Paul Cézanne was trying to tell us something. That was the strong sensation I had while viewing the exhibition of his drawings and watercolors, now at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City through 25 September. Cézanne is an artist whose work has enthralled me since I began…

One day a few years ago I was “watching” myself paint and recall a moment when my hand was suspended over my palette table for a moment before sinking the spatula into a pile of cobalt blue. There wasn’t a particular color constraint to that decision. At that moment I…

You can take it with you — Some friends of mine know that I like to memorize poems. Part of it is the challenge, but more importantly if you memorize something you can carry it with you always. This is especially true for poetry. …

What is meaning in art, and who creates it? — One of the things I have thought about a great deal over the years as an artist is the nature and substance of meaning. It was important to me because if I was going to devote my life to something, I wanted to figure — to the degree I could…

In art and creation — If you get involved in a creative endeavor, doubt is almost certainly going to be part of your experience. …

A closer look at an often underappreciated 20th century painter — (This article was originally published in 2016) I went to see Stuart Davis: In Full Swing at the Whitney Museum here in New York yesterday. I have always liked his paintings very much when I’ve come across them, though he’s not a painter I ever turn to for direction or…

The nurse was on the phone. My mother’s temperature had spiked, a bad sign. Her cancer had metastasized broadly, but she had been surprisingly stable over the last month. It was after 9 p.m. on a Friday. I told the nurse I would take the first train up in the…

The late paintings of a singular artist — Ed Clark, who died a year ago next month, was an artist who created resonant and rapturous paintings using a unique method. Clark made his paintings using brooms to manipulate thick, fluid paint across raw canvas laid on the floor. One of Clark’s late exhibitions, entitled “Big Bang,” was at…