Painting Diary

Paintingdiary acts as an ongoing online archive featuring a variety of international painters.

[paintingdiary]

We are changing... In late 2020 the site will be relaunched to focus on long-form writing, and the publication of painting-focused artist books and limited editions. In the meantime you can still order our first volume of ‘Painting Regarding the Present’ by following the link under the ‘publications’ section. We are currently working on a second volume of ‘Painting Regarding the Present’.

[paintingdiary]

Ziggy Grudzinskas ‘mysticism & machines’ curated by William Gustafsson at Union Gallery, London 20/05/2017 - 17/06/2017

‘MYSTICISM & MACHINES’—A SHORT CONVERSION WITH ZIGGY GRUDZINSKAS 

PD: Can you talk briefly about the exhibition title ‘mysticism & machines’?

ZG: The show comprises of an installation where painting and a wall drawing are situated alongside Palo Santo incense and an Ether Mining Rig. The ritualistic burning of holy wood connects the space to the outside. On the other hand, the Ether Mining Rig is physically connected to a process running the virtual exchange of value over the internet. PD: Many of your works seem to incorporate a process of repeated mark-making. It’s as if you are using your body mechanically—but with the conception of an imperfect (human) result. Is this your intent? ZG: Exactly, this is about a human making interactions with the world, not one’s artistic endeavours. It is an attempt at manifesting a reality that the viewer completes with their presence in the space. PD: It strikes me that in a time when we are talking a lot about the implication of the ‘digital’ within painting, we are under-selling the inherently mechanical nature of this same technology—i.e. the repeatable and endless iterations of image. Is this something that you think about when making paintings? ZG: I find more so, that painting is a tangible response to digital over abundance. Building and running an Ether Mining Rig is also part of this response. This is also why I push the imperfection found in human actions. PD: There’s an apparent quickness in your painting—as if you are wanting the brush/pen/charcoal to touch the canvas for the briefest time possible. But in terms of how these gestures layer over each other—do the works manifest themselves quickly or slowly when you are in the studio? ZG: The actions are quick in the studio, preceded by slowness and a contemplation of the outcomes. The hope is that this animation is captured and the energy continues to permeate through its surroundings. PD: The painting ‘Absolved’ (2017) seems like it could be opening up a new vocabulary for your work. It seems to be erasing itself, almost like a painting turning away from the gestural inclination of the other works. How does this painting sit in the context of the show from your point of view? ZG: It’s a question of altered perspective, which is key within this context. The approach of the other works is the painting as a 3D structure, not just the surface. ‘Absolved’ is a reductive extension of this approach. It can only operate in this way, whereas the others are often mistaken as just a painted surface. PD: What keeps you painting? ZG: A physical connection with the world and the idea of being an artist at 80.

Images: All images courtesy the artist and Union Gallery, London

From top to bottom:

 Absolved 2017 Double Layered Polyester and Spray Paint on Aluminium Frame 160 x 120 cm

 Installation view

Adoption Diffusion, 2017, Acrylic, Lacquer and Permanent Marker on Polyester, 160 x 120 cm

Installation view

Installation view

[paintingdiary]

Minda Andrén ‘Cuirass’ May 24, 2017 - July 29, 2017

Zeller van Almsick, Vienna

From PR: “The exhibition title ‘Cuirass’ has its origin in the French cuirasse for leather armor (cuir = leather), the definition for armoring of the chest area. Used by the Romans and until the late 19th century, it is nowadays seen only on ceremonial occasions. While the cuirass was used for defense in close combat and was thus vitally necessary, it is often richly decorated and seen on heroic portraits of high-ranking military personas. The ornaments were very individual and the region and the blacksmith determined its origin. Minda Andrén‘s paintings oscillate between these two opposites: the physicality of a partly existential struggle and the abstract aesthetic in which they are presented.” 

Read more at: https://www.zellervanalmsick.com/

Images top to bottom:

Poleyn, 2017, Oil on canvas, 40 x 31 cm, courtesy of Minda Andrén and ZELLER VAN ALMSICK, photo: Julius Unterberger ©2017

„CUIRASS“, Installation View, courtesy of Minda Andrén and ZELLER VAN ALMSICK, photo: Julius Unterberger ©2017

Ida, 2017, Oil on canvas, 70 x 65 cm, courtesy of Minda Andrén and ZELLER VAN ALMSICK, photo: Julius Unterberger ©2017

„CUIRASS“, Installation View, courtesy of Minda Andrén and ZELLER VAN ALMSICK, photo: Julius Unterberger ©2017

Rebecca, 2017, Oil on canvas, 100 x 87 cm, Installation View, courtesy of Minda Andrén and ZELLER VAN ALMSICK, photo: Julius Unterberger ©2017

[paintingdiary]

Vivian Greven

GRAZIA 30.04–17.06.2017

at AUREL SCHEIBLER, Berlin

From PR: In her latest group of works, GRAZIA, she chooses Antonio Canova’s sculptural depiction of the three graces as a starting point for her artistic exploration. Based on the digital images of the sculpture, Greven observes detailed fragments, which she enlarges and brings into focus. This practice means a double revision of the artwork: on the one hand, there is a mimetical shift from the three-dimensional original sculpture, over the digital reproduction, to the two-dimensional painting; on the other hand, there is the art-historical shift of a phenomenological connotation throughout the centuries.

Read more at WWW.AURELSCHEIBLER.COM

“I have the impression that we experience a sensuous loss. The digital face replaces the icon. Pornography replaces any eroticism.” —Greven

[paintingdiary]

Images from top to bottom: 

Guy Yanai’s studio,Tel Aviv. © Photo Karl Hab. // Detail of ‘Club Med Serre Chevalier’, 2017 - oil on linen, 150 x 180 cm // ‘Club Med Serre Chevalier’, 2017 - oil on linen, 150 x 180 cm

GUY YANAI Love of Beginnings March 16 — April 29, 2017

Galerie Derouillon, Paris

-Excerpt of text by Charlotte Jansen

Beginnings have a personal resonance for Yanai. He has spent his life starting over, moving between continents and across countries --new friends, new home-- finally coming full circle and settling where his journey first began, in Israël, the land of the displaced.

But even there he remains a foreigner, ensconced in his studio on a shady street in south Tel Aviv, rootless and moveable as the potted plants he often likes to paint. Far from disorienting, this outsider’s gaze is the perfect position for a painter who loves to look.

Love of Beginnings is Yanai’s second solo exhibition at Galerie Derouillon. At the centre of the show are three oil paintings, arranged in no particular order or sequence. Club Med Serre Chevalier (2017) depicts a resort in France, based on photographs taken by tourists and posted to Tripadvisor. Kitchen (2016/17) is a view of the artist’s apartment in Tel Aviv. The Piano Lesson (2017) is Yanai’s transcription of Matisse’s painting of the same title from exactly 100 years ago.

Read more at: http://www.galeriederouillon.com/

[paintingdiary]

Images from top to bottom: 

MATTHYS GERBER Installation view, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney  //  Bee Keeper  2017oil and acrylic on canvas194 x 266cm  //  Air Line  2017oil and acrylic on canvas172 x 265cm 

MATTHYS GERBER 10 February - 11 March, 2017

Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney

“I paint under the influence. I try and allow anything that can be painted into painting. This can come from Surrealism, COBRA, Abstract Expressionism or central western painting, but also pays respect to painted doors, trucks or signs. These are primarily technical issues, a space only within painting. I don’t work from ideas but more from a physical sensation, hence the scale of the works. The paintings are visual manifestations of non-alienated labor, which start from the chaotic and eventually work towards clarifying the technical relationships. This process is analogous to the syntax that develops within other social organisational systems (e.g politics). I never know where a painting is going. We both just arrive at the destination at the same time. The paintings are not about anything, they merely exist to allude to the evolution of painting. Painting is an instrument that I play, from messy taping to painting with my feet. Each is a necessary tool. I dont know about emotions in painting, but they do contain work,rest and play. I simply experience paintings by others through mine.” 

—Matthys Gerber, 2017

More information at: http://www.sarahcottiergallery.com/

[paintingdiary]

DAVID OSTROWSKI, F (A THING IS A THING IN A WHOLE WHICH IT'S NOT), 2016, LACQUER AND PAPER ON CANVAS, 100 X 80 CM. Currently showing at SPRÜTH MAGERS LOS ANGELES, 2016 David Ostrowski is also featured in 'Painting Regarding the Present'.

Courtesy the artists and Sprueth Magers

[paintingdiary]

“…for the individual painter now, the burden is to claim something meaningful and lasting within this network and beyond. Not to extradite oneself entirely, but to at least subconsciously try to pursue an individual act of creation. Everything else in the moment is just noise—of youth and so much (too much?) culture, post-internet et al” —Excerpt from ‘Painting Regarding the Present’ Naives and Visionaries are proud to announce the publication ‘Painting Regarding the Present’, edited by André Hemer and designed by Anne Büttner. This intimate publication includes twenty-seven painters, each represented by a single painting made during 2016. ‘Painting Regarding the Present’ is a collection of paintings that can best be described as an esoteric yearbook of painting practice.

Included artists: Cornelia Baltes, Martin Basher, Ry David Bradley, Alice Browne, Catherine Clayton-Smith, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Dejan Dukic, Joanne Greenbaum, Kate Groobey, Ziggy Grudzinskas, Sebastian Haslauer, Flora Hauser, André Hemer, Celia Hempton, Ridley Howard, Judy Millar, David Ostrowski, Michael Pybus, Josh Reames, Titania Seidl, Travess Smalley, Yorgos Stamkopoulos, Kate Steciw, Kristian Sturi, Russell Tyler, Letha Wilson, Guy Yanai

Copies available from www.naivesandvisionaries.com

[paintingdiary]

Ry David Bradley, 'Overworld', at COMA Gallery, Sydney. 

01/12/16 - 12/01/17

“In 1886 Georges Seurat developed a technique of painting with tiny flecks of pure colors inspired by scientific theories of light and perception prevalent at the time. Though Pointillism was heavily criticised, its principles are now the standard manner in which we see all screen based images, where tiny dots are placed in an array. The technique relies on the ability of the eye and mind of the viewer to blend the spots into a fuller range of tones. Acknowledging this parallel between the screen and the history of painting, Overworld presents a new body of work where pattern and repetition are employed alongside hidden surface manipulation in a series of paintings that seek to merge tradition with contemporaneity. An Overworld is an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. Typically it presents an aerial persective, a global map of the stages that have been completed or are yet to be, allowing one to see what may lay ahead without revealing what that is. Access is granted by completing tasks, or entering secret passwords. In presenting an exhibition installation that mirrors the aerial stage, where some positions have been unlocked, and others are yet to be known - Ry David Bradley continues an exploration of access and restriction within specific worlds, each an enquiry for where painting was, may now be and is yet to be.”—exhibition essay. 

See more at www.comagallery.com

[paintingdiary]

Josh Reames and Jose Lerma, He Hath Founded It Upon the Seas, I, 2016 Acrylic on canvas, 120 × 288 inches. Showing with Luis De Jesus Los Angeles at UNTITLED Miami. 

[paintingdiary]

Incredible show....Bernard Piffaretti, Passage à la ligne, Exhibition view, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, France. 

“For Piffaretti, the title usually functions as a kind of opening credit and passage (à la ligne) is no different. A painting from 1982, from the series Paradigme - Peinture du doute, 1982-1983, in which the central axis slowly takes shape, is a case in point. A large painting from 1999 is placed in between paintings from 2016, a brief punctuation, which shows that the passage in question is also a continuum. The past always remains unfinished, turning the present into a future memory. Bernard Piffaretti’s last solo exhibitions, No Chronology at Klemm’s in Berlin in 2016 and MovingPictures at Cherry and Martin in Los Angeles in 2015, all followed the leitmotif of the passage, transforming the viewers themselves into cultural mediators.”—exhibition text

See more at http://www.galeriefrankelbaz.com/

[paintingdiary]

Michael Staniak. HDF_896, 2016. Casting compound, digital UV pigment and acrylic on board, steel frame, 83 x 63 inches. Courtesy the artist and Steve Turner Contemporary LA.

[paintingdiary]

Erin Lawlor Noce, 2015 Oil on canvas,180 x 120 cms, 70 7/8 x 47 1/4 in, (RB-LAWLE-0005)

Courtesy the artist and Rod Barton Gallery, London.

[paintingdiary]

Travess Smalley, 2016-02-04_12-27-31 - 2016, dye sublimation print on aluminum, 27,9 x 21,6 cm, photo: Stefan Lux. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Andreas Huber, Vienna. @galerieandreashuber @travess #travesssmalley #galerieandreashuber #painting #contemporaryart #contemporary #contemporarypainting ##postinternetpainting #postinternet #repeat #paintingdiary #paintingdiarydotcom #collecteurs #collectors

[paintingdiary]

Cornelia Baltes, Feathers, 2016. Acrylic and routed black MDF. 69 x 55cm. Courtesy of the artist. www.corneliabaltes.com #paintingdiary #paintingdiarydotcom #contemporaryart #kunst #painting #CorneliaBaltes #collecteurs #collectors

[paintingdiary]

Kate Steciw, Construction001a , 2015. UV print on Dibond, plexiglass, and mixed media in custom frame 40 × 30 in 101.6 × 76.2 cm BRAND NEW GALLERY, Milan. @miartmilano #miart #paintingdiary #paintingdiarydotcom #painting_diary #painting #contemporaryart #art #collecteurs #collectors @brandnewgallery @katesteciw

[paintingdiary]

Lisa Holzer, Head of a Partisan, 2015. 36 1/5 × 28 3/10 in // 92 × 72 cm Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emanuel Layr, Vienna @miartmilano #miart #paintingdiary #paintingdiarydotcom #painting_diary #painting #contemporaryart #art #collecteurs #collectors @emanuellayr