"Painting on the Move" - Reviews

If considered in the tradition of a different theatrical genre--the commedia dell'arte, in which individual actors (or artists) surpass the playwright's (or curator's) vision of stock characters through unexpected improvisation--the exhibition becomes more gratifying. This problematic show offers some spectacular performances: Sigmar Polke's thick white squares painted on an ordinary wool blanket; Owens's quirky yet poetic moonlit landscape with japoniste branch; De Keyser's phantasmic "abstractions" of real-world landscapes. "Painting on the Move" contributes to an understanding of painting in which individual artworks outfox the curatorial scenario, when visual and conceptual force overrides the stale, progress-obsessed narrative that often accompanies such kamikaze curatorial enterprises.

Alison M. Gingeras is curator for contemporary art at the Centre Georges Pompidou.

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