Art Beat

In the main space at Pirate, John Crandall has brought in a handful of abstract paintings for his solo, Infinitely Minute. Several large and aesthetically ambitious paintings have been placed on top of shiny silver paint cans and are lined up leaning against the walls. The most successful of this...

By Michael Paglia

February 24, 2000

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In the main space at Pirate, John Crandall has brought in a handful of abstract paintings for his solo, Infinitely Minute. Several large and aesthetically ambitious paintings have been placed on top of shiny silver paint cans and are lined up leaning against the walls.

The most successful of this mixed bag is "Out of Discord, #2" (above), an acrylic on canvas. Crandall's use of broad areas of luscious color is very nice. Less effective is the dotted bar that runs across the top and appears in all of the large paintings.

The compelling Concrete Squares, in Pirate's Ilk space, features minimal paintings by Nicholas Silici that have been finished in singed and bubbled concrete applied thinly to boards. The simplest of these, in which Silici divides the panel in two horizontal parts, are also the best. The worst are those that are complicated either in composition or in form.

Both exhibits close this Sunday.

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Michael Paglia is an art historian and writer whose columns have appeared in Westword since 1995; his essays on the visual arts have also been published in national periodicals including Art News, Architecture, Art Ltd., Modernism, Art & Auction and Sculpture Magazine. He taught art history at the University of Colorado Denver.

Contact: Michael Paglia