Bortolami

11/16/2013

I'm a fan of this gallery. Last week I went to the Richard Aldrich opening. He is a really interesting painter. I like his small portraits best, but I am very happy to look at his big abstract paintings with spray paint and quivering squiggles. I can see that he is really trying to push the field of painting forward. It's a bit cerebral for my taste (and my brain!!) but the one portrait in the back of the guy who started Pink Floyd is killer. I think the way his wrists are abstracted by two patches of flesh-tone is beautiful.

The Juta Koether show here was overrated. I was obsessed with the Jonathan Meese performance and am so happy this gallery bring his work the the United States. I learned about him when I went to Berlin in college. He's crazy but I like it!

So, I see a lot of shows here. I think it's a great size gallery. I don't love all their shows (one time there was a weird huge machine in there that was broken?). But it's a surefire stop if you are a gallery groupie!

5/15/2012

I saw an exhibition here by Jutta Koether, a painter who likes to apply fluorescent colors with an expressionistic/primitivistic brushstroke. She mixes in some strange material once in a while, too--one painting had pools of clear gelatinous liquid that looked like it had been spilled on there to harden. Also the floor of the gallery was covered wall to wall with gravel the color of dried blood or cedar chips. The contrast of the rusty rocks and the paintings' fluorescent pinks and oranges from a totally different part of the "hot" palette created the kind of visceral gross-out effect that a lot of artists are using these days to try to make painting seem like a relevant and compelling medium. Works for me! Four stars.

3/4/2012

Nice gallery, but a relatively limited selection during this particular visit.  The Eric Wesley piece is certainly something to see, but aside from that there is not much currently on display.