Friday, March 23, 2007

Optic Nerve: Perceptual Art of the 1960s, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, February 16 - June 17, 2007



















Ed Mieczkowski, Blue Bloc, 1967, acrylic on canvas, 48" x 48"


Curator Joe Houston has put together the most important international surevy of op art in years, with approximately 85 op and op-related pieces, with a focus on the 1960s. The 200 page catalog is the first overview of op availalbe since the early seventies includes an introductory essay by Dave Hickey. Columbus is a JetBlue city so don't miss this show!
For or more images and information, go to:

Agam, Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Getulio Alviani, Edna Andrade, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Marina Apollonio, Hannes Beckmann, Karl Benjamin, Ernst Benkert, Francis Celentano, Toni Costa, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Benjamin Cunningham, Gene Davis, Sally Hazelet Drummond, Angel Duarte, Wojciech Fangor, Paul Feeley, Lorser Feitelson, Karl Gerstner, Francis Hewitt, Robert Irwin, Ellsworth Kelly, Bill Komodore, Edorado Landi, Mon Levinson, Alexander Liberman, Wolfgang Ludwig, Edourdo Mac Entyre, Heinz Mack, Agnes Martin, Almir da silva Mavignier, Ed Mieczkowski, Francois Morellet, Spencer Moseley, Rakuko Naito, Reginal Neal, Kenneth Noland, Henry C. Pearson, Larry Poons, Bridget Riley, Peter Sedgley, Tony Smith, Jesus Raphael Soto, Julian Stanczak, Jeffrey Steele, Frank Stella, Tadasky, Luis Tomasello, Claude Tousignant, Vicotr Vasarely, Gerhard von Graevenitz, Ludwig Wilding, Jean-Pierre Yvaral.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Optic Nerve Catalog (first op survey in English in 35 years)




The best overview of op art ever published (and the first in some 35 years.) This is the accompanying catalog for the show on view at the Columbus Art Museum through June 17. Fetures many color plates, introductory essay by Dave Hickey (click here for excerpts), and excellent text by curator Joe Houston. Support this important exhibition and buy from the museum directly (call (614) 221-4848).

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

"The Optical Edge," Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, NY, Mar 7-Apr 14, 2007

Read the essay "Reviving the Edge in Optical Painting" by Robert C. Morgan.

with Bridget Riley, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Julian Stanczak, Victor Vasserely, Josef Albers, Sandford Wurmfeld, Robert Swain, Gabriele Evertz, Rakuko Naito, Gilbert Hsiao, Soon Ja Han, Jon Groom, Beverly Fishman, Ryszard Wasko, and Michelle Hinebrook. Curated by Robert C. Morgan. A catalog is available for this exhibition.

Click here for good notes made by Marshall Sponder at the artist talk on March 9 with Sandford Wurmfeld, Soon Ja Han, Jon Groom, Ryszard Wasko and Robert C. Morgan.

















Gabriele Evertz, Motion Parallax, 1998
Acrylic on canvas, 72 x 72 inches

Thursday, March 1, 2007

"Seurat and the Neo-Impressionists," Robert H. and Ina M. Mohlman Gallery at the Indianpolis Museum of Art (Ongoing)

The Indianapolis Museum of Art boasts one of the finest, if not the finest, collection of neo-impressionist painting in the United States. Currently, it is displaying 16 paintings, a watercolor, and a print as part of its regular collection. Besides work by Pissaro, Seurat and Signac, there is fine work by Paul Baum, Hendricus Petrus Bremmer, Henri Edmond Cross, Alfred Finch, Georges Lemmen, Maximilien Luce, George Morren, Albert Dubois-PilletLucien Pissaro, Jan Toorop, and Henry van de Velde. Click here for images.



Jan Toorop, Dutch (1858-1928), Broek in Waterland (1889), oil on canvas



The museum is newly renovated and features extensive collections of European paintings (14th century onward, including a Caravaggio, plus a collection of Turner and Turner related watercolors), American paintings (check out the unique underwater Thomas Moran landscape) as well as extensive Asian and African collections. It has a good op and post-op collection as well (currently on view is an uncharacteristic early Bridget Riley, a Roy Lichtenstein dot print of a Monet cathedral, one of the few, in my opinion, successful representational op works, and light based installations by Robert Irwin, James Turrell, and Michael Rovner with optical implications.)