Ralph Pugay
January 05, 2015, 1:25pm
NAP Contributor Top 5: Erin Langner
On the occasion of the Museum of Modern Art’s show, The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World, New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl recently wrote of painting being in a state of crisis. In response to the show comprised of painters whose “approach characterizes our cultural moment at the beginning of the new millennium,” according to MOMA’s website, Schjeldahl rejects the medium’s outright death. Still unoptimistic, he concludes, “Painting can bleed now, but it cannot heal.”
As someone who has spent a lot of time with paintings over the last few years, I had to stop to consider whether I agreed: are the paintings I have encountered bleeding? In trying to answer, I found myself making my list of the five shows that made me think the most about the state of painting this year—its physicality, its lasting presence, and its bloodshed. — Erin Langner, Seattle Contributor
Sterling Ruby | SUNRISE SUNSET installation view, image courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.
December 17, 2014, 10:51am
Rothkos in Space and Paintings of Dumpsters: The Absurd Worlds of Ralph Pugay
Out-loud laughter is not usually something you hear at a paintings show, particularly one inside of a museum. However, this is the reaction I saw over and over again, as I stood among Portland artist Ralph Pugay’s (NAP #97, #115) paintings, at the Seattle Art Museum. Filling a small but highly trafficked gallery that was wedged between exhibits of glass and of traditional nineteenth and twentieth century American art, the artist’s small canvases excelled at catching people off guard. The flattened, cartoonish scenes captured the eyes of people en route to another space, who would wander towards them with looks of befuddlement. The point at which the artist’s frank titles, absurdities and language games began to sink in was the moment the laughter began.— Erin Langner, Seattle contributor
Ralph Pugay | Rothkos in Space, acrylic on canvas, 24"x24", 2013. Image courtesy of the artist.
December 12, 2011, 12:16pm
Pacific Coast Issue #97 Sneak Peak!
The 2011 Pacific Coast Issue, #97, is now hitting newsstands across the US. It is expected to ship to subscribers in the next 1 to 2 weeks, so keep an eye out. The juror for this much-anticipated issue was Anne Ellegood, Senior Curator, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA.
In her essay, Ellegood notes that, "Painting is a surface for imagination. This is abundantly evident in the submissions I reviewed for this edition of New American Paintings. While the works presented in the following pages are notably eclectic, one striking correspondence among the artists is their belief that painting can offer us insights into our world..." -- View a list of all featured artists and see a few more sneak peaks after the jump!
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