18 August 2021

Henri Matisse. Bathers by a River, 1917 (Art Institute of Chicago).


Oil on canvas: 260 x 392 cm(!). Originally part of a 1909 Russian commission with Dance II and Music (State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg). Rejected, and reworked in 1913-1917.

Visit > Art Institute of Chicago.
More > Henri Matisse at Wikipedia.

8 August 2021

Kurt Peiser. Embrace (‘Embrassement’), ca. 1920 (private collection).


Oil on canvas: 50 x 61 cm. Auctioned at De Vuyst Lokeren, October 2015. Kind of a young Tom Waits vibe with this Peiser guy.

More > Kurt Peiser at Wikipedia.
More > Kurt Peiser appreciation.

7 August 2021

Lisa Brice. Untitled, 2019 (artist’s portfolio).


Oil, synthetic tempera, ink and pastel on linen: 203 x 105 cm. Lisa Brice (2018): “I am drawn to the ambiguity that people and places can hold. Sometimes the compositions of my paintings feel like cinematic outtakes: the moments between directed actions, when the figures are ‘on their own time’, self-involved, performing only for themselves or one another. There are infinite possibilities embodied in these transitional states of being, which could also be a time of day, or adolescence, or gender, or rooms that feel like threshold spaces – thinly veiled interiors with glimpses of the exterior, grilles or indoor plants, typical in the tropics. These are all thrilling states – a kind of magical suspension”.

Visit > Lisa Brice at: Stephen Friedman Gallery, Salon 94.
More > Lisa Brice at Wikipedia.

2 August 2021

Christian Rex van Minnen. Reglaze the Pizza Dynasty, 2018 (artist’s portfolio).


Oil on panel: 61 x 76.2 cm. Christian Rex van Minnen (2017): “I never want to be provocative just for provocation's sake. I'm really cautious about being too ironic, or even flippant. I think it has to come from a place that's sincere, otherwise it comes off the wrong way; so what you say is true. The power of the technique itself is that you can kind of put anything behind it and it'll look good. In history, that's been a very manipulating force. You have to be careful. What is the message behind it? And if it's devoid of message, then it's just manipulation”.