Edward M. Gómez / ARTICLES 2013

“Life-and-Death Paintings, From a Career Cut Short: ‘I’m strongly drawn to saintly artists. I mean people who believe that each brushstroke will save the world or will represent the suffering of humanity in the face of a sheep.’” Review of Tetsuya Ishida: Self-portrait of Other, a retrospective exhibition of the late Japanese artist’s paintings at Wrightwood 659, Chicago, Hyperallergic, Nov. 16, 2019.

“Male Nudes, Exposed and Examined: In unabashedly sexual, but not necessarily erotic paintings and drawings, the artist Aaron Skolnick focuses on men — naked and intimate.” Hyperallergic, Nov. 9, 2019.

“The ‘Small-time Crook’ Whose Vision Defied Apartheid: An amateur photographer’s images of louche Cape Town nightlife in the 1960s capture a daring, booze-fueled, melting-pot spirit in the face of apartheid.” Review of Billy Monk photo exhibition, The Container, Tokyo, Hyperallergic, Nov. 2, 2019.

“Yoko Ono, More Urgent than Ever: At the Everson Museum in upstate New York, a mini-retrospective highlights the timeliness of the artist’s enduring humanistic and nature-focused themes.” Hyperallergic, Oct. 12, 2019.

“Are Joe Massey’s Prison Drawings the Next Big Thing?:A remarkable cache of drawings by a now-deceased, African-American prisoner in Ohio might be just what the art market has been waiting for.” Article about an exhibition of the American self-taught artist’s work at Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York, Hyperallergic, Sept. 28, 2019.

“A Memoir of Art, Love, and Jamaica: The artist Judy Ann MacMillan examines changes in her understanding of herself, the world, and painting against the backdrop of Jamaica’s challenging emergence as a modern, independent nation.” Review of Born Ya: The Life and Loves of a Jamaican Painter (Beattie Books, 2019), by Judy Ann MacMillan, Hyperallergic, Sept. 21, 2019.

“Bridget Riley’s Razzle-Dazzle Career: A first-ever biography of the pioneering British modernist charts the creative path of an intense and deeply sensitive painter.” Review of the bio-book Bridget Riley: A Very Very Person (Ridinghouse, 2019), by Paul Moorhouse, Hyperallergic, Sept. 14, 2019.

“Rescuing Art Sites on the Endangered List: The American researcher Jo Farb Hernández has led the charge to preserve fast-deteriorating, self-taught artists’ environments — before they’re gone.” Hyperallergic, Sept. 7, 2019.

“A German Artist’s Notes from Underground: Mischa Leinkauf’s images of subterranean urban worlds are formally arresting and packed with metaphorical meaning.” Review of exhibition, The Container, Tokyo, Hyperallergic, July 6, 2019.

“The Bold, Blessed Paintings of a Sharecropper’s Daughter: An exhibition showcases the graphically powerful work of Mary T. Smith — a self-taught artist from Mississippi — in a rare, in-depth survey.” Review of exhibition at Shrine, New York, Hyperallergic, June 8, 2019.

“Mona Lisa Revisited: History’s Symbol and Muse: With his Mona Lisa Earth Series, Naoto Nakagawa puts Leonardo’s mysteriously grinning subject through a ringer of styles and technical treatments in ambitious, complex images.” Hyperallergic, May 11, 2019.

“A Gallery’s Eight Decades of Artistic Independence: Now celebrating its 80th anniversary, Manhattan’s Galerie St. Etienne brings a scholarly approach to a uniquely diverse lineup.” Hyperallergic, May 4, 2019.

“A Painter’s Path from Bosnia to Florida’s Backwaters: Amer Kobaslija captures Florida’s lush, strange atmosphere while examining the expressive potential of oil paint’s luminous, elastic, viscous goo.” Profile of the Bosnian-born artist Amer Kobaslija and review of his exhibition at George Adams Gallery, New York, Hyperallergic, Apr. 27, 2019.

“A Showcase for Shintō Gods: An exhibition of rarely seen, ancient art explores the complex ideas and rich expressions of Japan’s indigenous religion.” Review of two-part survey of sacred art from Japan, Cleveland Museum of Art, Apr. 9 - June 30, 2019, Hyperallergic, Apr. 20, 2019.

“Miriam Cahn’s Alluring, Angry Art: If some of Cahn’s images are unexpected or unsettling, it is because, quite simply, they are the expressions of a very self-aware woman’s unapologetic point of view.” Review of the contemporary Swiss artist’s solo exhibition at Kunstmuseum Bern, Feb. 22 - Apr. 16, 2019, Hyperallergic, Apr. 13, 2019.

“Japan’s Radical Conceptual Art of the 1960s: An exhibition at Japan Society makes room in the modernist canon for the heady, playful ideas of free-thinking renegades.” Review of the exhibition Radicalism in the Wilderness: Japanese Artists in the Global 1960s at Japan Society, New York, Mar. 8 - June 9, 2019, Hyperallergic, Apr. 6, 2019.

“John and Yoko’s Wedding Album, Once an Oddity, Now an Icon: An unlikely element of Lennon and Ono’s late-1960s peace campaign was an aural selfie, ahead of its time.” Review of the 50th-anniversary re-release by Secretly Canadian and Chimera Music of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s avant-garde record album, originally issued by Apple Records in 1969, Hyperallergic, Mar. 30, 2019.

“A Love Note to the Quirky South: Decades in the making, the late poet Jonathan Williams’ photo-filled travelogue captures the creative spirit of a region.” Review of Walks to the Paradise Garden: A Lowdown Southern Odyssey, (Lexington, Kentucky: Institute 193, 2019), with text by Jonathan Williams and photographs by Guy Mendes and Roger Manley; edited by Phillip March Jones, Hyperallergic, Mar. 9, 2019.

“Spotlighting a Marginalized Master of Art Brut: According to his psychiatrist, Philipp Schöpke possessed ‘the extreme opposite of what is called drawing talent.’” Review of a career-surveying exhibition of Schöpke’s work at Museum Gugging, near Vienna, Oct. 25, 2018 - Mar. 10, 2019, Hyperallergic, Mar. 2, 2019.

“Neue Ausdrucksweisen aus Ostasien,” essay, in German, about the Japanese artists ABE Keiko, OTORI Megumi, and TAKUBO Tae, in Flying High: Women Artists of Art Brut, catalog of the exhibition at Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien, Vienna, Feb. 15 - June 23, 2019; pgs. 239-240. PDF containing published catalog’s pages with essay and reproductions of featured artists’ works.

“Discovering the Women of Art Brut: In Vienna, a new exhibition showcases the ideas and accomplishments of self-taught female artists.” Review of the exhibition of Flying High: Women Artists of Art Brut at Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien, Vienna, Austria, Feb. 15 - June 23, 2019, Hyperallergic, Feb. 23, 2019.

“What is ‘Outsider’ in Unthinkable Times?: Art’s uplifting power is unmistakably real; today, the works of the most original autodidacts feel more compelling than ever.” Preview of the themes and highlights of the 2019 Outsider Art Fair, New York, Jan. 17 - 20, 2019, Hyperallergic, Jan 12, 2019.