Isaac Abrams, Cosmic Orchid, 1967 Day-Glo Days You should see, if you can, "Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era," now at the Whitney Museum, N.Y.C., to September 16. This first-time survey of the art so many would like to forget comes full-blown, paradoxes and all, from the Tate Liverpool, curated by its director Christoph Grunenberg. Certainly one strand of the art-history braid belongs to the spiritual in art. The two types of spiritual art are the propagandistic and the instrumental, … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2007
Alice Neel’s Family Values
Alice Neel, Self-Portrait, 1980 Go Ask Alice, If You Dare Have I said enough about maverick painter Alice Neel? You can read what I wrote in 2000, by going to my website . It's an insider's view, since I recount my experience as a nude victim for that merciless realist. On the other hand, I have heard my little essay is sometimes used as a prime example of storytelling as art criticism. For another angle on Neel (1900-1984), one might turn to someone in her biological family rather than her … [Read more...]