Old Holland, I want to forgive you
I explain why I banished Old Holland from my palette in this post. Even though I rate Old Holland's oil paint the best in my Oil Paint Reference, their prices are so absurdly high that…
Category: Thumbs-Up-Down
Review: Utrecht oils
It's hard for me to understand this but until this week I never used Utrecht brand oils. I'm not sure why this is. I've visited their shops in NYC and Cleveland and ordered plenty of…
Book review: Heorot Series vol. 1 & 2
I listened to the two books in the Heorot series, The Legacy of Heorot, and Beowulf's Children on my Audible app. The books were written by the team of Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steve…
Quick review: Brinsley Tyrrell at Busta Gallery
At first sight, I was underwhelmed by Brinsley Tyrrell's show, Ohio Lands Forever, at Busta. The large-format pieces with their electric colors and ropey splatters struck me as gimmicky and shrill. Tyrrell's enamel on steel…
Review: Truppe Fledermaus and the Carnival at the End of the World
The collaborative team of Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick recently filled the Galleries at Cleveland State U. with posters, postcards, and photos from their magical world of speculative fiction and false history--Truppe Fledermaus and the…
Thumbs Down: Sargent; Thumbs Up: Bouguereau
John Singer Sargent and William-Adolphe Bouguereau are not normally considered together, yet their careers overlapped for several decades. In the ‘Undergrad’s Giant Book of Art History’ Sargent is counted among the progressives, while Bouguereau is thrown…
Non Reviews
I was going to title this post ‘negative reviews’ referring to non-reviews—shows I’ve visited that did not speak to me, and so no reviews were forthcoming. Silence as a review, so to speak. But, of…
The 42nd Student Show at The Galleries at CSU
I enjoy student shows and attend them whenever I've a chance. While most student shows are filled with, well, student-grade work, I almost always find a gem or two. So I wasn't disappointed when the bill of fare for…