Steve Gianakos, She Decided to Throw the Party Anyway, acrylic on canvas, 2011.

The opening night was very well attended. Coats came off and it seemed that people wanted to stay. There existed a noticeable boundary between the viewers and the paintings. The glances this work received were short as though it would be psychologically telling to be caught gazing. The minimal approach to the craft is a clever response to this natural behavior. It’s OK now here online, go ahead, peel back those lids and have a good long stare.

Steve Gianakos, It Had An Abrupt Melodramatic Conclusion, acrylic on canvas, 2011.

There is no cause for concern, these disturbances do not leave lasting harm on the psyche. They are retained as clever reminders to genuine diversity. Steve Gianakos has been pricking us for some time now and we can’t get enough.

Steve Gianakos, The Farm Had Been Rescinded Just A Month Earlier, acrylic on canvas, 2011.

Steve Gianakos
New Paintings
19 January – 18 February 2012
Fredericks & Freiser Gallery
NYC

Images courtesy of Fredericks & Freiser Gallery.

“The Complete Spot Challenge” is a goal set by the artist that rewards successful participants with a personally dedicated spot print should they visit all eleven galleries during the exhibition. Check with the gallery for details and get ready to log some serious frequent flyer miles.

Damien Hirst, Zirconyl Chloride, household gloss on canvas, 2008.

No one piece held me mesmerized longer than any other but the concept as a whole for this exhibit completely blew me away. Placing dots on the map and covering the empire was a gesture that further cemented Mr. Hirst as a man that is not afraid to take every advantage of his position.

Damien Hirst, The Complete Spot Paintings, installation view, New York, 2012.

I haven’t checked in with the press on this one yet but it is as sure as sunrise that the response to this impressive undertaking will be largely negative. It is a regrettable certainty that follows any artist commanding this much attention. The truth, however, is that looking around the largest of the rooms opening night at Gagosian on 24th Street in New York City revealed no unhappy faces.

Damien Hirst, The Complete Spot Paintings, installation view, New York, 2012.

Damien Hirst
The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011
12 January – 18 February 2012
Gagosian Gallery
NYC

Images courtesy of Gagosian Gallery.

Lisa has been making fantastic paintings for years but has only recently began to actively share her creations outside of her close circle. Showing work through her website and social media outlets has flourished in immediate and growing attention for more.

Her life sized, mixed media, self portraits known as “Lisa Shapes” command complete attention when encountered. It is a sensation that could be likened to a meeting as much as a viewing. Foster has been through a lot in her life. Some traumatic experiences had left her “in pieces.” Her work, the process and product, have been helping her to feel whole again. The genuine nature of this approach has been manifesting very powerful results.

The large canvases are accomplished with acrylic paint, medium and reproduction quilting fabrics. It’s easy to keep up with the production of her new work online. In addition to that, I encourage you to see the pieces in person. It is a real treat that offers new insight. I hope that you enjoy this studio visit as much as I did.

To learn more about Lisa Foster, please visit her website at: www.lisaafoster.com

I’ve been involved in several off-season moves that will intensify my career as artist, dealer and art writer. New York City is on the very near horizon and I should be in position soon to conduct more studio visits, museum previews and exhibition reviews.

The Summer has also brought about the founding of my personal artist website. I’m offering up a new signed and numbered, archival, limited edition pigment print seven days a week. All of my artistic pursuits are updated daily on the site. Check in regularly to examine progress on my portfolio, ongoing projects and store. Please sign up here to receive a weekly digest via email highlighting all of the action.

Scroll down for a small selection of my work from this year. Two prints, a pair of photographs, a couple of projects, some paintings and now, yes, I have been branded with my own logo.

Scott Lickstein, Spectrum Sipper, archival pigment print on 300 gsm, 100% cotton, acid & lignin free paper, 20.25 x 17 inches, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, The Hawk, archival pigment print on 300 gsm, 100% cotton, acid & lignin free paper, 17 x 17 inches, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Life and Death in the Forest, c-print, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Mystics and Tides 014, c-print, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, When I’m Gone 036, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, When I’m Gone 044, 2011.

Scott Lickstein with Ian Gamache, Let’s Play Hostage, 2011.

Scott Lickstein with Ian Gamache, Boring Summer Movie, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Speechless, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Moonwolf, 2011.

Rik Meijers, Couple, mixed media on canvas, 95 x 71″, 2006.

Rik Meijers is a well known musician in his native country. His nightly encounters with the nightlife have informed the content of these densely crafted character studies.

Rik Meijers, Trio, mixed media on canvas, 72 x 110″, 2004.

Meijers has taken cues over the years from pulp realist writers like Celine and Bukowski. This narrow alley is strewn with the waste of the life. It is this material that is literally assembled in bas relief engaging with the paint the swirling nostalgia of bottle caps, tar, glitter and glass.

Rik Meijers, Man of Wounds, mixed media on canvas, 106 x 75″, 2006.

Rik Meijers
I Am Still What I Wanted to Be
21 April – 28 May 2011
Friedman Benda
NYC

Lars Elling, Initiation, oil and egg tempera on canvas, 67 x 67″, 2010.

Lars Elling paints with egg tempera, an ancient method that involves the suspension of raw pigment in egg yolk and other fluids. The slick feel of the paint dries quickly into a sticky skim and further seals into a very durable, long lasting surface. It’s a technique that is barely taught in schools today because tempera has almost entirely been replaced by oil paint. The medium allows for a precise control over color with light entering deep into the surface illuminating the minuscule specs of powdered pigment. The effect of the approach and the facility of the artist is easily spotted even in these digitized images.

Lars Elling, Mastermind, oil and egg tempera on canvas, 39 x 39″, 2010.

The fabricated world of Lars Elling has been Frankensteined from opposing references that evoke feelings of nostalgic comfort and masochistic stage. Elling turns the paintings as he works, an action that further confuses the physics of his scenes and forces deliberation over form on an abstract level. The strange and beautiful tableau invites and repels dependent largely on the emotional baggage that the viewer has brought to the gallery.

Lars Elling, Mother’s Day, oil and egg tempera on canvas, 67 x 67″, 2010.

Lars Elling
16 March – 28 April 2011
Thomas Williams Fine Art
London

Lutz & Guggisberg, Tipi Dream, mixed media on canvas, 43 x 47″, 2010.

Andres Lutz and Anders Guggisberg have been delighting us as a pair for more than a decade. They draw on a tremendous variety of sources for their inspiration. The delicious blend of art history, humor and ecological concerns inform the content with a rich subjective mythology.

Lutz & Guggisberg, Slug Traffic, oil on canvas, 43 x 47″, 2010.

Consider, for a moment, the challenges of collaborating on a visual level. Without even consulting “the other,” creative roadblocks are already being built. So it is a rare case when two talented individuals can put aside petty jealousy and even shame to risk a venture for our benefit. For their share, the duo take away new understandings of how art develops singly and evolves over time. The third mind that takes responsibility for these pieces is unlike anyone you will ever meet.

Lutz & Guggisberg, Aximal, oil on canvas, 43 x 47″, 2010.

Lutz & Guggisberg
12 February – 2 April 2011
Monica De Cardenas Gallery
Zuoz, Switzerland

Julião Sarmento, Silver Lake Yellow Boob, polyvinyl acetate, pigments, acrylic, acrylic gesso, ink, graphite and silkscreen print on unprimed cotton canvas, 2010-11.

The title of this show is a direct reference to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s fractured reaction to Goethe’s statements concerning the origin of color itself. The canvasses are mostly white with occasional shocks of screen printed primary color. The color reacts with the white surface to initiate the perception of a spectrum beginning with the primary and fading away into the plane.

Julião Sarmento, Silver Lake Blue Hands, polyvinyl acetate, pigments, acrylic, acrylic gesso, ink, graphite and silkscreen print on unprimed cotton canvas, 2010-11.

The architectural leanings of the artist are evident in compositions that mimic the modernist structures depicted in the printed areas. Suggestions of living tissue, both human and plant often remark on direct sensitivities of the viewer. Sarmento calls on our susceptibilities to nature through the revealing of delicate areas and shared nervous sensation.

Julião Sarmento, White Exit, mixed media installation, 2010-11.

Julião Sarmento
Remarks on Colour
15 February – 19 March 2011
Pilar Corrias
London

Margie Livingston, Small Folded Painting in Yellow, Green, and Neutral Red, acrylic, 2010.

Over the past three years, Margie Livingston has been experimenting with paint in a radically different manner from her earlier work. She has removed the surface of the painting in an effort to concentrate on the sculptural qualities of drying paint.

Margie Livingston, 146 Fluid Black and White Layers in a Grid, acrylic, 2010.

These groundless paintings are often accomplished by pouring several gallons of acrylic paint on the studio floor and allowing the sheets to dry to a pliable new material. The sheets are rolled, cut and otherwise contorted into a variety of shapes that rely on precision to complete the forms with chance often factoring the juxtaposition of color.

Most painters maintain a waste area for unused paint, often in the shape of colorful mounds. These long term, arbitrary asides are rarely exhibited. Livingston counts on mistakes as a central theme driving the experimental nature of these new sculptures. The finished pieces exhibit a polish that solidifies their physical presence outside of the experimentation of the studio. Leaving the canvas behind is a big step, it should be interesting to see where this reckless behavior leads.

Margie Livingston, Study for Spiral Block #5, acrylic, 2010.

Margie Livingston
Paint Objects
22 January – 27 February 2011
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles

Anselm Kiefer, Flying Fortress, airplane engine, steel, photographs, lead and oil, emulsion, acrylic, shellac on clay on canvas in inscribed glass and steel vitrine, 2010.

The mixed media show inhabits the walls and floors of the gallery filling the space much like a natural history museum display. The glass vitrines contain precious artifacts that appeal to a sense of external discovery and internal moments.

Anselm Kiefer, San Loreto, oil, emulsion, acrylic and shellac on canvas, 2009-2010.

Anselm Kiefer is known to work on a larger than human scale and this series of new work is in line with his history. The near monumental size has on occasion been mistaken as a crutch that artists rely on to overwhelm the viewer but it is important to remember that weakness can also be magnified at this scale. The foundation of these compositions and the structure of these thoughts are sound.

Anselm Kiefer, Winterwald, oil, emulsion, acrylic, shellac, ash, torn bushes, synthetic teeth and snakeskin on canvas in glass and steel frames, 2010.

Kiefer has completed an amazing body of work throughout his career. The tremendous quality of his previous efforts often make it difficult to imagine pleasing new directions and yet it is exactly this that we should expect. He remains a cunning manipulator of material and a master of entangling history and dream to engage more than his generation.

Anselm Kiefer, Ararat, oil, emulsion, acrylic, shellac, ash, torn bushes, synthetic teeth and snakeskin on canvas in glass and steel frames, 2010.

Anselm Kiefer
Next Year in Jerusalem
6 November – 18 December 2010
Gagosian Gallery
NYC