Studio Visits for Thursday February 24th:
2:00-2:30
2:30-3:00
3:00-3:30
break
4:00-4:30
4:30-5:00
You could say Bob Nickas behaves more like an artist than a critic. Since moving to New York in 1984, he has developed a reputation for being a truly independent voice in his field, working against the prevailing narratives of contemporary art without compromise. Nickas has curated over 80 exhibitions and from 2003 and 2006 served as curatorial advisor for PS1. In 1994 he co-founded the highly influential, now-defunctIndex Magazine with artist Peter Halley.
As a writer, Nickas is known for his direct, jargon-free prose, that are accessible in their convictions. Many such interviews and reviews are collected in two books Live Free or Die (2000, Les Presses Du Reel) andTheft is Vision (2007, JRP Ringier). Nickas' latest book brings patent inclusiveness to one of the most equivocal genre's in art. Painting Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting intimately profiles 80 abstract painters working today. Nickas writes an involved report of each artist's work and practice, creating a multifarious portrait of the phenomenon's practitioners at a time when painting has been declared dead several times over. Make no mistake: this is not the final word on abstract painting, nor a strategic list of names meant to collectively prove the existence of a historic "moment." Like everything Bob Nickas has done before, here he shares his independent take on specific artists doing work that he respects.
excerpt from:
Paging: Bob Nickas on Abstraction
