“Night Sea,” by Agnes Martin (Photo: San Francisco Museum of Art) What we read and hear, how we form our sense of a something—the way we give shape and meaning to information—is going through a major evolution and change. When I read the personal accounts of how people responded to the invention of the printing […]
Author: deborahbarlow
Unquenchable Playfulness
Painting detail, Ed Moses Pacific Standard Time—the massive, Getty-funded undertaking in 2011 that featured over 60 exhibits throughout Southern California highlighting Los Angeles art between 1945-1980—was a sea change for me. The span and the range of work was staggering, and it revealed a complete art ecosystem that emerged quite apart from the pulsing international […]
Whispering to the Universe
From the Slow Muse archive: This post first appeared in April 2014 and was titled “Pitchers and Catchers.” “Veriddyi 2”, a painting that speaks to my ongoing longing to envision that first day of creation One of my favorite quotes comes by way of W. S. Piero from his book of essays, Out of Eden: […]
Entre Chien et Loup Opens
The show opened on Sunday at Brooklyn Workshop Gallery: Entre Chien et Loup, works by Pam Farrell and Deborah Barlow. The exhibit runs through June 25. Joins us for the closing celebration—with music—on Saturday, June 24. More info here.
The Certain and the Uncertain
My granddaughter Siena, exploring all the available painting surfaces The assault on reason and human values that is ongoing in the political landscape isn’t confined to the ideological arena. When life’s bandwidth gets hijacked daily, resource allocation happens by default (especially for those of us over 50 who have to husband our energy.) As a […]
Entre Chien et Loup, at Brooklyn Workshop Gallery
Entre Chien et Loup is the latest exhibit of my work at the Brooklyn Workshop Gallery. I am very pleased to be able to create this show with a friend and an artist I admire, Pam Farrell. Pam and I have wanted to exhibit our work together for a long time. The evocative French phrase […]
Arrabal
Arrabal, at American Repertory Theater (Photo: A.R.T.) Every country has its dark chapters. But once it becomes possible to assemble a narrative, the way those stories are told matters immensely to the ongoing health of a nation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa (now called The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation) used a […]
Clew, Redux
“Clew,” installation view by Cheryl Senter Clew, a collaborative installation at the Phillips Exeter Academy, came to an end in the middle of April. The energy unleashed in that collaboration with Todd Hearon, Lauren O’Neal, Jon Sakata and Jung Mi Lee continues to pull me in unexpected directions. Thank you again to all my fellow […]
Incipient Cosmos
Monnara, from a new series July Mountain We live in a constellation Of patches and of pitches, Not in a single world, In things said well in music, On the piano and in speech, As in the page of poetry- Thinkers without final thoughts In an always incipient cosmos. The way, when we climb a […]
The Grid of One
George W. S. Trow (1943-2006) (Photo: Lynn Davis/Pantheon Books) George Trow‘s essay, Within the Context of No Context, occupied the entire issue of The New Yorker in November of 1980. It is a timeless piece of writing, as is the introduction he wrote for the book version several years later, Collapsing Dominant. I reread both […]