NoteWorthy Art Books, 2023

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

Art books were one of my first passions. I was about 8 when I first fell under their spell. The chance to see an Artist’s whole body of work in one portable object enthralled me then as much as it still does. For the next decade they were the only way I could see and explore Art. When the pandemic hit they were, once again, the only way I could see and explore Art. Now, between researching for an upcoming piece, checking out new and older Art & PhotoBooks, and discovering Artists I previously didn’t know, I’m in bookstores on an almost daily basis. Suffice it to say I see a lot of Art & PhotoBooks…

This past year, which isn’t nearly over yet, four books stood out for me among all the Art Books I saw in 2023. Since I don’t believe the “best” exists in the Arts, I prefer to call them “NoteWorthy,” i.e. books I most highly recommend among all those I saw in 2023. These books would be on my list for 2023 whether the year was 9 months or 13 months long so I’ve decided to announce my list early.

My criteria are the importance of the work shown and how well the book has been executed. All four of the subject Artists are among the more note worthy in Contemporary Art. Two of the four books are the first in-depth look at their subject, hence their importance, and all four are likely to remain the “go-to” references on their subject for the foreseeable future. They are listed in no particular order.

NoteWorthy Art Books, 2023

Sarah Sze: Paintings. A sealed copy of the hardcover sitting on top of its brown shipping box. Click any image for full size.

Sarah Sze: Paintings, Phaidon
I’d been going to Sarah Sze’s one-of-a-kind “Sculpture” (which is too small a word for what she creates) shows for a few decades when, in 2020, I was astonished to discover that not only is she also a Painter, but she started out as a Painter (and then was a Painting and Architecture student in school). When I first saw her Paintings in person, which I wrote about here, I was stunned. She sprang an accomplished, fully formed and revolutionary style on me. Whoa! Here she was already one of the foremost Artists of our time, now, she’s also one of our major Painters.

Ghost Print (Black Ripple), 2019, Oil, acrylic, acrylic polymers, ink, aluminum, archival paper, diabond and wood, 16 x 20 inches.

This year, Phaidon, the leading Contemporary Art book publisher among the major Art book publishers, immortalized her accomplishment in an absolutely gorgeous huge book, the best designed Art book I saw this year from the major Art book publishers. When I heard rumors of it coming, I wondered- Does she have enough Paintings to do a book of them? Seeing it in person left me dumbfounded. Inside the slipcase was a FOUR HUNDRED PAGE hardcover, the whole weighing 10 pounds! Paging through I was quickly lost. From the infinite, to the minute, is something that runs through Ms. Sze’s installations and now through her Painting.

Gutters are one of the biggest problems with physical Art & PhotoBooks, one that an eBook should be able to solve. However, the vastly superior resolution of the printed page is still the only way to see Fine Art in print- decades after the invention of the eBook. Detail of Ghost Print (Black Ripple). Though I NEVER fully open a book and lay it flat, to preserve the binding. Even 3/4 open, as here, very little is lost to the gutter when compared with the Photo of the full piece, above.

Having Photographed her Paintings myself a number of times in two shows, even though the work is incredibly intricate, it’s hard to imagine the Photography of it in the book being improved on. It’s accompanied by a rock-solid binding, and top-notch attention to production detail throughout. Every copy is signed by the Artist & numbered. ALL of this I take as a sign of how closely Sarah Sze was involved in the making of this book. What more can anyone ask? Sarah Sze: Paintings is a state-of-the-Art Painting monograph.

Sarah Sze remains the only living Artist I’ve called a “genius” in the 8+ years of NighthawkNYC.  I did so in my look at her most recent NYC gallery show in 2020, here. My look at her mesmerizing Summer, 2023 Guggenheim Museum show, Timelapse, is in preparation. If I hadn’t called her a genius in 2020, I’d call her one now.

Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief, Walther Konig
Is Martin Wong (1946-99) the most overlooked Painter of the later 20th century? A very strong case could be made that he is. The museums are wising up. More and more of his work is showing up in their hallowed halls. Now, from 2022 through February, 2024, three European museums- The Camden Art Centre, London; Museo Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M), Móstoles, Madrid, and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam are hosting a traveling exhibition, Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief, of over 100 works, the largest show of his work so far. The Met had the spectacular Martin Wong shown further below up in the Contemporary Wing where I saw it this past year, which I believe they have now lent to the show. As far as I know, he never saw a book published on his work during his lifetime.

Martin Wong, Attorney Street (Handball Court with Autobiographical Poem by Piñero), 1982-4, Oil on canvas, 35 1/2 x 48 inches. Seen at The Met in June, 2022, Though he didn’t live to see a book on his work, he did live to see his work in The Met, who acquired Attorney Street in 1984, just after he finished it. Those hands along the top of the faux frame and near the bottom are speaking in American Sign Language.

Now, there have been two. Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief, the book, published to accompany the show, is the largest and most comprehensive book on his work so far. The only other one known to me, Martin Wong: Human Instamatic, published to accompany the show of the same name at the Bronx Museum in 2016, is long out of print, i.e. “expensive.” I have it, but I recommend Malicious Mischief. Here, his case has never been more completely and more beautifully made.

The second and third page of the book, showing details from his Paintings by way of introduction.

Martin Wong was something of the unofficial “Poet of the Lower East Side,” but never got the recognition or attention his contemporaries Jean-Michel Basquiat or Keith Haring did even though he outlived both. Still, twenty-four years after his passing, his work has continued to hold up and fascinate. It’s, also, every bit as timely, now, as it was when he Painted it. Blessed with being able to work in a wide range of styles, his work is characterized by its freedom from piece to piece. Throughout, his Draftsmanship forms a rock-solid base, which he carries through with an extremely high level of attention to detail.

It’s a paperback, unfortunately, a cardinal sin in my view for a book this important, and the cover is a bit on the malleable side; the paper stock could be thicker. Still, its importance outweighs these drawbacks. At 339 pages and over 3 pounds it’s a good-sized book with 8 1/2 by 11 inch pages which show the copious and fascinating detail in Mr. Wong’s work to advantage. Imported catalogs for shows, like this, have a habit of not staying available indefinitely. So act soon to “avoid disappointment and future regret” as the informercials say. Which reminds me- the next time I regret not buying something from an infomercial will be the first time.

Rod Penner: Paintings, 1987-2022, The Artist Book Foundation
What more/else can I say about Rod Penner: Paintings that I didn’t say in my in-depth review of it is here? Actually, I can say that it was on my original draft of my Desert Island Art Books, along with the Martin Wong, above. Pretty remarkable when you look at the publishing dates for the books on the final list. Realizing my draft list was too long, I made the hard choice of focusing on older books that have stood up for me for years, and left off the two that were less than one-year old. While I didn’t put them on that list, they deserve to be on this one.

House with Skiff/Marble Falls,TX, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 32 x 54 inches. The most recent work in the book shows that Rod Penner is still at the very top of his considerable game.

A full-length book on Rod Penner has been a long time coming. What we got is something unusual in my 50 years of Art book experience: a book that serves the dual purposes of being both a monographic overview of the Artist’s work these past 35 years, AND a Catalogue Raisonné containing everything the Artist has Painted through 2022. As such, it will serve those new to Rod Penner’s work, as well as collectors, curators and Art historians, well indefinitely.

My pieces on Rod Penner are here, including my recent look at his Spring, 2023 NYC show, where I said that Rod Penner is “the foremost Painter of small-town America working today.” I believe that after the distracting hype surrounding his remarkable technique dies down, and more people get down to looking at what he’s Painted, that that’s how this work will be thought of.

Nick Cave: Forothermore, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago/DelMonico
Nick Cave’s books are always gorgeous, and important. With only 10 published on his work so far (he says, though I’ve only seen 5), all are worthy of his extraordinary talent, and all worth seeking out. This is indicative of his involvement in them. Forothermore, the catalog accompanying his landmark mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, which traveled to the Guggenheim Museum earlier this year, is now my go-to choice among the 5 I’ve seen, a very hard choice to make. Of the show, I wrote, “I went in believing Mr. Cave is one of the more important Artists working today. I left speechless.”

I wrote extensively about Nick Cave’s famous Soundsuits, in my piece on the show and they are featured throughout the book. Here is some of his other work, Untitled, 2014. As for the wonderful design, I love how he’ll often get around the problem of the gutter by putting the full work on one side, and a compelling detail on the other.

Luckily, exhibition catalogs live on indefinitely after their subject show, and some enhance their value to readers by serving more than one purpose. This is one example. It’s gorgeously & lovingly produced and features large Photos of Mr. Cave’s work throughout his career, which allows for closer study & appreciation of the incredible amount of detail and subtlety in his work (just look at the cover and remember that is all hand-made).

Rescue, 2013

All of this makes Forothermore doubly important as both the exhibition catalog for the show and the go-to book with beautiful reproductions of the most comprehensive collection of Nick Cave Art over all of his career, including his recent work, among his excellent books. Speaking of them, if you want one Nick Cave book, I’d choose Forothermore right now, but do at least take a look at Until (2017); Epitome (2014); Meet Me at the Center of the Earth (2010); and Greetings From Detroit, (2015) if you want to see just how hard the choice is!

I Wouldn’t Bet Against It, 2007, Mixed media including vintage fabric, dice, and objects, 48 by 48 by 6 inches, as seen in the show, though it also appears on pages 154-5 of the Furthermore catalog.

Nick Cave is so unique, and so important, I can’t help thinking that we’re looking at someone who could very possibly become an Art “superstar.” Can you imagine his impact on the fashion world, if he chose to get involved in it? I also have the feeling that if and when “stardom” does happen for him, Mr. Cave would handle it with every bit as much class and purpose as he has everything else in his career.

My look at Forothermore, the show, is here. My look at Nick Cave’s just completed large NYC Subway Public Art Installation is here.

Also Recommended-

Salman Toor, No Ordinary Love, Baltimore Museum/Gregory Miller

I saw Salman Toor’s first solo museum show, How Will I Know, at the Whitney Museum in 2021, and put his name on my list. Still, I was not prepared for the depth and level of accomplishment his first book, No Ordinary Love, reveals. Published to accompany a show of the same name at the Baltimore Museum, both struck a nerve because the book evaporated (i.e. it’s already sold out). I’m really not surprised. His work is fresh, bold, sensual & beautiful with a unique sense of color, and in a style completely his own. His work echoes Paul Cadmus’s for me, but looks nothing like it. Stylistically, he seems closer to early and late Philip Guston and Lisa Yuskavage, but none of this is said in comparison. Salman Toor is, deservedly, the 2023 Art world phenomenon that previously touched Jordan Casteel and Jennifer Packer these past few years.

Tea, 2020, Oil on canvas. Seen at Salman Toor: How Will I Know, at the Whitney Museum on March 26, 2021.

Born in Lahore in 1983, and now American, Mr. Toor must have had (or will have) a terrific 40th Birthday after The Met bought one of his Paintings this year.

Jeffrey Gibson, et al, An Indigenous Present, DelMonico

Indigenous Artists have finally begun to get the attention they deserve.

Have you ever seen a canvas shaped like this? Jeffrey Gibson, SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME, 2023, Acrylic paint on elk hide inset in custom wood frame, 103 x 69 x 5 inches, left, THIS FIRE DOWN IN MY SOUL, 2023, Acrylic on canvas, glass beads, artificial sinew, inset to custom wood frame, 88 x 80 inches, right. “Wallpaper” by the Artist. Seen in Jeffrey Gibson: ANCESTRAL SUPERBLOOM at Sikkema Jenkins, September 22, 2023.

Jeffrey Gibson, who has a beautiful show up as I write at Sikkema Jenkins, NYC, Jeffrey Gibson: ANCESTRAL SUPERBLOOM conceived this collection/overview of 60 of his fellow Indigenous Contemporary Artists. What an eye-opener! What impresses me is the vast depth of Artists who are doing their own thing, seemingly working outside the traditional model of Western Art, and instead basing their work on their traditions, heritage and experiences. “Ancestral,” to quote Mr. Gibson’s show title, is the key, apparently.

I find it a gust of fresh air.

I recently wrote about one Artist included, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s Witney Museum retrospective, and another, Wendy Red Star, in passing after Kris Graves published her first book in his Lost II set. What An Indigenous Present tells me is that we’re going to see much more from many other Indigenous Artists soon.

My final Also Recommended NoteWorthy Art Book of 2023 is Hughie Lee-Smith, published by Karma. I wrote about it here.

*-Soundtrack for this piece is “Conquistador” by Procol Harum from their great live album Live: In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, one of the first (if not the first) live albums paring a rock band with an orchestra, from around the time I first fell under the spell of Art books.

Also see the companion piece- NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2023, which includes a book by an Artist.

My previous NoteWorthy Art Book lists-

NoteWorthy Art Books (and Bricks), 2021

NoteWorthy Art Books, 2020

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You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

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NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2023- Two Masterpieces

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

PhotoBooks completely took over my life for over 6 years from 2016 through 2022, during which time I immersed myself in Modern & Contemporary Photography (which for me is the period after the publication of Robert Frank’s The Americans in 1958-9). After not publishing a NoteWorthy PhotoBooks list for 2022, two books stood out for me among the PhotoBooks I saw this year. Since I don’t believe the “best” exists in the Arts, I prefer to call them “NoteWorthy,” i.e. books I most highly recommend among all those I saw in 2023. Both are among the most powerful books I’ve seen in years. In my opinion, both books are masterpieces. Other recommended books follow them.

Both NoteWorthy PhotoBooks have two people in common. One, Kris Graves is no stranger to this list. His A Bleak Reality was a NoteWorthy PhotoBook of 2021. His publishing company Kris Graves Projects/Monolith Editions was the NoteWorthy PhotoBook Publisher of 2020 when they somehow managed to publish EIGHTEEN books during the pandemic! This year, Mr. Graves is the Photographer/Artist/Author of one of the two, and he and his Monolith Editions is the publisher of both books (co-publisher with Hatje Cantz of one). As a result, Kris Graves Projects/Monolith Editions are the NoteWorthy PhotoBook Publisher, again, for 2023.

NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2023

Jon Henry, Stranger Fruit, Monolith Editions

In a word: overwhelming.

“Stranger Fruit was created in response to the senseless murders of black men across the nation by police violence. Even with smart phones and dash cams recording the actions, more lives get cut short due to unnecessary and excessive violence. Who is next? Me? My brother? My friends?” Jon Henry

Mr Henry continues, “Lost in the furor of media coverage, lawsuits and protests is the plight of the mother. Who, regardless of the legal outcome, must carry on without her child. I set out to photograph mothers with their sons in their environment, reenacting what it must feel like to endure this pain. The mothers in the photographs have not lost their sons, but understand the reality, that this could happen to their family.”

The way Mr. Henry has chosen to depict these mothers and sons is in the form known in Painting and Sculpture as the “Pieta” (or pity). Traditionally, Jesus’s mother, Mary, holds her dead son on her lap after the Crucifixion. The “Pieta” has long been among the most powerful and poignant compositions in Western Art. To this point, and for the past 800 years, it’s been the exclusive realm of Painters and Sculptors (most famously Michelangelo).

Along comes Jon Henry, who shows that they can be every bit as powerful in Photography- even without a directly religious reference. He has chosen it to depict the unspeakable pain mothers of murdered Black sons must have experienced in the unique way of depicting mothers holding their living sons. I asked Mr. Henry how he came to use it in Stranger Fruit–

 “I grew up studying painting and religious iconography by way of stained glass windows in the church I worked in, so I was very familiar with the motif.  There were more contemporary uses of the pieta, such as Dr David Driskell and Renee Cox, that really made me believe I could use this as the vehicle behind this project.
But everything really revolved around the mother.  I know that my work is not the first to speak about police brutality in the african american community but I felt the mothers were left out of the conversation.  Focusing on them through this mother/son relationship was why the pieta made so much sense for me.”

 In Stranger Fruit (which is named after the Abel Meeropol 1937 song, “Strange Fruit,” protesting the lynching of Black Americans, and immortalized by Billie Holiday) we also get to hear from them. Most of the images are accompanied by a text written by the mother.

I was stunned when I picked this book up for the first time. As far as I know, no one has done anything like this before. Yes, there are combat images from too many wars and conflicts already that are Pietas. Yet, I’ve never seen an entire book of them, and only them. I asked Kris Graves how he discovered Jon, this remarkable body of work, and came to publish Stranger Fruit. He said, “I met Jon some years before the pandemic and he was already hard at work on the project. I told him then that I’d love to publish the work when he felt it was complete. During covid, I founded Monolith and it was an even better fit for the ideals of Stranger Fruit. Soon after, we reconnected and started production.”

The 600 copies of the 1st printing of Stranger Fruit have sold out. I’m told the recently announced 2nd printing is selling quickly. I look forward to the time when it’s no longer vital as a document of immediate social import, to when it can just be appreciated as a work of Art.

Kris Graves, Privileged Mediocrity, Monolith Editions/Hatje Cantz

One of the most important PhotoBooks released this century, Privileged Mediocrity is Kris Graves’s masterpiece among his fine books thus far, in my opinion.

From Part I- The Murder of Alton Sterling, Baton Rouge

Years in the making, involving extensive stretches of travel during the height of the covid pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Protests, at what must have been considerable personal risk, in the days leading to the birth of his first child, it feels to me like this is the book his work has been building toward all along.

From Part I– Slave Market, Charleston

It’s divided into three sections: “Part I: Privileged Mediocrity & The Deceived Within,” “Part II: A Southern Horror, 2020,” and “Part III: A Latency, 2000-2022.” Though Part I sets the stage  with images from NYC, New York State and Boston as well as the South, the book is centered on the South in Parts II & III. Mr. Graves visited innumerable Confederate monuments throughout the South, and shows them before, during and after the protests.

From Part II

“Part II: A Southern Horror, 2020,” is gravely presented with black & white Photos on black paper in which Mr. Graves inventories many of these problematic monuments by state and their connection to racism, which is downright chilling to see on page after page- 46 pages in all- many with up to 8 sites on a page! “Part III Latency 2000-22” shows many of these sites during and after the protests.

From Part III- George Floyd Projection, Richmond, Virginia. National Geographic Magazine put this image on the cover of its “Photos of the Year, 2020” issue. I asked Kris what he remembers about taking this classic and historic image. He said, “A few days into my Richmond trip, I was introduced to the projectionist, who was working at the protests. On a clear night, he set up at the Lee Monument and I headed out around midnight. It was lively out there, but peaceful. The projections of dozens that were killed by police were displayed for about one second at a time. I asked him to slow it down a bit then made pictures for a few hours. Got a good one.”

Progress has been too long in coming. Part 1 of Privileged Mediocrity speaks to that. When the damn of patience finally burst after yet more murders of unarmed Black men and women, Kris Graves documented a fleeting turning point in American history powerfully, and in his own way. He focuses on the evidence to be seen on the land: scenes of murders and monuments that are offensive to many and a real part of the ongoing problems. A number of them are seen feeling the brunt of the resulting frustration and anger.

From Part III- John Lewis High School, Springfield, Virginia

After the protests, we see images of the raw beginnings of whatever it is we are in now. In John Lewis High School, Springfield, Virginia, the sign for the school’s former name, Robert E. Lee High School, has been flipped around under its new name. The question these image leave may be “Where to now?” For me, along with all the horror, they also represent moments of hope. The book is dedicated to his newborn son.

From Part III- Self-Portrait with Stonewall Jackson Shrine, Woodford, Virginia

The American edition of Privileged Mediocrity consists of just 300 copies. My piece on meeting Kris Graves in 2018 here.

I mentioned that both NoteWorthy PhotoBooks have two people in common. In addition to Kris Graves, they both feature the work of the same designer, the ever-creative Caleb Cain Marcus of Luminosity Labs. Mr. Marcus has outdone himself in both books, in my view. With the supreme taste & restraint he displays in Stranger Fruit, and in, what strikes me, as pulling out all the stops in Privileged Mediocrity, as he bends the style to match each section of the book, for which he even designed a font.

Also Recommended-

Chris Killip, Thames & Hudson

In 2018, Chris Killip’s former student, Gregory Halpern, turned me on to Mr. Killip’s work. Unfortunately, the book he most highly recommended, In Flagrante, from 1988, has long been out of print and expensive, so I only caught a glimpse of it when Mr. Halpern gave a tour of his book shelves. I managed to get In Flagrante Two, 2016. which is now also out of print.

New in print is this wonderful retrospective that Mr. Killip (who died in October, 2020) did not live to see published, unfortunately. It’s beautifully done. I particularly appreciate its size and design. It’s almost 12 1/2 by 10, big without being oversized. The design is both tasteful and fresh, with the use of red being a great contrast to the mostly (but not all) black & white images. Looking at his work, Mr. Killip’s Portraits and Landscapes often have qualities I find in Rembrandt, one of the highest compliments I can pay any Artist, which are enhanced by his use of “unconventional” poses only found in life. A model Photography retrospective, it fittingly includes an essay by Mr. Halpern.

Trent Parke, Monument, Stanley/Barker

Being a city boy I have a real weakness for books depicting city life. But, I’ve seen too many that just leave me cold, and no, I’m not going to name which. Few and far between are those that really speak to me. Trent Parke’s Monument is one. Whereas most of the others are a string of Photos “connected” (if at all) by place, Monument is a look at the “alien world” Mr. Parke says he discovered when he moved to Sydney, Australia from a small country town. Mesmerized by the endless procession of workers to and fro day after day, he likened them to the countless moths that he saw at night, and includes, that were drawn by the bright lights of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Drawn to their death. Such is life in far too many places on Earth in 2023.

Entirely in black & white, with its minimal text only in Braille (which you’ll need to know to determine if your’s is a copy of the sold out 1st printing, or the upcoming 2nd printing), it’s a book that captures the fractured light of modern life going by in a blur as human moths go about chasing their own flame of a dream. Apparently, these Photos were taken before the pandemic as no one wears a mask. It’s beautifully designed & produced with Stanley/Barker in an embossed leather cover. Though it’s in black & white, Monument is one of the very few PhotoBooks I can think of that can bear up against Saul Leiter’s Early Color, perhaps the masterpiece of City photography of the books I’ve seen, which is one one of the most essential PhotoBooks of the 21st century in my view.

Jim Goldberg, Coming and Going, Mack Books

Jim Goldberg’s magnum opus (no pun intended) is a unique, visual autobiography, another tour de force of book design, as all of his books are. Coming and Going is autobiographical, though in classic Jim Goldberg style. Though there is no running text narrative, he feels free to write, draw or annotate on the images as he sees fit which helps guide the reader/viewer along. And who’s to argue with his choice? He’s forged a trademark style doing it that doesn’t age or look dated. Containing 360 13 by 11 inch pages, most of the material I have never seen before. There are stories, some featuring familiar characters from his prior books, though they are contained on 2-page spreads, which makes them look more like an Art work than a text. The story of his life moves forward on the power of his images, and that’s as it should be with such a one-of-a-kind Artist. A good number of them depict members of his family with love, understanding and poignancy, as they grow or age, even pass away.

Coming and Going is a LARGE book weighing in at 6 1/2 pounds, I wish it was a hardcover, instead of the stiff boards is covered with, because it’s a book that’s sure to see lots of handling and page-turning. Already at an $85. list, that probably would have added at least $5 to the cost. Then again, his classic Raised by Wolves was a softcover, too. Wolves remains THE classic Jim Goldberg book, but long-time fans will find much to get lost in in Coming and Going. 

Jay DeFeo: Photographic Works, Jay DeFeo Foundation/ DelMonico

I could very well have listed this in NoteWorthy Art Books, 2023, but it’s here to make a point. Jay DeFeo (1929-89) is, perhaps, best known for her Painting, The Rose, 1969, and as a Painter. Though she passed at 60 from cancer in 1990, her star has continued to rise steadily since. Now comes the revelation that she was, also, a Photographic Artist, as this book, and the accompanying show at Paula Cooper Gallery, NYC, shows. Not only that, she was a formidable Photographic Artist.

The “point” I’m trying to make, yet again, is that Jay DeFeo is another on a list that gets longer all the time- a list of Painters who were also accomplished Photographers. To this point, they continue to remain overlooked by the larger Photography community, which continues to baffle me.

The two works shown above in the book as seen in the current show Inventing Objects: Jay DeFeo’s Photographic Work at Paula Cooper Gallery, September 22, 2023.

Right now at MoMA as I write, the great Ed Ruscha is the subject of a blockbuster retrospective, Now/Then. In 2016, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo’s close friend for many years, received one at MoMA, which I wrote about here. Yet, L.A. and San Francisco Artists who came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s have been slow to receive the attention their East Coast counterparts have been enjoying for decades- particularly on the East Coast. Artists like Ed Kienholz quickly come to mind. Very near the top of the list, it’s way past time for the Jay DeFeo East Coast Retrospective.

Nan Goldin: This Will Not End Well, Steidl is my last Also Recommended NoteWorthy PhotoBook for 2023. I wrote about it here.

*- Soundtrack for this piece is “Strange Fruit,” by Billie Holiday.

Be sure to see the companion list to this one- NoteWorthy Art Books, 2023

My previous NoteWorthy PhotoBook lists-

NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2018

NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2019. And others

NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2020

NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2021

 

THERE ARE NO AFFILIATE LINKS IN THIS PIECE!

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

Nick Cave: Beauty Deeper Than Skin

This site is Free & Ad-Free! If you find this piece worthwhile, please donate via PayPal to support it & independent Art writing. You can also support it by buying Art & books! Details at the end. Thank you.

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

Show Seen- Nick Cave: Forothermore @ the Guggenheim Museum

No. Not THAT Nick Cave.

THIS Nick Cave. The Artist standing in front of Tondo, 2018, Mixed media including wire, bugle beads, sequined fabric and wood at the opening of Nick Cave: Weather or Not at Jack Shainman May 17, 2018 . Tondo was also on view in Fororthermore.

Nice Cave, the multi-dimensional Artist, that is, who deserves every bit as much notoriety as the other, rightly very well-known Nick Cave, whose work I also admire. This Nick was born in 1959 in Fulton, Missouri, and now lives & works in Chicago, where he has been creating beautiful heart-rending Art for over 30 years. Art, largely created as his response to the world around him marked by racism, profiling and the murders of unarmed Black men and women.

Arm Peace, 2018, Cast bronze, sunburst and vintage tole flowers 85 × 39 × 12 inches. (One of two pieces in the show named Arm Peace.) In my book, this deserves to be “iconic,” as do a number of other pieces in Forothermore.

Even though I had seen a number of his shows at Jack Shainman, his books, and I have been in his presence twice, I was completely unprepared for Nice Cave: Forothermore his mid-career Retrospective at the Guggenheim. I went in believing Mr. Cave is one of the more important Artists working today. I left speechless.

Rescue, 2013, Mixed media including ceramic birds, metal flowers, ceramic Pug, vintage settee, and light fixture 91 × 78 × 54 1/2 inches, front, Nick Cave in collaboration with Bob Faust Wallpaper Near Rescue Works (New Work), 2021, TBC, Dimensions variable, on the back wall.

As a result, I’ve decided to let Mr. Cave, who has a gift for expressing himself in words, to go with his extraordinary gifts for visual expression, do much of the talking in this piece. In Forothermore, a number of the pieces I’d seen over the years, and many others, came together as a startling whole of 49 pieces over three sections: What It Was, What It Is, and What It Shall Be, in 3 locations in the museum. I must admit that I am not a fan of the side galleries the Guggenheim added during their expansion of Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece (which I fought at the time they announced them, and my argument was published in The New York Times, my first published writing). The newer galleries are oddly shaped, because Wright didn’t design these spaces to be galleries. In my view, they detract and distract from Wright’s original intention and design of Art in the Rotunda. That being said, Nick Cave: Forothermore was one of the more important shows in NYC so far this young decade, if not THE most important show I’ve seen. The Guggenheim deserves kudos for bringing it here.

Untitled, 2018, Mixed media including a bronze head and 13 American flag shirts, 23 3/4 × 15 3/4 × 12 inches

At first glance, much of Nick Cave’s Art, particularly his famous Soundsuits, look otherworldly until a close look reveals virtually all of it consists of everyday or found items used in incredibly imaginative ways. Part Sculpture, part Music, part furniture, part Collage, part fashion, and partially created using textile production and jewelry-making techniques, there seems to be no limit to what Mr. Cave’s pieces are or fixed rules about how they’re made. Still, all of what we see now is part of his extraordinary response to the reality of his life and that of other Black men and women.

It started early…

Penny Catcher, 2009, Mixed media including vintage coin toss, suit, and shoes 74 × 23 × 14 inches

“My mother told me when I was, like, eight years old, the complexity of what I would have to deal with. So knowing made me think, ‘I’ve got to build a thick skin. I’ve got to be able to operate in a world…that could work against me as opposed to for me. What do I do with that?'”1

Sea Sick, 2014. Mixed media including oil paintings, ceramic container, cast hands, and plastic ship 96 × 72 × 10 1/2 inches. At 8 feet tall, with 11 Paintings of the kind of 17th century ships slavers used mounted salon-style, each shown in full sails, almost looking to be going back and forth, at angles to inspire sea sickness among those on board, with a striking head and hands in the center, as if screaming “ENOUGH!” The head was a tobacco holder that was later sold as a spittoon!

“I have been racially profiled. I’m walking home with my portfolio from teaching. I am pulled…surrounded by undercover cops saying, ‘Lie down on the floor’– because the convenience store was robbed down the street. That has been my reality. Get it together up here (points to his head). Psychologically, I have to really get it together. And I just have to get quiet–to put it in perspective and to not lash out into rage. And if I do, lashing out for me is creating this (a Soundsuit). All of that becomes the impulse to create.”2

Soundsuit 2012 Mixed media including embroidery, fabric, vintage toys, rug, and mannequin Soundsuit: 127 × 98 × 93 inches

Best known to this point for his ongoing series of Soundsuits– works that combine all the processes listed earlier in an ultimate manifestation of that “thick skin” he referred to, that a performer then wears as one of many in  one of Mr. Cave’s joyous and bombastic performances. For display, the performer is replaced with a mannequin. The range of materials they have included over the years would fill a Sears Roebuck catalog. In spite of the long history of both fashion and theater, I have seen virtually nothing like them3. The Soundsuits brought him immediate fame. Their origin may be lesser known-

“The first Soundsuit was in ’92 in response to the Rodney King incident, the L.A. riots. I was sitting in the park one day  and just sort of thinking about, What does it feel like to be  discarded, dismissed, profiled?
There was this twig on the ground. And I looked at that twig as something discarded. And then I proceeded to just start collecting the twigs in the park. And I brought them all back to the studio. And then I started to build this sculpture. I started to realize that the moment I started to move in it, it made sound. Then it just literally put everything in perspective. I was building this suit of armor, something that I could shield myself from the world and society. And so out of that came this sculpture-performative kind of work.”4

Detail of a Soundsuit made largely from twigs. Soundsuit, 2011, Twigs, wire, upholstery, basket, and metal armature, 83 × 27 × 40 inches. Seen in full from the side in the next picture.

That “discarded” and “forgotten” twig set a precedent for the materials he’s used in his Art since, a collection of objects and materials that seems encyclopedic, some of which speak to Mr. Cave of his childhood, when objects like figurines were cherished family possessions. This creates a duality whereby even though a number of the objects he incorporates are offensive, even disgusting (like the spittoon in Sea Sick), it’s very hard not to see “beauty” and “Art” in Nick Cave’s work, particularly in how masterfully he combines everything in ways that are reminiscent of Duchamp, Rauschenberg and Betye Saar, among others, though in entirely his own way. In so doing, he’s forged a style without having one style. Along with the beauty, there’s an undeniable joy in a good deal of his work, which reaches its zenith, perhaps, in his live performances with dancers performing in his Soundsuits in a communal celebration.

Soundsuits. From left, Soundsuit, 2022 with vintage bunny, Soundsuit, 2015 with synthetic hair, Soundsuit 9:29, 2021-2022, Soundsuit, 2011 shown in the prior picture, Nick Cave, Soundsuit 9:29, 2021, Soundsuit, 2019, and Soundsuit 8:46, 2021, far right.

Yet, in spite of their outward appearance, all is not joy with his Soundsuits. Mr. Cave reveals how he sees them-

“I don’t ever see the “Soundsuits” as fun. They really are coming from a very dark place. The “Soundsuits” hide gender, race, class. And they force you to look at the work without judgment. You know, we tend to want to categorize everything. We tend to want to find its place. How do we, sort of, be one on one with something that is unfamiliar?”5

“I think after the first Soundsuit, I had a different approach to art making. And I realized that I was an artist with a conscience. The moment I did was the moment that  my life literally turned upside-down. I think it’s just me kind of experimenting. It’s like, you know, a scientist  exploring alternative ideas.”6

TM13, 2015. Mixed media including vintage blow molds, pony beads, pipe cleaners, mannequin, and garments, 89 × 48 × 49 inches. The Trayvon Martin Soundsuit.

“Trayvon Martin is a new work  that was shown at Cranbrook. It’s made up of a Black mannequin dressed  in a hoodie and sneakers and jeans. And then surrounding its body  is these plastic blow molds. Which are, like sometimes at Halloween, there are these plastic forms  that are set out in yards. And so they are surrounding this  sort of figure almost as guardians. But then over top of the entire structure is  this web that’s constructed out of pony beads. So from a distance, it looks like this amazing sort of gold  sculptural form until you get up close and you realize that there  is someone trapped inside.” 7

Wall Relief, 2013, Mixed media including ceramic birds, metal flowers, afghans, strung beads, crystals and antique gramophone
4 panels: 97 × 74 × 21 in., each. Perhaps the most complex work on view among many very complex pieces.

“The title (“Forothermore”) is a neologism, a new word that reflects the artist’s lifelong commitment to creating space for those who feel marginalized by dominant society and culture—especially working-class communities and queer people of color. The show both highlighted the development of Cave’s singular art practice and interrogated the promises, fulfilled or broken, that the late 20th and early 21st centuries offered to the ‘other,'” the Guggenheim said.

Untitled, 2018, Mixed media including round table, clay head, piano bench, carved head with vintage tole flowers, child pink chair, 19 carved heads, 1 carved eagle, cast polyurethane hands, 52 1/8 × 52 1/8 × 61 inches

“You know, I think at the end of the day,  it’s me giving back to the community  and being this sort of change agent. I want to change our way of  engaging with one another. I want to use art as a form of diplomacy. That’s why I’m in this state of urgency right now. And I don’t know. I just feel so unsettled. I’m doing what I’m doing, but I’m not sure if it’s happening fast enough.”8

Detail of Tondo, 2022, Metal mesh, hardware cloth, bugle beads, wire, sequin fabric and wood.

Nick Cave is rewriting the power of Art, to paraphrase Simon Schama. He’s doing it by channeling horror and pain- both experienced by others, and by himself, into “lashing out” by creating. And, he’s doing so in ways never before seen. I see a lot of Art, and I see a lot of shows. It’s not often that I am awestruck by an Artist’s creativity, but I am by Nick Cave’s. Still, it’s hard to really get a full sense of Mr. Cave’s extraordinary gifts. If Nick Cave can produce such beautiful and powerful work in a world like this, I can’t help but wonder what he’d create in a world without racism.

*- Soundtrack for this piece is “Peace,” by Gil Scott-Heron, a Bonus track from the 2014 reissue of his 1971 album Pieces of a Man.

Thank you, Maddie.

SPECIAL ADDENDUM- The NYC MTA recently completed the installation of Nick Cave’s monumental, 4,600 square feet, 3-part, permanent Public Art piece, Each One, Every One, Equal All, in the subway under Times Square, the latest in their absolutely stellar on-going series of Public Art projects for the NYC subway. It rivals Sarah Sze’s entire subway station installation (which I showed here) for the largest Art work in the NYC subway system. It took multiple trips to fully see the whole thing, and my look at it can be seen here.

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Nick Cave Brings Joy & Beauty to the Subway

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This is an addendum to my look at Nick Cave: Forothermore @ the Guggenheim Museum, here. 

Who am I? Detail of one of the figures in the section titled Every One. All works shown are Glass mosaic tiles and dated 2022 unless stated. Click any photo for full size.

Some of the most spectacular Art in New York is free and available to see & experience 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. All you need to do to see it is pay a subway fare. All around town, MTA Arts & Design has succeeded in bringing a world-class roster of Artists to the City’s subway riders that rivals that of any museum1. Created in 1985, MTA Arts & Design has been one of the most remarkable stories in NYC Public Art, if not Public Art anywhere.

Installation view of the entire first section, Each One, installed just outside the turnstiles at the One Times Square Entrance.

Recently, MTA Arts & Design completed the third and final section of Nick Cave’s monumental 3,200 square foot Permanent Public Art Work Under Times Square. Each One, Every One, Equal All, 2022 is installed in the 1,2,3,7,N,W & Shuttle station at 42nd Street & Times Square, perhaps the busiest station in the entire subway system. The project consists of a whopping FIFTY THREE figures2 wearing Mr. Cave’s famous Soundsuits, each made up of countless incredibly intricate and fabulously colored glass mosaic tiles. A number of the original Soundsuits they are based on were displayed in Nick Cave: Forothermore at the Guggenheim Museum last winter, and some appear in my look at the show. The mosaics were fabricated by world-renowned Mayer of Munich (aka Franz Mayer & Co., founded in 1870), and are augmented by a recorded performance displayed on 11 video monitors.

Equal All. Installation view of the entire second section installed at the 42nd Street Shuttle.

As stunningly beautiful as they are, beauty is not the beginning or the end of Nick Cave’s Soundsuits. “The first Soundsuit was in ’92 in response to the Rodney King incident, the L.A. riots,” Mr. Cave recalled. “I was sitting in the park one day  and just sort of thinking about, What does it feel like to be  discarded, dismissed, profiled? There was this twig on the ground. And I looked at that twig as something discarded. And then I proceeded to just start collecting the twigs in the park. And I brought them all back to the studio. And then I started to build this sculpture. I started to realize that the moment I started to move in it, it made sound. Then it just literally put everything in perspective. I was building this suit of armor, something that I could shield myself from the world and society. And so out of that came this sculpture-performative kind of work.”3

The Soundsuits “hide gender, race, class. And they force you to look at the work without judgment. You know, we tend to want to categorize everything,” the Artist said. “We tend to want to find its place. How do we, sort of, be one on one with something that is unfamiliar?”4

Every One. Installation view of most of the section installed in the 42nd Street Connector which continues all the way down the corridor then wraps around the far end of it.

Here are some highlights of each section beginning with Each One, shown in its entirety earlier, which is installed in the entrance before you reach the turnstiles-

As amazing as the individual figures are, the backgrounds are endlessly varied, and different in each of the three sections.

After paying your fare, the second section is installed to the left, “framed” behind pillars as you approach it just before you reach the Shuttle further to the right-

The background is noticeably different than that of the other two sections, and characterized by having more color and more of a pattern.

I believe the actual Soundsuit this is mosaic depicts is made of twigs, and it may have been on view in Nick Cave: Forothermore at the Guggenheim. It appears in two pictures in my piece on the show.

Some highlights of the third, and longest, section, Every One in stalled in the 42nd Street Connector past the Shuttle–

Close-up of the head of the figure shown in the very first Photo in this piece.

This section includes 11 video monitors.

Screenshot of the Every One video featuring dancers wearing Soundsuits in a 3-minute video that is shown every 15 minutes, but you can see it in full below. Due to the fact it’s on 11 video monitors, the MTA had to compress the size of the video a bit-

Mosaics are one of the (if not the) most durable materials Art is made of. If you doubt that, visit The Met where you will see mosaics dating back to the 1st century BCE that retain every bit of their luster and beauty. The universe willing, the mosaics in the subway will outlive us all.

Installation view of the last section of Every One.

Displaying them in the subway, where the “melting pot” America is supposed to be all about, is on full display all the time- perhaps to a degree it is nowhere else in the country, is particularly poignant and powerful. It’s also very liberating to imagine oneself being one of these magical figures cavorting, dancing, leaping or flying all around us as we walk through them, anonymously.

The final figure of Every One, installed at the top of a staircase, looks like it’s about to take flight.

All of a sudden, a world where racism exists, doesn’t.

*-Soundtrack for this piece is “One Nation Under A Groove,” by George Clinton & Funkadelic from the 1978 album of the same name. Nick Cave has frequently mentioned George Clinton as an early influence.

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

  1. Think I’m kidding? Here’s a short list. Each of these Artists has created a PERMANENT installation. Listed by Artist’s name, with the subway line(s) @ which station-
    Chuck Close -Q@86th St
    Roy Lichtenstein -A,C,E,et al@42nd St & Times Sq
    Jacob Lawrence -1,2,3,7,N,R,W,S@42nd St & Times Sq
    Jane Dickson -1,2,3,7,N,R,W,S@42nd St & Times Sq
    Sol LeWitt -1,A,B,C,D@Columbus Circle
    Vik Muniz -Q@72nd St
    William Wegman -F,M@23rd St
    Yoko Ono -B,C@72nd St
    Elizabeth Murray -4.5.6,N,R,W@Lex & 59th St
    Faith Ringgold -2,3@125th St
    Alex Katz -F@57th St
    Leo Villareal -6,B.D,F,M@ Bleecker St./Broadway & Lafayette
    Jack Beal  -1,2,3,7,N,R,W,S@42nd St & Times Sq
    Al Held -E,M@Lex & 53rd St
    Eric Fischl -A,C.E@34th St & Penn Sta
    And, my personal favorite- Sarah Sze -Q@96th St. Sarah Sze’s Blueprint for a Landscape, 2017, was commissioned to design Art for the entire large subway station- 14,000 square feet! What makes this project even more unique is that, unlike most of the other stations in NYC, this was a station being built from scratch at the same time. I wrote about it here. As far as I know, it is the largest Public Art project in the subway. The MTA Arts & Design site lists them all, here. ↩
  2. by my count ↩
  3. “Nick Cave in Chicago,” Art21, 2016 ↩
  4. “Nick Cave: Thick Skin” Art21 ↩

Rod Penner’s America: Small Town Nation

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Show Seen- Rod Penner: Small-Town Meditations – Traveling exhibition seen in NYC @ Meisel Gallery

“America: A Nation of Small Towns”
Title of the 2020 United States Census Report.

Small towns in the big town. The opening, NYC, March 18. 2023.

I’ve already written as much, and maybe more, than anyone else has about Rod Penner’s Art over the past six years. Most recently, I wrote my fifth Penner piece, an extensive look and the first anywhere, at the first full-length book on his work, Rod Penner: Paintings, 1987-2022. If Mr. Penner’s work speaks to you and you haven’t seen a copy, make a point to. It accomplishes the rare double feat of being equal parts long-awaited full-length Monograph and Catalogue Raisonne, containing everything he’s Painted through 2022, in one volume. All of this being said, my pieces on his Art were based on seeing one show of smaller Paintings in 2017 and two works in a prior group show. This spring, I finally had a chance to see a show with a more representative overview of his work going back to 1998. I came away feeling I saw much in his work I hadn’t seen before.

My only previous Rod Penner solo show, in 2017, consisted solely of 6 by 6 inch and 5 by 7 inch Paintings, each jam-packed with detail. Though Sands Hotel & Cafe/Vaughn, MN, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, is a huge 31 by 64 inches (almost 5 1/2 feet long!), the detail is every bit as stunning, representing a staggering amount of work. I continually get lost looking at the fore and mid-ground in what strikes me as a bit of an unusual composition. But, of course, there’s much more to it. Click for full size.

Rod Penner: Small-Town Meditations consisted of a group of 17 Paintings that establish Mr. Penner as the foremost Painter of small town America working today, inheriting the mantle from John Salt, and Charles Sheeler & Edward Hopper before the late Mr. Salt (1937-2021).

John Salt, Red Mailbox #2, 2015, Casein on linen, 45 x 65 inches. Seen in 2018 in the same space occupied by Rod Penner: Small-Town Meditations. Casein is a water soluble medium that derives from milk casein, and is used masterfully here to create such a rich, yet mysterious, atmosphere.

Rod Penner was born & raised in Canada before marrying his wife, Debbie, and relocating to Texas in 1988, where the majority of his work is set. In the Q&A I did with him in 2017, the Artist said this about the beginning of his Painting career-

“Shortly after arriving in the Lone-Star State, I rediscovered the work of John Salt and felt an instant connection. I couldn’t drive past a trailer home (and there are many in Texas) without thinking “Salt.” At this point, I wanted to spend more time in the studio and less time searching out subjects to paint, so I started driving around the town we lived in and took photos of these tract houses that were everywhere. I found them visually interesting. As with all the streets and buildings that I paint, these homes, under certain weather and lighting conditions, became transformed. I painted my first tract house in 1989 and it sparked a series of paintings that were later shown at O.K. Harris in NY.”

614/House with Daffodils, 1998, 10 1/4 x 15 inches, Acrylic on board.

While people appear in very few of his Paintings, right from the beginning, virtually every piece he’s created is rich with their presence. First, there’s what people have built on the land that signifies them. Then there’s the condition of these structures, which are steeped in individual modifications and adornment. Some are in need of attention; perhaps a new coat of paint or repairs. It seems that the occupants are too busy living in them to do them right now. In addition to the building, we often see the evidence of human habitation: toys, tools or lawn implements in the yard; though vehicles are not seen nearly as often as they are in John Salt’s homestead works where they are one of his trademarks. Combined with the lived-in condition of the house all of this makes for a de facto “Portrait” of its inhabitants, in my view. His work is rich in character, one thing that sets him apart. Character adds an incalculable amount of depth to his Paintings. In a larger sense, his work is a “Portrait” of how, and where, many Americans lived in the last half of the 20th and early parts of the 21st centuries.

212/House with Snow, 1998, 36 by 54 inches, From here on, all works shown are Acrylic on canvas unless noted.

The idea of “home” looms large in Rod Penner’s oeuvre, striking me as one of his main themes, be it in actual houses or motels (temporary homes), like Sands Hotel & Cafe/Vaughn, MN, 2019, shown earlier. None of his homes are palatial. Rather, they are all well lived-in. The roofs and paint look weather-worn, as if they’ve survived countless storms or harsh winters. It’s easy to make this fit the “Portrait” analogy. A number of his Texas scenes include snow- something the rest of us may have trouble associating with one of America’s southern-most states, but the terrible storms they’ve had these past years are changing that. Snow makes these scenes look they could have been seen in many other places in the country. Yet, in spite of it all, they’re still standing, and much of the same can no doubt be said of whoever lives in them.

212/House with Snow, 1998, a masterpiece in my view, sums up so much about the broad and vague idea of “home.” For me, that doesn’t necessarily mean a place; A person could be “home” for someone, and much of what I see here, and the feelings it generates, would still apply. Like virtually all of Rod Penner’s Paintings 212 cries out to be seen up close.

How much you see in a Rod Penner Painting is only limited by how long you look at it.

A number of his House Paintings are set during the Holidays. In this detail from 212/House with Snow, we see the Christmas tree lying diagonally in front ready to go out with the trash & recycling. A poignant image by itself. It’s been there a little while given it’s snowed since it was put there. A toy bus (maybe a Xmas present?) pokes out from a red box with an intricate logo on it- all in this stunning little section, which is typical of all of Rod Penner’s Paintings. Oh! That’s before you get around to admiring the incredible detail on the Christmas tree branches, the tree trunk behind it, or the condition of the paint on the house and garage! Then, there’s the ground…

Yet here, as in all Rod Penner’s work, in my opinion, he puts the detail at the service of Art. The detail is revelatory, like a well-turned sentence in a great novel, or like the floor in Jan van Eyck’s The Annunciation in Washington. It never preaches. It never gives too much away, leaving it all to the viewer. In fact, when I first met Mr. Penner, he was reluctant to speak about his Art. He told me he wanted his Art to speak for itself. Personally, I’m glad he has softened that stance a bit and has spoken about his work, especially in his Artist’s Statement in his book. I only wish the Art media respected what the Artist says about his/her own work more than what anyone else says about it.

Bar-B-Q/Marble Falls, TX, 2022, 12 x 18 inches. The latest in a long and memorable series of roadside eateries and gas stations. Those foreshortened signs to the left must have been fun to Paint.

Another theme in his work is life on the move: gas stations and roadside eateries loom large here, in addition to motels.. This makes it apparent that the Artist gets around since every scene he renders he has visited in person. Sometimes, it’s hard to look at these and not smile. What may be Mr. Penner’s subtle sense of humor can be at once poignant, and again tack sharp. In person, the Artist is quick to smile, so it’s hard not to see that coming across in his work at times. At the March opening, two visitors were present who had traveled all the way from Marble Falls, TX for it. Well-familiar with the real-life Bar-B-Q back home, it must have been a strange, but welcoming, feeling to see its likeness hanging on the wall in a SoHo gallery thousands of miles from home.

Buy Pecans Here/San Saba, Tx, 2021, 31 by 52 inches.

Buy Pecans Here/San Saba, Tx, 2021 marks Rod Penner’s return to large Painting after his series of small San Saba pieces I saw in his last NYC solo show. When I look at this, I see an early 21st century “History Painting.” The Old Masters famously rendered scenes from history, usually in suitably large scale. Here, Rod Penner shows a number of stages of San Saba’s history in one scene in the recent past (2021). In the back, San Saba County Courthouse, 1911, peaks out of the trees and rooftops, surrounded by what man has built in the area in the following 110 years, including telephone poles and power wires, which may now carry the internet, including NighthawkNYC. San Saba is known as the “Pecan Capital of the World,” so the appropriately sized Pecan store sits stolidly on the earth occupying much of the right side as if anchoring that reputation. Further down the block on that side is G&R Grocery, behind the white pickup. Across the street in the rear the red brick of “Station” peaks out- that’s the only word left on its sign. Mr. Penner featured both of these buildings in his San Saba Series of small Paintings in 2016-7, which I showed here. Buy Pecans Here also got its own Painting. In the front left is another one, the former San Saba Butane Co., which he immortalized in a show-stopping small Painting of the same name, looking a bit more the worse for wear than it does even here. Yet, it’s still standing, seemingly waiting for what’s coming next. The ground weather and the skies add incalculably to the mood. An unfathomable amount of work must have gone into this Painting.

Like San Saba Butane, a number of the places he Paints are out of business. I don’t have to tell anyone how prevalent that is, wherever you are, in the age of the pandemic, before and “after.” Yet, it’s something rarely seen in Painting. Businesses opening, being active, and going out of business are part of the business cycle. That is the “history” I see in Buy Pecans Here/San Saba, Tx.

Bertram Supply Co., 2015-6, 31 by 52 inches.

Rod Penner Paints democratically. I’m not referring to politics. I’m using the word in its original meaning. That is that Rod Penner Paints everything he shows us with equal weight. Virtually everything, front to back, is in focus, like it is in many of Richard Estes’s Paintings. Everything is shown at the hyperlocal distance, as Photographers say1. Therefore, it’s up to each viewer to decide what’s important to the narrative they weave in their mind. It also allows for different scenarios at each viewing with different things standing out each time.

Compositionally, it seems to me that many, if not most, of Mr. Penner’s Paintings, and all those shown here, consist of three horizontal “bands” or areas. He presents the sky in a top band, the buildings/main subjects in the center band, and the ground weather in the lower/foreground band. One of the subtler joys of Rod Penner’s work is that he is a master of rendering the ground effects of weather (i.e. rain, snow, graupel, mud, or the baked naked earth), a bit like JMW Turner was a master or rendering skies (in a completely different way, of course). The ground weather is a unique, and often stunning, part of most of his Paintings, easy to overlook, but not to be missed. The detail they contain is astonishing and in addition to adding so much to the “narrative,” they also hint at how much time and thought went into every inch of his Paintings- regardless of size.

Welcome to PennerVille. A close look at Bertram Supply Co., reveals the Artist’s name on the street sign, with “Rod E.” foreshortened for the cross street sign under it, indicative that he’s put his name on this scene. It’s becoming his genre.

Rod Penner: Small-Town Meditations sums up in capsule form Rod Penner’s accomplishment. To me, that is nothing less than preserving the lives that countless Americans have lived these past 40 years in paint. Rod Penner is creating a body of work that defines and preserves what a good deal of America- small town America (which most of America consists of)- is and has been like these past 4 decades as much, if not more, than any other Artist has.

Having said that, I would also add that I’m not sure that that’s his point! It may be. Or, it may simply be what I’m seeing in his work. His Art is open-ended enough so that everyone is free to see in it what they will.

Rod Penner discussing how he created some of the detail in Yellow Light/Brenham, TX, 2004-5, 15 x 25 inches with a visitor behind him at the opening, March 18, 2023.

Saying all of this would seem to overlook the most obvious characteristic of Rod Penner’s Paintings: his world-class technique. His technical skill (readily seen in the details from Bertram Supply Co., or 212/House with Snow, above) approaches the level of the Old Masters. Yet, technique, by itself, does not make Art. In Rod Penner’s case, his technique is only the beginning of the story. Every time you look at his work, you get to write your own ending for it. 

*- Soundtrack for this piece is “Small Town” by John Mellencamp.

My prior pieces on Rod Penner are-

“The Vermeer of Marble Falls, Texas,”April 28, 2017

“Rod Penner: Brilliance, Under Cloudy Skies,” June 10, 2017

“Q&A With Master Painter Rod Penner,” June 14, 2017

“Rod Penner’s Neighborhood,” August 3, 2017

and- “NoteWorthy Art Books- Rod Penner: Paintings, 1988-2022,” April 7, 2023.

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

  1. The focus distance at a given aperture on a lens where everything after that point is in focus, and somethings before are as well, depending on the settings and the lens. ↩

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s Survival Map

This site is Free & Ad-Free! If you find this piece worthwhile, please donate via PayPal to support it & independent Art writing. You can also support it by buying Art & books! Details at the end. Thank you.

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

Show Seen: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map @ The Whitney Museum

Indian Madonna Enthroned, 1974, Mixed-media.

It took 83 years for Jaune Quick-to-See Smith to get her first NYC retrospective. As if that’s not notable enough, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map is also the “largest and most comprehensive show of her work to date,” the Whitney says of its installation of 130 of her Paintings, Drawings, Prints, and Sculptures covering almost 5 decades of her career on its 5th floor, where it follows Edward Hopper’s New York, and 3rd floors.

Self-Portrait, 1974, Pastel, graphite pencil and charcoal on paper. The Artist showing herself with 6 arms.

Born in 1940, a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, the show reveals Jaune Quick-to-See Smith to be an Artist of her time, one that is fluent with contemporary Art styles and techniques. An Artist, and a person, passionate about the well-being of her people and the world in which they, and we all, live. Yet, she’s also been ahead of her time in bringing many issues her people face to the Art world, which has only recently begun to be more open to Indigenous Artists.

Homeland, 2017, Oil and acrylic on canvas, radiates from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation’s Flathead Reservation in Montana.

Indian Map, 1992, Oil, paper, newspaper and fabric on canvas.

Survival Map, 2021, Acrylic, ink, charcoal, fabric, and paper on canvas

As a result, it seems to me that her work has been on the line between being of its time and ahead of its time throughout her career, both in terms of style and content. She proves herself fluent in moulding the language developed by her peers to her purposes over her career while also creating as many of her own innovations.

Jasper Johns, Flag, 1954-55, Encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric mounted on plywood, three panels, seen at MoMA, 2017.

McFlag, 1996, Oil, paper and newspaper on canvas with speakers and electrical cord

Among the numerous Artists she references, including Magritte and Picasso, two names repeatedly came to mind, both at the forefront of the developments in American Contemporary Art of her time. Maps and Flags play a central role in the work on view, echoing Jasper Johns (B. May 15, 1930). Whereas Mr. Johns’s intentions for using the flag and maps remains, like most of his work, ambiguous, Ms. Quick-to-See Smith uses them to powerfully present the lives and issues faced by Indigenous People. 

Robert Rauschenberg, Gull (Jammer), 1976, Sewn silk, rattan poles, and twine, 1976, seen at MoMA in 2017.

Other works echo Robert Rauschenberg (Oct 22, 1925- May 12, 2008).

Ronan Robe #4, 1977, Oil, beeswax, charcoal and soot on canvas with lodgepole.

In 1985, the Artist got involved in efforts to save Petroglyph Park in New Mexico, creating what would become her Petroglyph Park Series, 1985-7, and marking the beginning of the appearance of current events in her Art.

Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People), 1992, Oil, paper, newspaper, and fabric on canvas with found objects on a chain. Perhaps a history of exploitation with “trinkets” being exchanged for land. A number of the sports teams whose ephemera hangs above the Painting, have subsequently changed their names, some have not. Other items shown remain in production, including children’s toys which cheaply knock-off Native American culture.

Historic events don’t escape her attention, either.

9 Monotypes from the Custer Series, 1993. The work next to the lower right is after Magritte. The text reads, “This is not a peace pipe.”

Wall card for the Custer Series.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation’s Flathead Reservation is located in Montana, site of the Little Bighorn. Canoes, often labelled “Trade Canoes” (except for the one above), are a recurring theme, each one rendered strikingly differently.

Trade Canoe: Making Medicine, 2018, Mixed media, foreground, Green Flag, n.d., on the back wall.

Detail.

Trade Canoe: Forty Days and Forty Nights, 2015, Oil, acrylic, oil crayon, paper and charcoal on canvas, introduces the show, and is seen to the left in the picture of the show’s lobby, seen further below.

In addition to having her eye on what’s going on around her, her Art also has a wonderful way of looking back to the rich history of her culture. Messages of protest are side by side with sage wisdom. Her Chief Seattle Series (or C.S. Series), 1989-91, does this wonderfully and adds a timeless element to her work. The Wall Card says-

The Garden (C.S. 1854), 1989, Oil, rubber hose, crushed tin and aluminum cans, and nails on canvas. C.S. is Chief Seattle and The Garden is part of Chief Seattle Series from 1989-91. It reads, “WE are part of the EARTH and it is PART of US, C.S., 1854.”

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith has created an important, innovative and powerful body of work that somehow all manages to remain of the moment no matter when she created it. On the one hand, that’s a sign the country hasn’t evolved faster and how much remains to be done. 

Memory Map shares the 5th floor with Josh Kline: Project for a New American Century, which is compelling in its own right. The shows overlap as both express concern over climate change and the impact of social, economic and technological change on the labor force.

On the other hand, it’s a testament to the Artist’s range, humanity, and perhaps above all, her perseverance. 

Celebrate 40,000 Years of American Art, 1995, Collagraph. A reminder that the ancient, original Art of our land has yet to be fully appreciated.

In some ways, the case of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith reminds me of Alice Neel, who didn’t see her first full-length monograph published until she was 83, the year before she died. Shows of, and books on, her work have increased ever since. I expect Ms. Quick-to-See Smith to also receive increasing attention as time goes on, and hopefully, she will still be around to see, and enjoy, it. Memory Map proves she deserves every bit of it. 

*- Soundtrack for this piece is “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone” by Buffy Sainte-Marie, who was born on the Piapot 75 Reserve in Saskatchewan, Canada. She announced her retirement from live performance earlier this month after 60 years of performing.

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

NoteWorthy Art Shows: Spring, 2023

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava.

As I celebrate the 8th Anniversary of NighthawkNYC.com on July 15th, my thoughts turn to some excellent shows I saw but didn’t get a chance to write about! I’ll take a brief look at a few I call NoteWorthy here…

Robert Rauschenberg: Spreads and Scales @ Gladstone Gallery-

Robert Rauschenberg has been one of my favorite Artists since I discovered his work in the 1980s. In 2017, I wrote an extensive series on the plethora of shows going on around town then during what I termed “The Summer of Rauschenberg.” Spreads and Scales was a concise but very interesting show of work I’ve never seen before reinforcing my belief that no matter how much of his work you’ve seen, even 15 years after his passing in 2008, there’s work of his that you more than likely still haven’t seen.

William Christenberry & RaMell Ross: Desire Paths @ Pace-

RaMell Ross, Sleepy Church, 2014, left,  and William Christenberry, Church, Sprott, Alabama, 1981, both Pigment print mounted on dibond.

An interesting, unexpected paring of the work of the late Photographer, William Christenberry, perhaps best known for his association with William Eggleston, and the Academy Award Nominated Filmmaker & Artist, RaMell Ross, who I last saw in a solo show at Aperture Foundation in June, 2018. Interesting became compelling in its final gallery.

RaMell Ross, Return to Origin, 2021. From the upper left- the Artist working away while in transit, sealed in the box; two video stills- the truck after unloading the box, simultaneous shot of RaMell inside; one of the panels showing the Artist’s inscriptions during transit; the box labelled “DRY GOOD.”

There, sitting on the floor was a very large box cryptically labelled “DRY GOODS” in a large stencil on the exterior, I looked at it, noticed there was writing all around the inside and then when I was about to move on I saw the accompanying video. It turns out RaMell Ross created & used the box to reenact Henry Brown’s legendarily daring act of mailing himself out of slavery to freedom in 1849! Mr. Ross shipped himself, sealed in this box, from Rhode Island to Hale County, Alabama. The trip took 59 hours, all the while the contents were unknown to the contracted truck driver whose gooseneck rig was carrying the crate. The journey, captured on the video, was being shown on that nearby monitor. In addition to reminding today’s viewers of Mr. Brown’s incredible feat (in a smaller box), it also reminds me of the preciousness of freedom. Something not fully appreciated, until it’s gone.

Uta Barth @ Tanya Bonakdar-

Frozen poetry. …and to draw a bright white line with light (Untitled 11.10), 2011, Inkjet Prints.

Compositions 5, 12 & 7, left to right, each Inkjet Prints from 2011, seen next to a street-facing picture window. Uta Barth’s work has had me deeply under its spell for the past three years.

Sundial (07.6), 2007, Mounted color Photographs.

In my opinion, Uta Barth is one of the most under-appreciated Photographers working today. I came across a copy of her retrospective The Long Now a few days before the pandemic shutdown and its poetry captivated me. With empty streets and empty rooms everywhere for the following months on end, I saw “Uta Barths” everywhere. Her spell has continued ever since. Artists who change the way I see the world are few and far between.

Installationv view of one section of ...from dusk to dawn, 2022, Mounted color Photographs with single-channel video monitor, includes an embedded video on one of these pieces that changes frames so subtly you may not see it change.

Finally having a chance to see her work in person @ Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Uta Barth presented one, large, new piece, …from dusk to dawn, 2022, in multiple sections that nearly wrapped around the entirety of the downstairs main gallery and a curated selection of “classic” Uta everywhere else in the gallery. The new piece showed one location of Richard Meier’s Getty Center, L.A., over the course of a year, as it changed with time. Being in California, we don’t see the variety of weather we might in some other place, but with Uta Barth it’s always about the light. 

Tauba Auerbach: Free Will @ Paula Cooper Gallery-

One of the rising stars of the Art world, Tauba Auerbach’s latest, her first NYC show since her acclaimed early mid-career retrospective S v Z @ SF MoMA, 2021, didn’t disappoint while offering the usual surprise.

Foam, 2023, Acrylic on dibond. One of a series of Paintings(!) of foam as seen through a microscope.

“The exhibition is an expression of curiosity about spontaneously emergent structure, tendency and habit, and their intersection with the notion of free will. The work brings together historical rendering techniques like pointillism and midtone drawing with microscopy, algorithmic image processing, off-loom weaving, spraying techniques and mathematical surface modeling,” per the Press Release.

Org, 2023, Glass, nylon coated steel cord, 2 x 80 1/2 x 41 3/8 in.

New were incredibly detailed “pointillistic” (her term) Paintings accompanied by tables of intricate objects and a number of equally interesting sculptural works in the adjoining gallery. Both the objects in the main gallery and these “sculptures” reminded me that Tauba Auerbach has her own publishing company, Diagonal Press, which produces fascinating and intricate books and multiples.

Spontaneous Lace, 2023, Kiln-formed glass in aluminum

It might be premature for me to say this, but Tauba Auerbach reminds me a bit of Frank Lloyd Wright, to me one of the great Artistic geniuses of all time. Ms. Auerbach is not an Architect, as far as I know, but her work reminds me of the brilliance of Wright’s “ancillary” designs for his buildings: his fabric designs, dishwear, furniture and rugs. Frank Lloyd Wright continually pursued “building the way nature built,” i.e. “organically,” as he called it. Much of Tauba Auerbach’s work is inspired by nature and carries forward some of its techniques, as seen here in Free Will. Barely in her 4th decade, the high esteem attached to her name is well-deserved in my view, and she is definitely an Artist to keep a close eye on.

Ruby LaToya Frazier @ Gladstone Gallery-

Steadily, Ruby LaToya Frazier has been building a remarkable oeuvre, equal parts documentary and Art, in her own, unique, way. Her latest show, Ruby LaToya Frazier at Gladstone consisted of one major work– More Than Conquerors: A Monument for Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland 2021-22, 2022 made up of 66 archival inkjet prints mounted on 18 stainless steel I.V. poles, which amounted to stations.

At each stop her Photographs were accompanied by personal statements from the subject that were every bit as riveting as Ms. Frazier’s work- no small feat. The show was a wonderful table-setter for Ms. Frazier’s mid-career retrospective set to open shortly at MoMA. An Artist & Activist who has focused so much of her work on groups and communities deserving wider attention it’s my hope the show will do just that for her work and career.

Nicole Eisenman Prince @ Print Center New York-

Beer Garden, 2012-7, Etching, acquatint, and drypoint with chine colle, A stunning 44 3/8 by 51 3/4 inches!

A fascinating and insightful retrospective of yet another side of her work: her seldom-seen prints. A wonderful presentation of 40 works, including new and rare works. A plethora of unique styles and compositions kept the show fresh and exciting, and I imagine would prove new even to those who know her Painting and Sculpture, which were seen to terrific effect in her New Museum survey in 2016, for which this show offered a marvelous, if delayed, addendum.

Machine Learning Kiss, 2018 Collagraph, 19 3⁄4 × 20 inches. *-unknown Photographer.

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

Eight Years of NighthawkNYC Banners

By Kenn Sava.

Having looked back at Year Eight of NighthawkNYC.com, here, I decided to take a selected look back at what you saw when you looked above what I’ve written here since July 15, 2015: the Banners I’ve run from Day 1.

Speaking of Day 1, July 15, 2015…Remember this?

Banner #1. July 15, 2015. Location- Somewhere Downtown, late. My adaptation of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, 1942, into a “Self-Portrait,” as I said, here. My piece on decades of looking for the site of the REAL Nighthawks, one of my most popular pieces ever, is here.

Banner #2 – NighthawkNYC Version 2.0 in honor of the First Anniversary, July 15, 2016, I decided to create my own version.

Banner #40b – My working file since July, 2016. The blue lines are the ghosts of all the layers that have been added to this image the past eight years! As seen below…

Banner #3. Night flowers.

Banner #4 – Outside Ai Weiwei’s powerful show Laundromat on the Refugee Crisis

Banner #5 – Chelsea, February, 2017. Seeing this reminded me of my boxed-in upbringing, as I wrote in my 10th Anniversary of Cancer treatment piece. This space is now the Hauser & Wirth mega-gallery.

Banner #6 – The High Line, March, 2017. January, February and early March are the only times I’ll hit the High Line, which is too crowded the rest of the year. I’ve still never been to Hudson Yards (15 blocks behind me here). By choice.

Banner #7 – The Strand Bookstore, minutes after closing, December, 2017, back when it closed at 10:30pm every night. Not at 8pm as it does now!

Banner #8 – Madison Square, January, 2018

Banner #8 – Unpublished experiment featuring my dear friends, the Birdies from my “On The Fence” series, seen on their infamous perch on West 24th Street.

Banner #11 – The Entrance to Michelangelo at The Met, February, 2018. Behind the screen is the faux scaffolding for the Sistine Ceiling section.

Banner #18 – Hell’s Kitchen, March, 2018

Banner #21 – 7th Avenue, April, 2018. A sort of “nighthawks” at the all-night coffee house…

Banner #23 – 18th Street, May, 2018

Banner #11 – The steam pipe explosion on 5th Avenue. Looking uptown from 5th Avenue and 18th Street to the Empire State Building as repairs to the surrounding buildings damaged by  the explosion continues, July 26, 2018.

Banner #22 – Meatpacking District, September, 2018,

Banner #25 – Live on the D Train, November, 2018

Banner #32 – March, 2019, West 19th Street. My banner as it was before everything hit the fan. I ran this one longer than any other so far.

Banner #32a – March 22, 2020. The covid shutdown is a week old. I’m home, like everyone else.

Banner #32b – July 20, 2020. NighthawkNYC.com is 5 years old! Restaurants & cafes are allowed to open for take out and delivery orders, only.

Banner #34 – Unpublished experiment in response to everything being boarded up here. It showed a lack of trust in the community, their customers, which angered me when I was living with all of it, so I made it as a joke but didn’t run it.

May 3, 2021 – The vaccine has kicked in and I’ve returned after a year away from the banner. At least to Eddie’s Cafe. I had yet to go inside any other restaurant.

Banner 32c – NighthawkNYC.com is 6! July, 2021. Twyla’s quote still fits.

Banner #26 – With Richard Estes Double Self-Portrait, May, 2022.

Banner #27 – Parking Eddie’s Cafe in the middle of 6th Avenue in the Flatiron facing south, June, 2022, One World Trade Center next to my left ear. Working on that logo!

If you had told me at a number of points this past year, I’d be hanging a “7 Years” Banner, I’d have seriously doubted it!

August, 2022. On East 42nd Street.

October, 2022. From Chelsea Piers looking south.

February, 2023. Sunset from Hudson River Park.

June 9, 2023. Edward Hopper’s New York Corner, 1913, one of my favorites in Edward Hopper’s New York, my obsession at the time, at the Whitney Museum.

July 15, 2023. NighthawkNYC.com turns 8 years old!

Thanks to all those who’ve seen one of them, or most of them, along the way!

*-Soundtrack for this Post is “I Contain Multitudes,” by Bob Dylan from Rough and Rowdy Ways, 2020.

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here. 

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

NighthawkNYC.com Is 8! A Look Back…

This site is Free & Ad-Free! If you find this piece worthwhile, please donate via PayPal to support it & independent Art writing. You can also support it by buying Art & books! Details at the end. Thank you.

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava.

As the world continued to emerge from the horrors of the pandemic, it was business as usual for the galleries while the museums breathed a sigh of relief as they welcomed back the numbers they had seen pre-covid, though foreign tourists have not returned to NYC in their pre-pandemic numbers. That probably won’t last forever. There was a steady stream of very good and excellent shows throughout the year. In case you missed some, I’ll look at some of those that stood out for me and that I wrote about here, and everything else I covered, as I take a look back at Year #8 of NighthawkNYC.com: July 15, 2022- July 14. 2023…

Through the glass darkly to revisit Year 8…You’d need a telescope to see The Gulf Stream, center, from the show’s entrance, which announces it as the centerpiece for the entire exhibition. There were a lot of very good Paintings before, and after, you got to it.

Not Your Father’s Winslow Homer – Published on August 8, 2022. An expansive show big enough to show the American master’s broad accomplishment while delving into his themes- well-known and lesser-known, beginning with the Civil War and its aftermath. Incalculably influential during his life and after, Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents at The Met showed the relevance of his Art continues.

Louise Bourgeois’s Guarantee of Sanity – Published on August 25, 2022. One of the final shows mounted under Sheena Wagstaff as The Met’s Chair of Modern & Contemporary Art, Louise Bourgeois Paintings proved to be a worthy culmination to a very memorable tenure. For those, like me, only familiar with her Sculpture and Installations, her Paintings proved every bit as compelling. The question for me became how have they been so overlooked for so long?

William Klein: A Thousand Times YES – Published on September 21, 2022. One of the most influential Photographers of our time and one of the most endlessly curious, William Klein’s long career (1948-2013. 65 years!) as seen in ICP’s William Klein: YES was continually fascinating. In such a long career, landmarked with classic PhotoBooks, great and/or important Films1, and countless indelible images, what I love most is that he began as a Painter. His Paintings are rarely seen, so, in addition to EVERYTHING else he did that was on view, this was a wonderful chance to see some of them.

Hughie Lee-Smith, Self-Portrait, 1964, Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches.

Hughie Lee Smith: Leaving History Behind – Published on September 30,2022. The “history” of Art is written way too quickly in my view. It takes at least 100 years for the dust to settle and for those looking to really appreciate what’s been done. As seen at Karma’s Hughie Lee Smith, Hughie Lee Smith is a classic example of someone who was overlooked in the initial rush to judgment. As a result, I expect his name will heard more and more often as time goes on and more people see his work. As a result, his place in the 20th century Art history books will then be secured.

You’re a Painter. You’re 32. Your Yvonne and James II, 2021, Oil on canvas, was bought by, and is hanging in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, directly opposite Kerry James Marshall’s show-stopping Untitled (Studio), 2014 in their largest Modern & Contemporary Art Gallery, #915. If that’s not a “Wow,” what is?  June 18, 2022.- My caption as it appears in the piece.

Jordan Casteel: Surviving the Buzz – Published on October 20, 2022. It’s been a while since a new Contemporary Painter shot to the level of universal acclaim that Jordan Casteel has during the pandemic. Her New Museum show, Jordan Casteel: Within Reach took the Art world by storm. Heady times for any Artist, let alone one barely 30 at the time. Needless to say, the NYC Art world turned out in numbers to see what she would do next. I attended the opening of her first show since Within Reach, Jordan Casteel: In Bloom at Casey Kaplan, something I don’t often do, for a look-see myself.

Detail from Untitled (That’s the way we do it), 2011/2020 Digital print on vinyl wallpaper, seen at David Zwirner. Over the past 50 years Barbara Kruger’s style has become iconic to the point where now A LOT of people wish they could design like Barbara.

Barbara Kruger: Red & White and Read All Over – Published on November 1, 2022. Though her influence is, literally, everywhere you look these days, her Art is not shown all that often in NYC. After I got over the disappointment that the MoMA PS1 half of the show, a retrospective, had been canceled due to covid, I made do with the MoMA Atrium installation of a new site-specific work, and her concurrent David Zwirner show, spread over 3 of their galleries.

Diane Arbus At 99 – Published on November 10, 2022 – I’ve seen numerous Diane Arbus shows over the years going back to the incredible Diane Arbus: Revelations at The Met in 2005, one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen (DON’T MISS the Revelations Exhibition catalog! Either in The Met’s original edition or the recent Aperture reprint), but I hadn’t written about Ms. Arbus because pictures were not allowed to be taken in any of her shows. Finally, for the recreation of the legendary 1972 MoMA Retrospective at David Zwirner, they were. Many years of looking, and thinking about her work, had been simmering leading up to it.

Jane Dickson at the opening for her show at James Fuentes, April 7, 2022, while her work was also starring in the Whitney Biennial.

Jane Dickson: The Artist Laureate of Times Square – Published on December 8, 2022. Jane Dickson is something of an urban legend. By that I mean that she & her Art have been known for many years but it’s been a well-kept secret. Her latest show opened at James Fuentes while her work was starring in the Whitney Biennial showing that the word is finally getting out.

Endless compositional variety. Installation view of Jean-Michel Basquiat: Art and Objecthood @ Nahmad Contemporary.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now You See It, Now You Can’t – Published on December 22, 2022. One of the most amazing things about the Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s enduring popularity in 2022, for me, is that you can’t actually see his Art in person! Very, very few museums have him in their collections- still(!), and shows are infrequent. Curious to see if the real thing lived up to the hype, I’ve taken every chance I’ve had to see his Art in person going back a decade, now. In fact, I’ve now written about Mr. Basquiat more on NighthawkNYC than I have any other Artist! In 2022, I saw 2 more big shows of his work, Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure and Jean-Michel Basquiat: Art and Objecthood, bringing my total to 9 shows seen. In this piece I ponder “where to” with the Art of Basquiat in 2022, and the future.

Jeanine Heveaux and Lisane Basquiat, Jean-Michel’s sisters, at the book release in NYC on April 12th.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, At 62 – Published on December 22, 2022. The biggest Basquiat show of the past decade, by the number of pieces on view, 200, Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure marked the first time his family, who inherited his estate, showed their collection. While it included a few major pieces, most of the work on view was not quite up to that level (in my opinion). That’s not all that surprising since the Artist sold so much of his work right after he created it. Still, it was an important show for anyone with an interest in Basquiat, and very well installed. In the lead up to the opening, I met both of Jean-Michel’s sisters.

Business, as usual. A local record store in action.

What’s Left Unsaid About Remixed Classic Albums – Published on January 19, 2022. Records labels have a license to print money when it comes to reissues. Bonus extra tracks and other goodies are added to the package to get buyers, including many who already own the record, to buy it (again)! But, what exactly are you getting? I think more attention needs to be paid to just WHO is doing the remixing of classic albums, and even why! The Artists signed off on the original versions, and as time goes on, fewer and fewer of them are left to sign off on remixes or reissues! And, there’s little they can do about it if they’ve signed the rights to the recording over to the record company. This is my look at all of this: our Musical cultural heritage is at stake!

Kerry James Marshall: Return of the Mastr – Published on February 9, 2023. Kerry James Marshall returned with his first solo show after the legendary Kerry James Marshall: Mastry, which I wrote about here, the Painting show of the decade among those I saw.

If you don’t think he’s an “Artist,” try imagining The Little Prince without Saint-Exupéry’s Art.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: Artist – Published on March 21, 2023. Two shows at the Morgan Library made me wonder why no one even mentions Saint-Exupéry’s Art when discussing his timeless classic, The Little Prince. In honor of the 80th Anniversary of its publication, I look at just that.

Remember The Light: On The Passing of Wayne Shorter – Published on April 7, 2023. Wayne Shorter has been one of my Musical Gods for most of my life. I was lucky enough to see him perform quite a few times, and each was indelible. My thoughts on the passing of one of the great Musical geniuses of our time.

Rod Penner at his easel at work in the early stages of what would become Buy Pecans Here/San Saba, TX, in 2021 as seen in the book.

NoteWorthy Art Books: Rod Penner: Paintings, 1987-2022 – Published on April 7, 2023. 35 years coming, Rod Penner FINALLY gets a full-length book worthy of his Art. Not just that, it includes EVERYTHING he’s Painted. I took the first in-depth look at it anywhere!

Room in New York, 1932. Remember that song, “Eyes without a Face?” Well, this is “faces without eyes!”

Edward Hopper’s Impressions of New York – Published on May 5, 2023. I visited the Painting show of Year 8, Edward Hopper’s New York. at the Whitney Museum, fourteen times. As a result, it took three pieces, written over 9 months, to cover. Part 1 focuses on my problems with Edward Hopper’s Art being termed “realism.” I don’t see it that way. If the faces in Room in New York, above, don’t have eyes, how “real” can they be?

Early Sunday Morning, 1930. A block in my neighborhood 93 years ago. I now see it as an ominous warning.

Edward Hopper: The Last Traditionalist Faces Change – Published on June 5, 2023. Part 2 focuses on what I see when I look at Hopper now after seeing Edward Hopper’s New York.

Night Shadows, 1921, Etching. One of the first pieces by Hopper to speak to me. Looking at it, I wonder- who is the lonelier? The man walking on the street, or the observer? A similar experience is to be had with Nighthawks.
I chose this piece because it seems to me there are shadows encroaching on the Art of Edward Hopper in 2022-23. Seen at Edward Hopper’s New York.

Edward Hopper At The Whitney: Troubling Choices – Published on June 8, 2023. My 3-part Edward Hopper series concludes with a look at some troubling decisions the Whitney has made regarding the Art of Edward Hopper and the Josephine Hopper Bequest, the most extraordinary gift an American Painter has yet made to an American museum.

Performing Scarlatti…in a motorcycle jacket on the harpsichord. And, performing his 555 Sonatas(!) extraordinarily, with HIV.

Scott Ross: The Modern Ancient – Published on June 7, 2023. My look at the late Scott Ross, a true renaissance man and individualist, who’s best known for his marvelous recordings of Baroque Music…on the harpsichord, no less.

Filled with a lifetime’s fruits of observations, insights, and revelations. No Art lover should be without it, in my humble opinion.

Kenn Sava’s Desert Island Art Books – Published on July 12, 2023. After Months of agonizing over the final cuts, here they are! The Art books that have held up for me, while continuing to inform & inspire, that I can’t live without.

Counting this piece, I wrote TWENTY-ONE full-length pieces in Year 8! My Thanks to everyone who has read one, or more, of them, and my special thanks to all those who have book Art, books and Music from my collection, which I am selling off to help keep this site going. Your support is VERY appreciated, and still needed!

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

  1. imdb lists him as the Director of 24! ↩

Kenn Sava’s Desert Island Art Books

This site is Free & Ad-Free! If you find this piece worthwhile, please donate via PayPal to support it & independent Art writing. You can also support it by buying Art & books! Details at the end. Thank you.

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (*- unless otherwise credited)

A BookMarks Special. 

A reader writes, “Hey, Kenn. Leaving cost as a secondary concern, what are the Art books you’d take with you to that desert island?”

Wow…one of the hardest questions you could ask me. First, I’d never go to a desert, or any island without a museum, but I’m game. I’ll take “Art” to mean Paintings, Drawing, Sculpture, leaving Photography aside. (That way I’d get to take more books! Ha!) Well, cost is a PRIMARY concern for me, but I’ll make it secondary here. My criteria are 1) the importance & quality of the Art and 2) how well is it presented? Ok. After months of pondering it, here they are! (In no particular order…)

SPOILER ALERT! There are NO AFFILIATE LINKS in this piece! If you buy one of these somewhere, how about making a donation so I can keep helping you discover Art and books? 

Kenn Sava’s Desert Island Art Books

Filled with a lifetime’s fruits of observations, insights, and revelations. No Art lover should be without it, in my opinion.

The Story of Painting, Sister Wendy Beckett, DK Publishing.
The first book I simply must mention is one that had a bit to do with inspiring me to start NighthawkNYC.com, which is about to begin its ninth year: Sister Wendy’s The Story of Painting. A phenomenal accomplishment, covering the history of Painting right up to very recent times, her observations are based in what she sees in the work itself! In so doing, Sister Wendy showed the world how to look at Art without the noise surrounding it from those who would tell you what you “should” see so you can see Art for yourself. I first read Sister Wendy Beckett back in her days as a contributor to the excellent Modern Painters Magazine, before her BBC & PBS TV Series make her world-famous. Still, at the moment, if you look for it (it’s out of print), The Story of Painting can be had reasonably. I prefer the hardcover, mine shown above, because I wore out my softcover copy years ago. Yes, some of the blown up details are out of focus, making me wonder about the editors, but’s that’s no reason for the slightest hesitation- most of the 450 images over 800 pages are fine. This is a book that should always be in print, so it’s past time for a new edition! There is an exceptionally well done TV Series of the same name that is available on DVD, and her other, lesser-known TV Series, like Sister Wendy’s American Collection, in which she visits 6 U.S. museums are also amazing. Seeing her in the same halls of The Met that I frequent always gives me chills. All her shows are essential and should be rerun as often as any show is. Luckily, there is a Complete Collection of her TV Series in a DVD box set. I missed her when she retired to live in seclusion in her trailer, as I wrote here, and more so since her passing, which I mourned here, but what she left us lives on in me, which I try and share here, and countless others. I hope it continues to inspire countless millions indefinitely.

Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings, Taschen
If I were to take only one Art monograph, you might be looking at it. I’ve looked at it more than any other Art book besides The Story of Painting. Vincent became an Artist late in life, at about 28, and his career barely lasted 9 years. Yet, the intensity of his dedication to his craft saw him create about 2,100 works, including about 860 Paintings! The evolution of his style is continual after his earliest, “dark” period. Meanwhile, his life was full of tumult, disappointment, and unimaginable pain & suffering. Currently the “Brick” edition, which measures about 6 by 8 inches, $25. list, and/or XL edition, $60. list, are in print. Virtually the exact same book in 2 different sizes. Large or small, either is an incredible value. I’ve got both and each sees steady use. Choose small, shown above, if you want a ready reference, perfect for your bedside or backpack. Choose XL if you want to see the Art in a larger size. My look at the reinstalled Van Gogh Paintings at The Met, pondering what Vincent would think, is here. I’ve begun a piece on Van Gogh’s Cypresses, currently at The Met.

With its NoteWorthy Art Book of 2020 designation.

Rembrandt: The Complete Paintings, Taschen XXL
The canon of the Master’s Oils seems to be changing daily, even 354 years after his death! It has already changed since this was published in 2019. Still, unless you hit the Mega Millions, or are able to fly around the world and see all the Rembrandts on view in the world’s museums, this is as close as you’ll ever get to seeing them all. Even if you were able to do that, you’d only see some of them because museums rotate/lend their collections and those in private hands are probably inaccessible to you. Still, even if you were somehow able to see all of them, you’ll never see them this close. Nuff said. My hope is they update it in a few more years. In selecting this, I must mention my other go-to Rembrandt book- The Rembrandt Book by the legendary Dutch Art specialist, NYC-born, Gary Schwartz. Aptly titled. Essential. My look at Rembrandt’s First Masterpiece at the Morgan Library in 2016 is here.

My sealed XXL before being “touched.” In this case, “XXL” equals 19 pounds!

Michelangelo: Complete Works,  Taschen XXL
Michelangelo’s canon doesn’t change nearly as often as Rembrandt’s does, but it does look different when his Art is cleaned or restored (like the Sistine, which looks incredible now, as seen in here, though I hope no damage was done to it in the cleaning). But as I mentioned for the Rembrandt XXL, you’ll never seen all of it, and never this close. Trust me- The Vatican is NOT letting you up on a scaffold in the Sistine! The XXL is out of print and goes for $500. and up in VG or better condition. The $60. XL is almost as good and is still in print as are the two Bricks that include this material- Michelangelo: The Complete Paintings, Sculpture and Architecture and Michelangelo: The Graphic Work for his Drawings, My look at the monumental Michelangelo Divine Draftsman and Designer, at The Met in 2018 is here. One of the top 3 or 4 Art shows I’ve ever seen, it brilliantly revealed for all-time that Michelangelo, the Draftsman and Designer, may be the most overlooked aspect of his super-human genius, and just possibly his most under-rated talent. The Met’s catalog accompanying Divine Draftsman and Designer is one of the very best books on Michelangelo there is- and I’ve owned a lot of them.

Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art
HOW could I do a list like this and NOT include a Picasso book? In 1980, I made two trips back to NYC while I was on the road with a band, just to see MoMA’s Picasso Retrospective. The hype leading up to it called in a “once in a lifetime, must-see show.” The reality was just WOW! It marked the beginning of my Art show-going life. If my Art-going career had ended then and there I really couldn’t complain; it’s never been topped by anything I’ve seen since. The show, which filled ALL of the “old” MoMA,  was just overwhelming…mind-boggling. Almost ONE THOUSAND Paintings, Sculptures, Drawings, Collages, Prints, Ceramics, etc., etc. MoMA lent 230 works to other institutions to make room for it. I’ll never forget seeing his earliest works, which the show began with, including Science and Charity, which he Painted at 15(!), and and already being staggered by his talent TWO GALLERIES in, with the entirety of MoMA (THREE FULL FLOORS!) still ahead of me! The catalog published to accompany the show is a classic as well. It’s still to be had quite reasonably in hardcover, like mine above, which I bought at the show, or softcover (check it for yellowing first. It’s 43 years old and my copy makes no mention of acid-free paper). It’s endlessly staggering to page through it and realize that ONE PERSON created ALL of this! If you said of it, “THIS was the ultimate testament of man’s creative accomplishment in the 20th century,” I, for one, couldn’t argue with you.

Kerry James Marshall: Mastry, Skira Rizzoli
THE Painting show of the 2010s among all those I saw lives on in the terrific catalog that accompanied it. It’s still one of the two best books on Mr. Marshall, one of the most important Painters working today, along with the Phaidon Contemporary Kerry James Marshall book. You need both, but in a pinch I’ll take Mastry. I wrote about the show here.

I bought my copy used so it was pretty much like this. Out of print for a long time, it’s very hard to find now in VG condition for less than $200.

Neo Rauch, Taschen XXL
Perhaps the world’s most enigmatic living Painter, Neo Rauch’s work continues to both baffle me and hypnotize me in equal measures. Leave it to Taschen to create the most stunning book on his work published so far, even though his bibliography is ever-expanding and the track is fast. 12-years-old at this point it sorely needs to be updated with the work he’s done since added though the essay remain excellent. Long out of print and commanding big bucks, I’d advise holding off on it now and hope Taschen gives us a new edition with all of his work for the past decade+ added. In fact, I spoke with Neo Rauch this spring about just that and he told me another Painting book is coming out next year. It didn’t sound like it would be an Updated Taschen Neo Rauch.

*- Estate of Francis Bacon Photo

Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonne, Martin Harrison, The Estate of Francis Bacon
It seems like the Francis Bacon bibliography gets bigger every few months, but this will ALWAYS be THE place to begin, and end, when it comes to seeing his work. Especially ALL of it! His 584 Paintings are beautifully shown in 800 illustrations over 1,500+ pages in five volumes. Text by the world’s foremost living Francis Bacon authority, Martin Harrison (who also contributed to Saul Leiter’s Early Color, one of THE essential PhotoBooks of the 21st century). Here’s the thing- the Estate has said that once it’s sold out, “it will never be reprinted.” Gulp.

The Complete Oil Paintings of Edward Hopper & The Complete Watercolors of Edward Hopper, both Norton
The 4-volume Edward Hopper Catalogue Raisonne by Gail Levin and published by the Whitney in 1995 is more well-known, but it sold out and copies currently BEGIN at $1,000. per. Lesser-known is that the Whitney then sold the two volumes of The Complete Paintings & The Complete Watercolors from the set as stand-alone volumes. At this point, they’re actually probably harder to find. Recently a reader asked me for a Hopper recommendation. It’s really strange that there isn’t a comprehensive book on Hopper’s Art over his whole career currently in print. (The Whitney’s catalog for Edward Hopper’s New York is good, but it’s focused on his NYC work.), as I recommended in Part 2 of my recent look at Edward Hopper’s New York, seek out Gail Levin’s Edward Hopper: The Art & The Artist, the catalog for the last Edward Hopper Retrospective at the “old” Whitney Museum in 1981. Just beware the book is 42 years old now. Look at it before you buy a copy and make sure the pages haven’t yellowed, which this book is very prone to, since that drastically affects the color of the Art.

Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective, Guggenheim Museum
By far the most comprehensive look at almost all of Robert Rauschenberg’s career to 1997. A show I saw and will never forget. Mr. Rauschenberg was involved in its making (there’s a great video online of a brief interview with him as he stands on Frank Lloyd Wright’s ramp). The Artist would go on to live & work for another 11 years, and I am particularly a fan of his late work. Still, this is a glorious book, one I have gone through 3 copies of. The essential visual reference to Robert Rauschenberg’s Art. He remains one of THE most influential Artists on the Art I see in 2023. My look at what I called “The Summer of Rauschenberg” in 2017 is here.

*-National Gallery of Art Photo

Georgia O’Keefe: Catalogue Raisonne, National Gallery of Art, Washington
A “name” here at home, Ms. O’Keefe is only beginning to be better known around the world. I believe her stature is only going to grow and grow from here on. This book shows why. Her work is singular, always based in nature with her one-of-a-kind vision, and just plain gorgeous. As we’re seeing right now in her terrific MoMA show, Georgia O’Keefe: To See Takes Time– her work holds up gloriously!

Rothko by Christopher Rothko & Kate Rothko Prizel, Rizzoli Electa
Runs, doesn’t walk, to the head of its class. Some may still prefer Yale’s Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas, but it’s 25 years old now. Who better to write a book on their father than Mark Rothko’s son and daughter? They know whereof they speak on all things Rothko after spending their lives as closely involved with his work as anyone- not to mention actually living with the Artist. This all came home to me in spades when I met Kate and got to speak to her about a number of things Rothko-related. She thinks this is the better book, and when she told me that I didn’t get the feeling she was speaking out of bias. The handsome book in a slipcase includes an extremely wide range of work- on canvas and paper, from all periods. The 1999 Rothko Retrospective at the “old” Whitney changed my life, turning me back to being Art-centric from Music and made me a fan for life. My look at Mark Rothko: Dark Palette, 2016, is here.

Ralston Crawford by William C. Agee, Twelvetrees Press
Ralston Crawford is one of the most overlooked Artists I can think of, and I’ve been obsessed with his work since the Whitney Retrospective more years ago than I care to think about. Though shows have been scarce, books have begun to appear over the past decade. This is still the best comprehensive overview, but I hope a REALLY worthy Ralston Crawford book will be coming. Oh, he was also a very talented Photographer, as Keith Davis’s fine book The Photographs of Ralston Crawford reveals.

Vermeer: The Complete Works, Taschen
There are other excellent books of Vermeer’s complete Paintings, including those by Arthur Wheelock of the National Gallery, DC, and the late, lamented Walter Liedtke of The Met who was tragically killed in a train accident a while back. Both of those are excellent for their texts, the Taschen book is essential for its Photography. There hasn’t been an XXL-sized edition, but Vermeer: The Complete Works is now available in either the Brick size, pictured, or the XL size. You can’t go wrong either way- see my comment on Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings for why, though when it comes to Vermeer, you can’t get TOO close!

Caravaggio: The Complete Works, Taschen
The XXL is long out of print but seeing his work THAT large is an amazing experience if you can find one. The Brick and XL remain in print, and both work well. Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro has been infinitely influential, from Rembrandt on down, no less so today. And so his work remains essential for Photographers, those interested in Film, and of course Painters.

Dali: The Paintings, Taschen
Dali seems to be in a bit of eclipse these days, but anyone who saw the huge Dali Centennial Retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum in 2004-5 knows this is temporary. This remarkable book contains all his Paintings from a very long and very productive career that was marked by almost as many styles as his contemporary Picasso. Originally published as a Volume 1 & 2, now in one volume, available in the Brick or XL size. If you don’t think Salvador Dalí belongs on this list, look through a copy of this book and then tell me he doesn’t.

Getting harder to find- Frida Kahlo: The Complete Paintings, sealed, in its shipping box.

–Frida Kahlo: The Complete Paintings, Taschen
Unless you’re besties with Madonna, this is likely to remain THE very best place to see the astounding, indelible work of the Mexican genius. What else is there to say? Oh! My money is that Taschen will re-release it in smaller sizes, but if you want to see her work in FULL effect, the XXL, the only edition of it thus far, which seems to be disappearing, is likely to remain THE BEST place to do that. I wouldn’t wait long.

Diego Rivera: The Complete Murals, Taschen
Completing the only husband/wife team on this list, this is a terrifically important concept beautifully realized. It’s hard to feel now what a revolution Diego Rivera and the other Mexican Muralists created when they began making Murals in Mexico. They later created them elsewhere and along the way influenced many of the great Artists of 20th and now 21st century Art, including Jackson Pollock. Available in the XL size, I would have my doubts about how good it would be as a Brick.  But in the XL you can study all the marvelous detail on each Mural in a generous size.

Basquiat XXL seen here in its original, printed, shipping box, which has been replaced with an all brown box in recent printings.

Basquiat, Taschen XXL
The XXL is likely to forever be THE best place to see the most Basquiat Art as close to life size. There is a Brick edition, part of Taschen’s 40th Anniversary series, which is slightly edited, but that’s the tradeoff for the deep savings ($30 for the Brick vs $200 for the XXL). Neither can be beat among ANY Basquiat book currently in print, in my opinion, and I’ve owned or seen most of the books published on his work to date while I was doing research for the numerous pieces I’ve written on the Basquiat shows in NYC in 2019 and 2022, which can be seen here.

UPDATE, July 15, 2023- In response to my list, a reader wrote, “Basquiat? Could you tell me why he’s on your list?” Sure. Jean-Michel Basquiat is the most compositionally diverse and compositionally inventive Artist I can think of- besides Robert Rauschenberg. As I pointed out in my piece, his compositions alway surprise me, and virtually no two are alike. That’s remarkable. Jean-Michel was ahead of his time in addressing many issues that are now foregrounded in Art, and in the world, today. This is the best book to experience all of that.

Yes, my choices are books that contain Art. As an Art writer, I want to see the Art- as much as I can by any particular Artist I’m interested in. I’m also interested in his or her biography and the circumstances surrounding the creation of the Art. I don’t read Art criticism for 2 reasons. 1) I’m planning on writing my own take on the work, and 2) with all due respect, I don’t want to be influenced by what anyone else says about it. I need to see the Art for myself and I encourage (and have always encouraged) everyone to see Art for themselves. That being said, among Art books that are primarily text (well, the Sister Wendy is both), three stand out for me-

*-Van Gogh Museum/Thames & Hudson Photo

Vincent van Gogh: The Letters: The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition (6 volumes), Thames & Hudson
A long time ago I was gifted the 3-volume set of Van Gogh’s Letters edited by Johanna (“Jo”) van Gogh-Bonger who, also wrote a Preface/Rememberance of Vincent. I still have them. This will forever be a very special set. If you love Van Gogh’s Art and don’t know the name Jo van Gogh-Bonger, get thee to a nunnery! Mrs. Van Gogh-Bonger was Theo’s bride, then quickly his widow when he died 6 months after Vincent in 1891. She inherited Vincent’s estate (i.e. virtually all his Art and Letters) after his tragic suicide or murder (in spite of everything, I remain unconvinced he wasn’t ((accidentally?)) murdered. See below..). She is THE person responsible for making Vincent van Gogh the world-wide phenomenon he is today. She believed his Letters were the key to understanding his Art. She was proved right. She edited a collection of them, which has stood until this expanded edition. Her passion for Vincent’s Art led to the creation of the Van Gogh Museum, after her son donated their collection to the Dutch state who agreed to build the building. The VG Museum undertook an updated edition of Vincent’s immortal Letters in 2009, an unparalleled body of writing in Art history, and authorized the publication of Vincent van Gogh: The Letters: The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition in six volumes. WORD!- It’s ALL available for free online, with updates, which the books don’t get! (I just saved you the thousands of dollars the set goes for on Amazon right now! PLEASE donate so I can keep turning you on to things like that. Thanks.)

An older edition with black & white illustrations inside. Get the current edition. It has color illustrations.

Conversations with Francis Bacon by David Sylvester, Thames & Hudson
I’ve never read better interviews with an Artist. Period. Mr. Sylvester is Cecily Brown’s dad. I’ve met Cecily, but didn’t get to ask her if she met Francis…

Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, Random House
There are a lot of great Artist’s biographies out there, and some terrific Autobiographies, too. However, I just can’t put Van Gogh: The Life down. Like so many others, I grew up believing the fiction written by Irving Stone (Lust for Life, which became the equally fictionalized Film, though it was shot in some actual places, and his Dear Theo.). It’s way past time the record on Vincent’s life was set straight! After I discovered his Letters I began to get the picture. Here the gaps are completely filled in. The decade of research, with the help/permission of the Van Gogh Museum, shows on every page. There’s also a website especially for the book’s footnotes(!), and, unlike many/most Art biographies written by non-Artists, the Art commentary is spot on. Not an easy thing to do with someone like Van Gogh. BRAVO!  I recommend looking for the hardcover, which is out of print. The cover of the paperback is a little thin for an almost 1,000 page book, and this book is almost guaranteed to be the definitive Van Gogh biography for, at least, the foreseeable future. It includes an appendix in which the authors lay out their theory that Vincent DID NOT COMMIT SUICIDE- he was accidentally murdered!!! They followed this up with an equally insightful supporting article in Vanity Fair. I find their case compelling.

The big takeaway of all this will no doubt be that I’m a big fan of Taschen. When it comes to Art books, I’ve said as much before. TEN books listed here are published by the German firm. Their Photography books, however, are VERY hit or miss, and could use a few more “hits.” I’ve said a few times that the Taschen small “Brick” sized books (with the newest releases bearing the “40th Anniversary Edition” moniker) are THE best value in Art books today. You could build a terrific Art library out of just Bricks, to coin a phrase. Taschen books consistently feature the most color illustrations of the Art in the highest quality Photographs and publication using excellent paper and always have a rock solid binding. From the Bricks to the XL to the XXL editions (of almost the exact same book, but, be aware, though Taschen doesn’t mention this: my side-by-side comparisons reveal the Bricks may be edited down subtly from the XXL in places- that’s the trade off for saving 85% of the price!), you pick your price point, and the size you want, and you’re good to go on so many of the Artists they include. In fact, only Phaidon can compare with them in terms of the roster of Artists they have published in-depth monographs on. Phaidon stands alone when it comes to their superb Contemporary Artists monograph series. Taschen’s roster is mostly older Artists, though more Contemporary Artists are being included. 

*-Soundtrack for this Piece is “Desert Island Disk” by Radiohead from A Moon Shaped Pool, 2016, the title of which is a play on the BBC Radio show Desert Island Discs.

This piece is dedicated to The Strand Bookstore, where I’ve discovered more great Art (& Photography) Books than anywhere else the past 45 years. This year, The Strand celebrates their 96th year. My previous BookMarks pieces are here.

THERE WERE NO AFFILIATE LINKS IN THIS PIECE!

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.