As is Poetry, so is Painting: Recent Work by Don Eddy Don Eddy’s mesmerizing airbrush technique blends focused observation of nature with metaphysical aims By Jody B. Cutler-Bittner

Don Eddy, Emigre Winter, 2016-2017, acrylic on canvas, 48in x 44in. (Courtesy: Nancy Hoffman Gallery)In these times, “beautiful paintings” (in the simplest terms) are already experiencing a critical comeback judging partly from the otherwise diverse…

Don Eddy, Emigre Winter, 2016-2017, acrylic on canvas, 48in x 44in. (Courtesy: Nancy Hoffman Gallery)

In these times, “beautiful paintings” (in the simplest terms) are already experiencing a critical comeback judging partly from the otherwise diverse press on the Whitney’s stalled Agnes Pelton show.

In this vein, an exhibition of recent paintings and a few semi- drawings on panel (2016 – 2020) by Don Eddy at Nancy Hoffman, scheduled to open just as the COVID halt ensued, is first on my list. Meanwhile, the gallery has a nice presentation online with an array of accompanying text materials and a short video (below) in which the artist emphasizes the role of individual, disparate viewers in delimiting the content of his art. Having worked with photographic sources and media from the start of his prolific career into present digital age, Eddy’s work lends to reproduction on screen. What won’t come through until you meet an Eddy picture plane in person is its immaculately compressed layers, which, upon moving close-up and back, hovers between Seurat-like pixilation and a Kodak Instamatic.

Kolaj Art: DON EDDY at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, March 19 – April 30, 2020

Kolaj Art: DON EDDY at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, March 19 – April 30, 2020

DON EDDY at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, March 19 – April 30, 2020On March 19 an exhibition of new work by Don Eddy opens at Nancy Hoffman Gallery and continues through April 30. Eddy is one of the few early Photorealist painters who has taken his vision …

DON EDDY at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, March 19 – April 30, 2020

On March 19 an exhibition of new work by Don Eddy opens at Nancy Hoffman Gallery and continues through April 30. Eddy is one of the few early Photorealist painters who has taken his vision into new terrain, and has expanded his unique painting process. In the ‘70s Eddy painted the California urban landscape, focusing on cars, reflections on cars, bumpers, headlights. The subject came naturally to the son of a car body and fender shop father. The artist moved quickly from cars to storefronts to shelves filled with glassware and toys. Eddy’s work of the past four years takes him deeper into the exploration of nature, perception and life’s mysteries….

Judy Fox's Snake Tree listed in David Ebony’s 10 Highlights of The Art Show 2020

David Ebony’s 10 Highlights of The Art Show 2020: 9. Judy Fox at Nancy Hoffman Gallery

Some of the figurative ceramic sculptures here by New York artist Judy Fox were inspired by biblical scenes from Genesis, and especially by Lucas Cranach’s visionary paintings of the same biblical text from the 1500s. Fox’s 3D interpretation is of a…

Some of the figurative ceramic sculptures here by New York artist Judy Fox were inspired by biblical scenes from Genesis, and especially by Lucas Cranach’s visionary paintings of the same biblical text from the 1500s. Fox’s 3D interpretation is of a phantasmagoric Garden of Eden that might have been. Surreal, plant-animal hybrids appear as spiny sea urchins with breasts, or Venus flytraps with legs. Made of painted terracotta, each of the sculptures is a technical tour de force. The largest work, Snake Tree (2015–2019), looming about seven feet tall, resembles Cranach’s tree in Eden, but this would-be apple tree has apparently morphed into a menacing, coiling serpent.

Monumental: The Art of Viola Frey opening at the Flint Institute of Arts on March 14th

Over the course of her 50-year career, Viola Frey (1933–2004) produced an impressive body of artwork, including ceramic sculpture, bronze sculptures, paintings, and drawings, and explored the mediums of glass, ceramic, and photography. Frey found he…

Over the course of her 50-year career, Viola Frey (1933–2004) produced an impressive body of artwork, including ceramic sculpture, bronze sculptures, paintings, and drawings, and explored the mediums of glass, ceramic, and photography. Frey found her unique style and visual vocabulary in her lifelong fascination with art history, the human form, and the mass-produced trinkets she collected at flea markets. From small glass vessels to her 17 foot long ceramic masterpiece The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization (1992), this exhibition will include artwork from her Western Civilization series, many of which have never been on display in the Midwest.