Author Archive
November 2, 2013 by admin
Perfect Circles
June 12, 2007 MARIO NAVES Hester Simpson fashions a sumptuous pageant of sensation using the sparest of means. The pictorial vocabulary of her paintings, now on view at Ricco Maresca Gallery, is restricted, if not entirely inflexible: circles and ellipses, concentric or overlapping, in flat and uninflected patterns—that’s about it in terms of identifiable imagery. […]
October 15, 2013 by admin
Canvases Are Small but Potent, At Once Tender and Cerebral
April 26, 2004 MARIO NAVES “Critics-they always get their digs in.” That’s a comment I overheard from the director of a gallery the day one of its artists received a rave review-albeit with the mildest of criticisms-from The New York Times . Following in the noble tradition, allow me to briefly air my grievances about […]
September 24, 2013 by admin
A Painter Succeeds, Giving Color Leeway
November 26, 2001 MARIO NAVES Gallery goers accustomed to the quick fix will trot right past the paintings of Hester Simpson, and is it any wonder why? The contemporary scene with its glut of thingamajigs and its paucity of inspiration, engenders impatience for anything requiring more than a brief nod of recognition which is a […]
September 24, 2013 by admin
When Words Become A Means of Reaching A Different Plane
March 28, 1999 HELEN A. HARRISON ‘Women’s Work’ Nese Alpan Gallery, 1499 Old Northern Boulevard, Roslyn. Through April 9. 484-7238. Anyone expecting to find the gallery filled with needlepoint or decorated china may be startled by this group show, which has nothing in common with such traditional female pursuits. The 11 artists are represented by […]
September 24, 2013 by admin
A Wave of Abstraction
September 5, 1999 PHYLLIS BRAFF ‘Summer Selections 1999’ Nese Alpan Gallery, 1499 Old Northern Boulevard, Roslyn. Through Sept. 26. 484-7238. Artists who seek to stretch perception form the core of this invitational group exhibition, the first in what is to be an annual event. Some, like Nola Zirin, introduce depth-of-field shifts in their paintings. Others […]
September 24, 2013 by admin
Going Exploring on Three Different Trails
December 12, 1999 PHYLLIS BRAFF ‘The Grid’ Nese Alpan Gallery, 1499 Old Northern Boulevard, Roslyn. To Saturday. (516) 484-7238. All six artists in this small but rewarding show pursue the grid format as part of a 1990’s search for urgency, rather than a continuation of Minimalist concerns. As might be expected, there is ample evidence […]
September 24, 2013 by admin
Exploring Imagery in Patchwork Forms
January 18, 1998 HELEN A. HARRISON Patchworks: Contemporary Interpretations of the Quilt Form Islip Art Museum, 50 Irish Lane, East Islip. Through Jan. 25. 224-5402. Traditional quilts are utilitarian items that often have artistic dimensions, in either the quilting itself — the patterned stitchery that holds them together — or the pieced and appliqued fabric […]
September 24, 2013 by admin
Ellis Island and Beyond
June 23, 1991 VIVIEN RAYNOR THOUGH it was closed as an institution in 1954, Ellis Island has not gone away but has, rather, become a tourist attraction. And while the extraordinary faces documented by Lewis Hine seem to have disappeared from the population, the memories of the experience have lived on unto the present generation. […]
September 24, 2013 by admin