Fairfield Porter

This summer I saw a small and lovely Fairfield Porter show at the Michael Rosenfeld gallery. I loved seeing Porter's quintessential summer light.

I was especially fascinated by his portraits. "Chris, Sarah, Felicity" a group of three teenagers and "Laurence in Two Lights" (seen here). You get the feeling of personality but it is subsumed in Porter's painterly approach. The painting is the subject here which gladdens my heart.

I often struggle with this issue. How much of the subject must be revealed or remain? More on this later, off to the studio, Porter always makes me want to paint.

You like who you like.

Another summer exhibition definitely worth seeing is "Trees" at DC Moore. Group shows are fun because it's like picking your favorite things from a menu. Studying the same subject repeated also gives one insight into the thought processes of making art. I find I am always drawn to the same artists, not surprisingly in this show what caught my eye were Whitfield Lovell, Fairfield Porter and Lois Dodd.

In my own practice, Cora Cohen has been after me to paint less and more abstractly. I don't think I've been able to internalize what she's been saying but I recognized it immediately in the Lois Dodd below. It's one of those paintings you wish you had painted yourself.

David Bates was the big surprise. His garish pop color landscape caught my eye because in spite of the limited colors and graphic rendering, it had a tremendous sense of place. I was sure I was looking at a swamp in or near Louisiana, not only from the cypress knees but the harshness of the light and the black of the water. Swamp water— tannin stained with the droppings from bald cypress and tupelo gum — calls me. When I inquired about the artist, the gallery said he loves to fish and hails from East Texas. I'm sure he's fished in the "Sportsman"s Paradise" of Louisiana.