James Kalm is a working artist living in Brooklyn New York. He has been an active critic for over twelve years writing for the controversial Brooklyn Rail http://brooklynrail.org/. For more high resolution videos, writings by James Kalm and views of the paintings of Loren Munk visit http://www.lorenmunk.com/.To support the Kalm Report with a donation go to https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2665446
James Kalm has spent decades pondering the painter's question: Where does formalist abstraction end and the merely decorative begin. With this, his first show with the gallery Taaffe presents works that confound this simple question as well challenge aesthetic references through a type of periodic, cultural and stylistic crosspollination. Using a unique and labor intensive series of processes to fabricate his images, Taaffe creates fantastic and decorative abstractions that questions previousl...
James Kalm was out for a bike ride through Chelsea about three years ago, minding his own business, when he stuck his head into a small gallery on 24th Street. On display were some intriguing paintings by a young artist who, that very day, had graduated from the Pratt Institute painting program. Fast forward three years and Trudy Benson is still making intriguing work, this time inspired by her early use of computer programs for digital painting. Using an almost indexical list of techniques an...
James Kalm met Rico Gatson during his wanderings through Bushwick. Visiting an earlier retrospective that was held a couple of years ago at Exit Art, your reporter was convinced that Gatson was an artist to be followed. With "The Promise of Light" viewers will receive a brief walkthrough tour of the latest body of works that uses the artist's family's move from Georgia to California in the late 1960's and "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson as inspiration. Employing the simple mater...
James Kalm is out and about on a Thursday evening in early spring and heads in to see this show. Employing painting, drawing, and monotype, many of the subjects in this latest exhibition have been drawn from the world of classic opera. Peyton reveals a growing mastery of portraiture using an exquisitely light touch, and a silvery grayed down pallet. There is also a conscious reference to historical figures in the New York art world. A cameo appearance by Jerry Saltz with his cowbell initiates ...
James Kalm had intended to attend the opening of this historic exhibition, but got sidetracked. Returning a few weeks later, he is able to record views of these paintings in near empty gallery spaces. The "Alphabet Paintings" mark the transition between Held's beginnings as a second generation Abstract Expressionist, and his mature status as a proponent of Color-Field and Post painterly abstraction. The simple yet massive forms, and the huge areas of unmodulated color captured the attention of...
This exhibition celebrates the 100 anniversary of Guston's birth. Philip Guston (1913 –1980) was one of the most recognized painters of the second half of the twentieth century. Gaining early recognition for his narrative paintings, he had firsthand contact with some of Abstract Expressionism's founders and joined that movement's second wave, becoming the prototypical Abstract Impressionist. After nearly twenty years and a burgeoning career as an abstract painter, Guston became frustrated with...
James Kalm is privileged to bring viewers this walkthrough tour of "Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective" at the Whitney Museum of American Art. For decades DeFeo (1929-1989) was at the center of the San Francisco Beat and arts community, a coterie that included among others, Allen Ginsberg, Bruce Conner, Michael McClure, and Wallace Berman. Marring Wally Hendrick in 1954, the couple moved into a flat with studio space at 2322 Fillmore Street. From 1958 to 1966 DeFeo worked tirelessly on one massive pai...
James Kalm has been aware of the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat since the late 1970s. First known for his street poetry under the name SAMO, and later as an energetic Downtown scenester, and painter, Basquiat streaked across the New York art world like a comet. In a brief career, spanning less than a decade, he became one of the icons of the East Village, Underground, Punk Rock revolution, combining the grit of the graffiti writer with the sophistication of Abstract Expressionism. Since his earl...
James Kalm has known Rainer Gross and followed his work for over thirty years. During the East Village heyday, Gross had a studio ensconced in the center of the action. Simultaneously he was working with Proto-Pop icon Larry Rivers, and his German back ground allowed him to have insights into Neo-Expressionism particularly the "Neue Wilden" that enlightened his many friends and followers. However, never one to jump on bandwagons Gross has continued to follow his own "path less trodden". With "...
James Kalm makes it a point to drop in for the Outsider Art Fair every year. Having begun visiting while the fair was still in the famous Puck building in SoHo the fair had recently moved to a less auspicious venue in Midtown for the last few years. This year brings with it a new location, the former DIA building in the center of Chelsea, and new management. These changes have infused this years iteration with a new lease on life and a renewed bond with the past. With over forty exhibiting gal...
