NAP

December 19, 2013, 3:59pm

14 Artists (+2) to Watch in 2014

Artists kept making paintings in 2013, and they did so in ever more inventive ways. If any single word can sum up the overriding concern of many younger artists over the past few years it is process. As of late, many painters have defined themselves not so much with a specific image or style, but with the way in which they go about “producing” their work. Fire extinguishers, bleach, the sun, printing technologies and even spaghetti have all been employed in the quest for aesthetic advancement. For these artists, the way in which an artwork is made becomes deeply embedded in the meaning of their work. The results of such technical explorations can occasionally come of as gimmicky, but, when successful, they can lead to extraordinary art and new ways of thinking about the medium of paint.

What does painting hold for 2014? If a quick survey of upcoming museum shows, including the 2014 Whitney Biennial is any indication, it will be more widely exhibited and talked about than ever, and mature artists such as Dona Nelson (a 2012 Painters to Watch pick) and Suzanne McClelland will, more and more, have their long overdue day. I will also go out on a limb and say that, after several years where abstraction has been the dominant language of painting, representational work will start to mount a comeback. Among the hundreds of artists I consider each year while publishing New American Paintings, I have noticed a considerable uptick in the number of young painters working with recognizable imagery, some in, dare I say it, almost traditional modes. (And yes, I am aware that representational painting never left, but the institutions that make up the so-called art world have been preoccupied with other things in recent years.)

Dona Nelson. Courtesy of Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, NY.  

Over the past year I conducted dozens of studio visits, traveled to numerous art fairs, and saw hundreds of gallery and museum shows. The list of Painters to Watch in 2014 is made up of some new discoveries, a few artists who, in my mind, presented breakout work this year, and a few old favorites who deserve wider attention. For the purposes of this list, I am defining the activity of painting as broadly as possible. Traditional definitions of media have become less and less important for emerging artists, and, no doubt, some of the listed artists would not consider themselves to be painters per se. - Steven Zevitas, Publisher

Who is on your list?

July 03, 2013, 8:30am

Pacific Coast Competition Deadline Extended!

Pacific Coast artists (residing in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington), The Deadline has been extended to July 7th, Midnight, EST.* We are happy to have Janet Bishop, Curator of Painting and Sculpture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, as our 2013 juror. Apply now!

*Late Entry Fee Applies.

For more information on Ms. Bishop, click "read more" below.

June 13, 2013, 8:30am

NAP Southern Issue (#106) Sneak Peek

The New American Paintings, Southern Issue, #106, is expected to hit newsstands across the US sometime in the next few weeks. Miranda Lash, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, juried the competition. Publisher Steven Zevitas notes in his Editor's Note, "Miranda has made quite a splasjh in New Orleans since her arrival in 2008, having already organized fifteen exhibitions at NOMA. Her selections for this issue are broad, and include a few New Orleans favorites such as Jim Richard and Luis Cruz Azaceta. In her essay, Lash offers keen insights into the conceptual and aesthetic trens she detects in contemporary art from the south." So pick up a copy and see her selections!

April 10, 2013, 8:30am

MUST SEE PAINTING SHOWS: APRIL

April is another strong month for painting around the US, and the recent trend of solid shows by mid-career artists continues. Be sure to catch veteran painter McArthur Binnion’s first solo at Kavi Gupta in Chicago. Across town at Zolla/Lieberman, another Chicago-based artist, Phyllis Bramson, presents a new group of her hallucinatory works. In Los Angeles, emerging artist Rashid Johnson has organized a finely tuned exhibition of works by legendary Washington School painter, Sam Gilliam. Two artists who are firmly on my “completely under-recognized” list, New Orleans’ native, Jim Richard, and long-time University of Iowa Professor, John Dilg, can be seen at Inman Gallery in Houston and Regina Rex in Queens, NY, respectively.