“Boys Planting”, 2021, Oil on canvas
“The Last Night”, 2020, Oil and acrylic on canvas
“Quiero Amor”, 2019, Oil on canvas
“Nous Visited The Seine, But Did Not Swim”, 2022, Oil on canvas
“The Senses”, 2021, Oil and oil stick on canvas
The paintings in Jerrell Gibbs‘s solo exhibition at Brandywine Museum of Art, No Solace in the Shade, are alive with colors and movement, capturing moments in time both real and imagined.
From the museum about the show-
Chopping Ice from the Water Trough, 1935, an oil painting by artist Dale Nichols, is part of Brandywine Museum of Art‘s permanent collection.
From the museum about the work-
Rising to popularity during the Great Depression, a style known as American Regionalism brought modern stylization to images of rural life. In his landscape painting Chopping Ice from the Water Trough, Dale Nichols engages Regionalism by bringing a clean, minimal approach to his representation of daily farm chores by highlighting the smooth contours of the snowy slopes and the sharp-edged geometry of the barn. Nichols, a native of Nebraska, trained and taught for many years at the Art Institute of Chicago but returned throughout his career to the farm subjects most familiar to him from his childhood. His work was so attuned to farm life that International Harvester Company commissioned him to depict a series of works marking the development and use of the famous McCormick Reaper in agriculture.
A Morning Snow– Hudson River, the 1910 oil painting by George Wesley Bellows, is part of Brooklyn Museum‘s permanent collection (but not currently on view).
From the museum’s website about the work-
Assured, slashing strokes of a heavily loaded brush capture the effects of morning light reflected from freshly fallen snow. This view shows the Hudson River and New Jersey from Manhattan’s Upper West Side. George Wesley Bellows conveyed the sense of the city awakening through his depiction of the man shoveling snow, people going to work, boats plying the river, and smoke and steam interrupting the still, crisp atmosphere.
Elements of this composition move toward abstraction. The elevated vantage point reduces the illusion of depth, while horizontal and vertical components, seen particularly in the fence and tall trees, provide a subtle gridlike structure.
“January”, 1940-41, Oil on masonite panel
Grant Wood‘s painting January is on view at Cleveland Museum of Art as part of their permanent collection. It feels like a good time to post it with both a big snowstorm happening in many parts of the U.S., and it being January.
From the museum about the work-
One of the last paintings Wood created before his untimely death from liver cancer, January has a decidedly nostalgic cast. According to the artist, the painting was “deeply rooted in the memories of my early childhood on an Iowa farm. . . . it is a land of plenty here which seems to rest, rather than suffer, under the cold.” One sign of activity, in the form of rabbit tracks, infiltrates the otherwise dormant scene. Wood’s composition teems with abstract design, most notably through the rhythmically geometric array of snow-laden corn shocks that seem to recede infinitely into the distance.
“Berthe Morisot with a Muff”, c. 1871–72, Oil on canvas
Last week was Berthe Morisot‘s birthday and today it is her friend, brother-in-law, and fellow Impressionist, Édouard Manet‘s birthday. He was born on January 23rd, in 1832, and painted the portrait of her pictured above. It is part of the Cleveland Museum of Art‘s permanent collection.
From the museum about this work–
This painting depicts Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot, who met Édouard Manet at the Musée du Louvre in Paris in 1868. This portrait vibrates with vitality. Morisot wears a coat and stylish hat from which wisps of her dark hair escape. Manet’s wide brushstrokes and cross-hatchings evoke the sketchy quality of Morisot’s own paintings, likely Manet’s nod to his subject’s identity as an artist.
He made nine portraits of her in oil, watercolor, lithography, and etching during 1868–74. Initially artistic colleagues and friends, they became family in December 1874 when Morisot married Manet’s younger brother, Eugène.
The painting is currently on loan to San Francisco’s de Young museum for their current exhibition Manet & Morisot, on view until 3/1. Organized by Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art, the show will move to Cleveland on 3/29/26, and will run until July 5th.
About Manet & Morisot from the Cleveland Museum of Art–
Manet & Morisot is the first ever major exhibition dedicated to the artistic exchange between Édouard Manet, often referred to as the father of modern painting, and Berthe Morisot, the only woman among the founding members of the Impressionist movement. Unfolding over a period of roughly 15 years, between 1868 and 1883, theirs was perhaps the closest relationship between any two members of the Impressionist circle. As friends and colleagues—by turns collaborative and competitive—they collected one another’s work. Morisot posed for some of Manet’s most compelling portraits, several of which will be on view in the first gallery of the exhibition. When she married Manet’s younger brother, their professional connection deepened into a familial bond.
Thirty-six paintings and six drawings and prints borrowed from museums and private collections in the United States and Europe reveal the evolution of a singular friendship between two groundbreaking artists. Visitors will see beach and garden scenes made en plein air (out-of-doors) that demonstrate how Manet borrowed individual motifs and compositional ideas directly from Morisot. Portraits of fashionable Parisian women of the 1880s by the two artists show their different perspectives; Manet’s paintings were inspired by admiration and erotic interest while Morisot’s were informed by lived experience. The exhibition closes with a self-portrait by Morisot painted when she was in her mid-40s, revealing her perception of herself as a professional artist.
“Untitled Club Painting”, 2015, Acrylic on canvas
“Untitled Gutter Painting”, 2014, Acrylic on canvas
“Untitled Black Door Painting (304) “, 2013, Acrylic on canvas
“Untitled Yard Painting (Albert)”, 2015, Acrylic on canvas
These contemplative paintings are from This Must Be the Place, Newcastle-based artist Narbi Price’s 2017 exhibition at Vane Gallery.
From Vane’s website about the exhibition:
Narbi Price’s work involves journeys to specific places that have witnessed a range of events – variously historical, famous, personal or forgotten.
He researches the precise location of a chosen event, ranging from significant moments in music, film and TV, whimsical acts through to places of violence and death amongst others. Working from photographs taken at the site, he makes paintings in the studio focusing on the abstract, formal and painterly qualities of the resultant images.
This process removes the conscious choice of subject matter; he must work with whatever is present at the spot. Whilst clearly photographically derived, the paintings use the language of abstraction to simultaneously acknowledge and disrupt the representational image. The paint is transparent, opaque, glossy, matt, dilute and impasted, often within the same work. As viewers, we are not immediately made aware of the specific histories of the sites and are given space to wonder about the multiplicities of events that might have taken place, an effect heightened by the painting method. Our experience of the work shifts as we become aware of the provenance of the depicted sites.
Below are the stories behind the locations for the paintings in this post (in bold type). All of the paintings in the exhibition can be found on Vane’s website.
Jerome Witkin– “Lockhart“, 1972, Oil on canvas
Gary L. Schumer– “Interior Landscape”, 1983, Oil on canvas
Sometimes it can feel like the world is too noisy and filled with too much information to take in at once. One way to slow it down is to find moments in your days to connect to something around you- a person, an object, nature, or a work of art.
The two paintings above, Jerome Witkin‘s Lockhart and Gary L. Schumer‘s Interior Landscape, are from Canton Museum of Art‘s 2024 exhibition Immersive Spaces. For the show, the museum used selections from their permanent collection to encourage visitors to spend time engaging with the work.
From the museum’s website about the exhibition:
Have you ever wished you could step inside a work of art?
Art pulls us in by utilizing and activating our senses, and resonates with us based on our personal memories and experiences. In Immersive Spaces, learn how artists, through their imaginations and unique artistic processes, create art that envelops the senses.
Though we may not actually be able to feel or hear the objects and scenes depicted in a painting, artists invite us to use all of our senses when we explore a work of art—encouraging us to imagine the textures, smells, and even tastes of what is depicted. Some painters take this invitation to another level by painting details with such precision that we are tricked into believing what is painted is real.
Scientifically, by fully immersing yourself and “stepping into a painting,” you’re activating a process known as embodied cognition, where mirror neurons in the brain turn the things you see in art into actual emotions you can feel. Studies show that immersive art is beneficial; the more time you spend analyzing a piece of art, the more you are able to stimulate brain functions, which can increase your analytical and problem-solving skills in everyday life. Some studies also show that looking at art can increase blood flow to the brain by as much as 10% — the equivalent of looking at someone you love.
Curated from our Permanent Collection, Immersive Spaces brings together works of art that engage all of our senses and activate our brain functions. How do artists invite us into their paintings so that we can imagine ourselves stepping inside the picture and experiencing it firsthand? Let your senses come alive in Immersive Spaces, and get ready to experience art in a new way!
The museum has their entire collection available to view online, including the paintings above. They have also included artist biographies and sometimes, additional information about the work itself.
Here, Witkin describes the history behind his painting Lockhart, pictured above-
“In my first year at Syracuse University, I was asked to paint the Chancellor of SU at his house. The commission took place in a vast attic of the home. To my surprise, Chancellor Eggers agreed that I could use the space as my studio! That is the setting for “Lockhart.” This is one of my first ventures into painting multiple figures in space. The attractive couple chose their pose – I suggested they stay comfortable – she reading a book and he looking towards her. His legs were angled against the darkness in an interesting way, and Presto! The Pose! The couple was very in love and the title reflects their relationship. The formality of the picture is my naiveté in putting multiple figures in space…I’ve since become more comfortable but that painting taught me a lot about using the figure in space.”
Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot was born today, January 14th, in 1841. She was part of a circle of artists that made up the Parisian avant-garde, including Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Édouard Manet (she married his younger brother).
The oil painting pictured above, Reading (La Lecture), 1888, is on view at Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg in Florida.
Jean-Michel Basquiat was born today, December 22nd, in 1960. The painting above, Untitled (1981) is currently on view at The Broad in Los Angeles.
From the museum about this work-
Many of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s paintings are in some way autobiographical, and Untitled may be considered a form of self-portraiture. The skull here exists somewhere between life and death. The eyes are listless, the face is sunken in, and the head looks lobotomized and subdued. Yet there are wild colors and spirited marks that suggest a surfeit of internal activity. Developing his own personal iconography, in this early work Basquiat both alludes to modernist appropriation of African masks and employs the mask as a means of exploring identity. Basquiat labored over this painting for months — evident in the worked surface and imagery — while most of his pieces were completed with bursts of energy over just a few days. The intensity of the painting, which was presented at his debut solo gallery exhibition in New York City, may also represent Basquiat’s anxieties surrounding the pressures of becoming a commercially successful artist.
In the video below (also from The Broad) LeVar Burton discusses the work and its possible connection to Basquiat’s childhood and family.
Work by Mel Rosen (sculpture) and Stass Shpanin (mural, video, and paintings)
Detail from Stass Shpanin’s “Dance of Birth” animated video
Ceramic sculptures by Mel Rosen
Paintings by Stass Shpanin
The Delaware Contemporary is currently showing three exhibitions as part of its 2025 Biennial Art + AI programming. This post covers two of them, the third is here.
Construct | Disrupt: Artificial Intelligence as Tool and Material features work by artists Mel Rosen, Stass Shpanin, Sol Kim, and Mark Burchick.
From the museum about the exhibition-
In an age when reality itself feels unstable—filtered through algorithms, fragmented by digital archives, and refracted through competing narratives—artists are increasingly turning to the tools of fiction and speculation not to obscure the truth, but to question how we construct it. Construct | Disrupt brings together the work of Mel Rosen, Sol Kim, Stass Shpanin, and Mark Burchick, four artists who use artificial intelligence, language, and archival material to explore the porous boundaries between perception, memory, and belief.
Across diverse practices—from ceramics, drawing, and painting to video, installation, and text—these artists engage with AI not as a replacement for the hand, but as a provocateur, a co-conspirator, and a mirror to the human imagination. Rather than seeking resolution or certainty, their works open up space for doubt, complexity, and contradiction.
Together, the artists in Construct | Disrupt invite us to consider how we construct meaning in a world where the archive is no longer fixed and where the image can be endlessly generated. The work of these artists does not offer answers, but rather asks: What do we trust? What do we remember? And how do we decide what is worth believing?
About the two artists pictured above, from the museum-
Stass Shpanin engages history as a space of imaginative reconstruction. Working with visual fragments from American folk traditions and immigrant archives, he uses AI to distort and reconfigure the past, generating speculative images that blend glitch, myth, and memory. His paintings and drawings present broken, layered timelines where visual language is both preserved and interrupted. Rather than restoring a singular truth, Shpanin’s work embraces the possibility of many coexisting histories—ones shaped as much by fantasy as by fact, as much by the digital as the ancestral.
Mel Rosen’s practice draws from archaeology, natural history, and personal memory to create objects and images that feel both ancient and otherworldly. Her use of AI image generation allows her to iterate quickly, mutating prompts based on her own drawings and a mental library of organic and cultural references—from Pompeian frescoes and fossils to barnacles and talismans. The resulting images feed back into her ceramics and drawings, where mythic forms and geometric distortions coexist in a suspended cosmology. Rosen’s work suggests that artifacts—whether material or digital—are always evolving, reshaped by time, environment, and interpretation.
Still from the video “Person Enough” by Sol Kim
Sol Kim (video still above) approaches language as a material form, using words to subtly disrupt social and technological systems. Her works often begin with a textual prompt—an instruction, label, or survey—that gives rise to absurd, humorous, or quietly unsettling performances. In The Cookiest Cookie, cookies are judged and destroyed by AI based on their perceived “cookie-ness,” while in Person Enough?, performers attempt to become more legibly “human” to computer vision systems. Through these gestures, Kim reveals the tensions between human nuance and machine classification, exposing the strange logic that governs our interactions with technology—and with one another.
Mark Burchick Installation
Images from Mark Burchick’s “Felt Presence”
Mark Burchick’s Felt Presence explores the intersection of faith, media, and artificial intelligence through the lens of Catholic mysticism. Drawing on archival photographs from the 1917 “Miracle of the Sun” in Fatima, Portugal, Burchick trains AI models to generate photorealistic images of miracles that were never captured on film. Presented alongside historical documentation and witness testimony, these fabricated scenes invite viewers to question the boundaries between belief, evidence, and visual truth—highlighting the unseen technological, institutional, and spiritual forces that shape our perception of reality.
In NOO Icons, Burchick expands this inquiry through an immersive video installation framed like a reliquary. A five-minute rear-projected loop, trained on over 100 images of stained glass Rose Windows, morphs into abstract color fields via AI animation. At its center is a 3D-printed altar piece generated using DreamFusion, a text-to-3D tool prompted to create a “solar monstrance.” The resulting object—gold-finished, internally lit, and housing Lithium batteries—evokes both the Communion host and a technological relic. As Kate Crawford notes in Atlas of AI, Lithium is a sacred yet finite resource driving modern AI. By encasing it in plastic and low-res form, Burchick critiques the planned obsolescence and ecological cost of our AI-powered age, reframing divine presence through the lens of material decay.
In another of the museum’s galleries is- Reimagine | Reveal: Challenging the Algorithmic Gaze featuring work by Danielle Glovin, Stephanie Dinkins, and Leah Modigliani.
About the show from the museum-
The works covering this exhibition theme approach AI not as a neutral instrument, but as a complex cultural system—one that reflects, amplifies, and at times distorts the values of its makers. Through the intersecting strategies of critique, reimagination, and bias exposure, Danielle Glovin, Stephanie Dinkins, and Leah Modigliani probe the systems—algorithmic, archival, social—that dictate what is preserved, who is recognized, and how knowledge circulates.
Together, these artists ask urgent questions: Who trains the algorithm? Whose histories are encoded, and whose are left out? What does it mean to build an intelligence—and who is it built for? In doing so, they model a critical engagement with AI, one that challenges default narratives, centers marginalized perspectives, and opens up space for new possibilities. Their practices call us to reconsider what it means to know, to remember, and to be recognized in a world increasingly shaped by invisible systems of intelligence.
Stephanie Dinkins’ interactive sculpture “Not The Only One (N’TOO)“
Stephanie Dinkins’ “Conversations with Bina48” (back wall) and Leah Modigliani’s AI generated letters for “Cultural Capital”
From Danielle Glovin’s series “Future Generations”
About the artists’ work pictured above-
Stephanie Dinkins’ Not The Only One (N’TOO) and Conversations with Bina48 extend this inquiry into the realm of relational AI, specifically that of minority groups in the tech sector. In N’TOO, an interactive sculpture gives voice to the oral histories of three generations of Black women, creating an AI entity intentionally designed, trained, and aligned with their values and lived experiences. It is a poignant reversal: instead of AI extracting meaning from biased data sets, Dinkins encodes her AI, reorienting the goals of intelligence design toward inclusivity and equal representation.
In Conversations with Bina48, Dinkins engages in an evolving dialogue with one of the world’s most advanced humanoid robots- probing the limits of kinship, consciousness, and identity. The recorded exchanges navigate tensions between human and machine, emotion and algorithm, intimacy and abstraction—underscoring the urgency of developing AI systems coded to reflect the full richness and diversity of human stories, cultures, and embodied experiences.
Leah Modigliani’s Cultural Capital offers a satirical yet incisive intervention into the circuits of artistic legitimacy. Through a fictional archive of AI-generated letters of recommendation and rejection—authored in the mimicked voices of historical critics and curators—Modigliani reveals how the rhetoric of value and genius in the art world is both constructed and recursively reinforced. The project uses generative tools to lay bare the biases embedded in cultural gatekeeping, drawing attention to the ways AI might amplify inherited hierarchies under the guise of neutrality.
Danielle Glovin’s Future Generations presents AI-generated reinterpretations of inherited family photographs, exposing the mechanics of machine vision and the flattening effects of automated classification. By transposing Midjourney text outputs onto her photographs, Glovin literalizes the collision between personal history and digital taxonomy. The result is a visual language at once familiar and estranged—where nostalgia meets simulation, and memory is rewritten through the aesthetics of machine learning.
These exhibitions will close on 12/28/25.