Carmen Herrera at LISSON Odili Donald Odita at JACK SHAINMAN

James Kalm is an astute observer of the New York art scene and its neighborhoods. And due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, he’s still trying to reengage with the creative community after a near six-month lock-down, he hasn’t been able to get to Chelsea as frequently as he’d like. For this episode, your reporter returns to Chelsea, and grabs some footage of a couple of exhibitions of “high formalist painting”. Viewers will saunter through Carmen Herrera’s “Painting in Process” at Lisson Gallery, and be treated to examples of the artist’s preparatory drawings, ancillary gouaches along with the final acrylic on canvas pieces. Then we trip over to visit another great example of geometric color-based abstraction with “Mirror” by Odili Donald Odita, at Jack Shainman Gallery. Odita constructs hard-edge paintings with a color sense that pairs hues, tones and tints with the verve of a Jazz composer. This program was recorded September 26, 2020.