Art for These Vespertine Summer Hours
On navigating then noodling on the summer group show
Good morning! If you have the privilege of sitting on a screened-in porch at dusk during the summer, this week’s newsletter will be tonight’s perfect dive.
Today I am sharing 24 artworks and 12 of them are $5,500 or less, and 6 of them are $3,000 or less. There were multitudes of new contemporary artists I discovered from the mountains of gallery visits and group show previews.
And if you have that screened-in porch privilege for more than one night this summer, remember to check out past free issues here, here, and of course here. We have a lot of new subscribers lately and I’m excited to share some past highlights with you!
And if you’re feeling FOMO about all the artists behind the paywall during the weeks between free issues, you should subscribe here:
I have always loved group exhibitions for the thrill of discovery. In one way, a group show is like an art fair, where you see many artists in a compact space. In another way, this weekly newsletter is itself a group show.
So just as a gallerist will walk me through a group show and point out the highlights, here are some of mine from this week’s newsletter:
Dan Gausman - His works are made on cast concrete and painted with professional grade tennis court paint (!!!). The images are giving Mondrian, but you can still see the abstracted courts. I’m obsessed.
Merrick Adams - His canvases absolutely undulate with his unique mark making. I’ve featured him several times in the past, and there is never a room his paintings don’t illuminate.
Leila Lallali - Both of these works need to be framed immediately by DDG Frame Shop and put in everyone’s kitchen. I cannot get enough of their playfulness. They remind me of John Baldessari’s 2018 food Emoji Series that I’m also obsessed with, but make it by an ultra-contemporary artist and more lyrical.
Hannah Morgan - I am seeing so many painters in group shows right now, so Hannah’s work is a breath of fresh air for this sculpture addict. She creates delicate but extremely solid and beautiful sculptures using alabaster and steel.
India Sachi - Do NOT scroll past this work just because it has a darker palette. I always appreciate a darker palette because it forces the viewer to look a little longer and figure out exactly what is happening within the layers of collage and oil paint on canvas.
Emma Safir - This piece is made with digitally printed silk, which absolutely does not come across in photographs. There are so many material details and layers to her practice. So please, everyone, go see her work in person right now!
Sheree Hovsepian - The work below is part of her solo exhibition that is currently on view at Château La Coste in the South of France as part of a broader summer program that also includes a solo exhibition by Rashid Johnson and the group exhibition Rashid, Sheree, and Friends. Her exhibition coincides with her presentation at MoMA, which features three assemblages the museum recently acquired.
And sometimes the discoveries don’t end with the gallery walkthrough! The Substack ecosystem is alive and thriving. Last month, I featured a painting by Abbi Kenny. I sold the work through the newsletter, and then had three other readers inquire about it. I’m so pleased to share another available work by Abbi below, and I am even more pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting more of Abbi’s brilliant pieces at People’s in the upcoming show.
That’s one of my favorite parts of this newsletter. It is a record of what I’ve been looking at, and it becomes part of where those artworks go next. It’s also why becoming a paid subscriber is worth it: most of the artworks I’ve sold through the newsletter appeared in paid issues. Just saying!
So pour yourself something cold (you know I’m downing cold brew in the mornings and 1+1+1s during Negroni o’clocks), settle into these vespertine summer hours, and stay awhile in this week’s issue. I hope that somewhere in this week’s selection you leave with a new favorite. I know I left with many.
