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Has Louise Fishman been lifting weights? These new paintings of hers at Cheim & Read are the most muscular I’ve seen. Fishman’s paintings are hard to love at first. They’re big and messy, and her colors tend toward the browns and grays. But spend some time with them, and you acquiesce to their power. What this second-generation abstracton expressionist does with paint, with gesture, is to assume control of the surface and the space around it and then draw you in. By the time you get up close, you're head over heels. These painting offer not just brawn but passages of sublime beauty.
I’m late with this report. The show is up only until tomorrow. If you’re in New York and haven’t seen it, hustle on over to 25th Street. If you can’t, click onto the gallery website for some great installation shots.
Here are a few I shot myself—along with with some ravishing details that are just under actual size. And by the way, Fishman is 70. An age stereotype shattered.
COncealing and Revealing, 2008, oil on linen, 87.75 x 70 inches
Below: Three details
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All Night and All Day, 2008, oil on canvas, 66 x 57 inches .
Below: Three details
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