hallways, and city streets of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Governor’s Island, revitalizing the tattered memories and hearts of that even more ambiguous thing referred to as “downtown.”

A Tribute to Philip Pavia (1912-2005)

by Phong Bui

Art

Listening to one story from one New York School artist, it is to be expected that it will be told differently from the others. Never lacking compelling and arresting narration, though undoubtedly bounded by Rashomom syndrome. But that, perhaps, is their greatest attribute and characteristic brilliance; for the Nietzchian will, utterly romantic and self-aggrandizing projection was the substance behind their creative life and work.

In Conversation

Pierre Soulages with Robert C. Morgan

Art

The following interview was conducted with Pierre Soulages at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Manhattan during his last two exhibits at Robert Miller and Haim Chanin. The translation, transcription, and editing of this manuscript involved a considerable amount of attention. I am grateful to Mathilde Simian for accompanying me for the duration of the interview with the painter. Given that he prefers French to English, the answers to my questions generally came in French, and occasionally in English.