Folk Art’s faux-ish innocence Contributed by Bill Arning / “Self Made: A Century of Inventing,” now on view at the American Folk Art Museum, asks a thorny question: Why does the descriptive term “self-taught” continue to resona…

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Two Coats Resident Artist Gyan Shrosbree, May 5 – 10 Contributed by Sharon Butler / In May, Two Coats of Paint welcomes the return of Gyan Shrosbree from Fairfield, Iowa. Gyan, who had residencies in 2016 and 2017, makes clothing that she combines wi…

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E.M. Saniga: Country life vigorously observed Contributed by Sutton Allen / With his show at Donald Ryan Gallery, E.M. Saniga join the esteemed company of artists who have eschewed fashion for the sake of personal vision. His real kin are Albe…

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Paul Klee, degenerate for the ages Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / Branded a degenerate artist for his “insane childish scrawling” by the Nazis, Paul Klee, once anointed at the Bauhaus, left Germany for Switzerland in 1933. Scle…

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Ken D. Resseger: Closer to creation Contributed by Michael Brennan / In blues, there’s a tradition of over-practice, the idea being that the same song played thousands of times, and thus mastered, might yield something new about its …

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Ruby Palmer: Flowers are forever Contributed by Peter Schroth / Some subjects are immune to age or aesthetic trends. Like the sprout that powers through the crack in the sidewalk, plant life in general and flowers in particular ar…

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Who Gets Guggenheims? - Public Books Unfortunately, 100 years of data show that those whom such fellowships might represent the greatest departure from their everyday experience—that is, those not at elite institutions—are least likely t...

"The strong relationship between the status of an applicant’s institutional affiliation and their chances of winning one of these prestigious fellowships is clear. Such outcomes can result in self-reinforcing cycles..." www.publicbooks.org/who-gets-gug...

Congratulations to the 2026 Guggenheim Fellows, but huge love for the thousands of artists on Team Non-Winner. You all make the art world more interesting and vibrant than it would be without you. Thank you! 🥇

Sam Jablon’s delicious confusion Contributed by William Corwin / The paintings of Sam Jablon now on view at Morgan Presents produce delicious sentient confusion. The neural circuits devoted to looking at an image get crossed with …

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Miró’s far-reaching tutelage Joan Miró, Ciphers and Constellations in Love, 1941, opaque watercolor with watercolor washes on ivory, rough textured wove paper, 18 1/8 × 15 inches Contributed by David Carrier / “Miró and the Un…

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Elisa Jensen’s expansive interiors Elisa Jensen, Candle on Ellen’s Table, 2026, 50 x 40 inches, oil on wood panel Contributed by John Goodrich / Is it possible for a painter to celebrate both the traditions of great painting and her…

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Stuart Fineman and Alan Greenberg: Meaningfully minimal Contributed by Michael Brennan / I took Amtrak down to Philadelphia and arrived there in 90 minutes, about the same amount of time it takes to go from Coney Island to MoMA by subway. I was celebrat…

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Grandma Moses’s simple world Contributed by David Carrier / Anna Mary Robertson Moses (1860–1961), who was born in Washington County, New York, and spent much of her adult life in Virginia before returning to upstate New York,…

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At the Whitney Biennial: Ali Ayal’s mirthless amusement park Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / The 2026 Whitney Biennial is rightly dialed into the world’s abundant strife, but it tends to come at it obliquely, through materials, context, or concept, esche…

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Michael and Tim Maul: Art as antidote and refuge Contributed by Adam Simon / If I had walked into Kerry Schuss Gallery knowing nothing about the two artists on display, I would have thought the pairing unusual, elegant, and extremely interesting.…

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Valerie Hegarty: Enlivening Emily Cole Contributed by Bill Arning / The Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill presents a conspicuous curatorial challenge. It no longer owns any of Cole’s major paintings and relies heavily on de…

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Opal Mae Ong: Worlds weighing in Contributed by Lucas Moran / “Always Were” is the title of Opal Mae Ong’s solo show at Plato Gallery. It’s a compact declaration – two words that look both forward and back. The work does the same.…

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Rodin and food Contributed by Peter Dudek / I was on my way to ISAW – NYU’s Institute of Studies in the Ancient World – when an email from The New Yorker appeared on my iPhone. They had just published a story ent…

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Outsider Art Fair 2026: Hunters and prey Outsider Art Fair (Chozick Family Art Gallery booth), Elbert Joseph Perez & Joshua Nazario Lugo, installation view Contributed by Jac Lahav / Timothée Chalamet, the 30-year old actor, recently …

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Echo Yan and Cass Yao: An unsettled awareness Frisson Gallery: Echo Youyi Yan & Cass Yao, Feeding the Load, Regulated Dosage, 2026, installation view (left: Yao’s Axis) Contributed by Patrick Ryan Bell / Tucked away in a cul-de-sac o…

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Hudson Valley (+ Vicinity) Selected Gallery Guide, April 2026 Contributed by Karlyn Benson / Every month, it seems there is one day when there are so many openings and events in the Hudson Valley that it is physically impossible to attend them all. For upstat…

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NYC Selected Gallery Guide, April 2026 Contributed by Sharon Butler / In “New York Real Estate and the Ruin of American Art,” an article that recently appeared in the winter issue of October, artist Josh Kline points out tha…

With a few words about that Josh Kline article twocoatsofpaint.com/2026/04/nyc-...

Turn Gallery: The 1990s in collective memory Contributed by Zach Seeger / Figuration, transformation, and materiality are on display at Turn Gallery in the group show “We Are Parts.” The work of Lily Rose Fine, Olivia Springberg, C Lucy White…

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Barbara Takenaga’s pinballing fantasia Contributed by Peter Schroth / Barbara Takenaga’s current exhibition at DC Moore, “Parallax,” picks up from her 2024 exhibit “Whatsis” and continues an arc roughly twenty years in the making. The w…

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Two Coats Resident Artist Dale Emmart, April 12–17, 2026 Contributed by Sharon Butler / In April, Two Coats of Paint welcomes resident artist Dale Emmart. Her work reflects a sustained and expansive meditation on rope — in oil, ink on washi, woodcut, and…

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Springs Projects: Concerted vibes Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / “Personal Space,” the group show now up at Springs Projects, is especially impressive for the steady, uninflected confidence it reflects in art as a part of life…

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Lois Dodd: A balm against cynicism Contributed by David Whelan / I first saw a Lois Dodd painting in 2004. View through Elliot’s Shack Looking South was part of a group show at our college gallery when I was a freshman. The pa…

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Rick Briggs and Natasha Sweeten: On painting and writing Rick Briggs, Garden Party, 2020, acrylic, color swatches on paper, 25×38 inches On March 15th, painters Natasha Sweeten and Rick Briggs sat down with Hearne Pardee to talk about their work, an…

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Amelie Mancini: Longing and wonder Contributed by Caroline Otis Heffron / Amelie Mancini’s debut solo exhibition at Massey Klein Gallery, offers poignant reflections on women, enticing viewers with harmonious colors and intricate pa…

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St. Francis at the Frick Contributed by Ken Buhler / There is an unsubstantiated claim in Catholic lore that the number of books written about St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1181–1226) is second only to the number written about…

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