Glee: Painting Now

by Amy Cappellazzo, Stephen Mueller, Jessica Hough

Glee is a uniquely designed volume dedicated to new developments in the world of contemporary painting--developments that engage advances in digital technology instead of fleeing from them. Including such already-renowned and up-and-coming painters as Peter Halley, Franz Ackerman, Ricci Albenda, Pedro Barbieto, Linda Besemer, Alex Blau, Greg Bogin, Alex Brown, Ingrid Calame, Sharon Ellis, Jeff Elrod, Carl Fudge, Wayne Gonzales, Jim Isermann, Sarah Morris, Stephen Mueller, Albert Oehlen, Monique Prieto, John F. Simon Jr. and Yek, Glee documents how these artists are innovating via the influence of styles as diverse as Op Art, Pattern & Decoration, early computer graphics and late 1960s psychedelia. The catalogue was designed by the rising young firm COMA, and features a gatefold that divides the book into two the first dedicated to the artworks themselves, and the second devoted to essays and artist biographies.

84 pages, Hardcover

First published February 15, 2001

Reviews

[Adam Grossi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I believe this 'book' first functioned as a catalogue for a painting exhibition at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. It features design and layout by the design firm COMA, and I suppose they've done a reasonably clever job assembling the material.

But really, it's the material that is lacking. "Glee" claims that the twenty painters represented here are compelling proof of the future of painting in a digital era. But for me, this is a scattered curatorial effort based on a flimsy theme -- it would be hard to find twenty painters today that AREN'T influenced by new technologies. So we end up with a smattering of unrelated painters who utilize "hard edges" and "pixelation" ... zzzzzzzzz.

The book is tiny, and the reproductions of the paintings are hardly worth the time... they're roughly postcard-size prints. Definitely not enough 'visual information' to assess the work that this book claims to be about.