artist of the week: Amy Sillman

Amy Sillman

Amy Sillman, C, 2007, oil on canvas, 45 x 39 inches

Amy Sillman, Fast painting #1, 2013-15, oil on canvas, 75 x 66 inches

Amy Sillman, Mother, 2013-14,  oil on canvas, 92 × 84 inches

Amy Sillman, Untitled, 2012, oil on canvas, 52 x 49 inches

Amy Sillman, Untitled, 2013, oil on canvas, 49 x 51 inches

Amy Sillman, Untitled, 2013, oil on canvas, 75 x 66 inches

Amy Sillman, Untitled (window), 2009, oil on canvas, 51 x 43 inches

Another abstract artist to add to my list which so far has included: Paul Behnke, Eric Sall, Cordy Ryman, and Jason Karolak. If this were a group show I'd also have to include Mary Heilmann, Jack Whitten and Thomas Nozkowski to round off a bit of the old and the new.

Mary Heilmann, 311 Castro Street, 2001, oil on canvas, 54 x 36 inches

Mary Heilmann, Neo Noir, 1998, oil on canvas, 75 x 60 inches

Mary Heilmann, Psychedelic Serape #4, 1982, watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 inches

Mary Heilmann, Surfing on acid, 2005, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches

Thomas Nozkowski, Untitled (9-9), 2012, oil on linen on panel, 22 x 28 inches

Thomas Nozkowski, Untitled (8-128), 2010, oil on linen on panel, 22 x 28 inches

Thomas Nozkowski, Untitled (9-2), 2011, oil on linen on panel, 22 x 28 inches

Thomas Nozkowski, Untitled (9-10), 2012, oil on linen on panel, 22 x 28 inches

Stanley Whitney, Aura of the Sand Fall, 2014, oil on linen, 48 x 48 inches

Stanley Whitney, Dance the Orange, 2013, oil on linen, 48 x 48 inches

These are all paintings that I absolutely love but could never make myself, and I absolutely love them because I could never make them. I don't do geometry. But what I love and find affinity with is the hand drawn human element, the imperfect geometry. Not to mention the wonderful surface tension, color and line (of course). It's a juicy, vibrant combination, as Mary Heilmann puts it, of "Albers and deKooning in the same painting." Of all these artists, Amy Sillman clearly references the body more than the others, but that's also why I love her work so much. Her blatant gesture combines figuration and abstraction in all the right ways. In certain pieces I can't help finding an affinity with (my first artist crush) painter Susan Rothenberg. 

Amy Sillman, Nut, 2011, oil on canvas, 91 x 84 inches

Amy Sillman, Junker, 2009, oil on canvas, 84 x 90 inches

Amy Sillman, Ich Auch, 2009, oil on canvas, 90.55 x 84.65 inches

Here is a great interview in BOMB magazine between Amy Sillman and R.H Quaytman where she talks more about the human element in her work.

Further looking and reading:
Sikkema, Jenkins & Co.
Art in America

Susan Rothenberg, 4 Kinds, 1991, oil on canvas, 52 x 88 inches

So maybe this would be the show...