Lynn Geesaman first took up photography at the age of 33, in order to take decent pictures of her children. From then on, this Minneapolis-based photographer developed her skills until they became her craft. Geesaman found that she needed to go further afield to find the type of nature scenes best suited to her talents and it is through the poplars of France, the reflections of canals in Belgium or the cypress trees of Italy that her art is at its strongest. There is a peace and beauty imparted by Geesaman’s work that truly shows nature at its loveliest.

Artist: Lynn Geesaman
+ yanceyrichardson.com

For too long, Susan Weil was known as the wife of Robert Rauschenberg, although Weil herself has been a talented artist since the late 1940s. A recent retrospective of Weil’s multi-dimensional work was held at the Sundaram Tagore Gallery, grouping an exciting selection of her pieces. Weil will often play with her canvases, overlapping individual canvases to create installations made up of many parts. Or she will play with the canvas itself, twisting or bending her painting to create movement or change the space. Weil has even concentrated details on the sides of the canvas, creating a series of Peripheries that incites the viewer to come at the picture from a different angle or point of view.

Artist: Susan Weil
+ sundaramtagore.com

Bean Finneran's colourful sculptures are reminiscent of the work of Shayne Dark, but instead of using branches, as Dark does, Finneran rolls clay into curves that are then assembled into the sculptures. Hundreds or even thousands of these curves are used in Finneran's work which is always site specific as the pieces cannot be moved intact. The curve, a form found throughout the human body, has been chosen because this shape lends itself well to weaving and being part of Finneran's constructions that often resemble haystacks, sea anemones or coral reefs, albeit in out-of-nature colours.

Artist: Bean Finneran
+ nancymargolisgallery.com

The Polaroid Book by Barbara Hitchcock, author, and Steve Crist, editor, takes a look at the pictures of the people: the Polaroid. The humble Polaroid has been around for over fifty years and in that time has produced the photos taken for instant gratification, often producing wildly quirky results. This aspect of the instant photography lends itself well to a variety of artistic endeavours and this book holds many an example of this. There are over 400 photos from the Polaroid Corporation Collection, laid out very simply on a white background, for maximum impact. The images include several by artists such as Ansel Adams, David Hockney and Robert Rauschenberg.

Hardcover, 400 pages, Taschen 2005, $29.52 at Amazon.

+The Polaroid Book at Amazon

Icing or Cake …Wear Your Couch was an ICFF off-site installation by Bethany Koby and Selwa Sweidan, two artists-in-residence at Fabrica, the Benetton communications research centre in Treviso. The installation, held downtown at The Apartment and uptown at Chashama, was presented within the context of the furniture fair and passersby were invited to literally “wear a couch” in order to interact fully with the fair. Downtown, badges were created out of the icing of a Moooi couch (throws and upholstery) while found couches provided the artists with material uptown. The value of objects comes under the microscope as the artists took a look at the creation, manufacture, disassembly and recreation of the couch as well as the roles of the object itself, its designer, the merchant and the consumer.

Artist: Bethany Koby + Selwa Sweidan
+ fabrica.it

Montana sculptor Deborah Butterfield has focused on horses throughout her career and her pieces range from delicate animals of straw, sticks and mud to sturdier cast bronzes or found metals. In order to cast her work, Butterfield first puts together an original sculpture of logs, sticks, branches and boards and then carefully photographs the resulting horse. The sticks are then covered with a ceramic-shell molding compound and fired in a kiln where the wood is then burned out. The mold for the molten bronze has been made. In the above photo of a resting horse made of driftwood and other found materials, the tire that forms the horse�s rump represents the car that has replaced the horse.

Artist: Deborah Butterfield
+ gallerypauleanglim.com

Yigal Ozeri’s current exhibition at the Mike Weiss Gallery (until June 3rd) in New York is a collection of oil on paper based around Sasha, a girl with long curly hair and a steady gaze. Sasha has been captured in and around New York, blending into the scenes, yet standing out as a strong individual. She is a girl on the cusp of womanhood and it is difficult to decide whether she exudes the defiance of youth or the more brittle self-conscious confidence of young adulthood. Either way, the paintings are gorgeous.

Artist: Yigal Uzeri
+ mikeweissgallery.com

An exhibition of recent works by London-based painter Diarmuid Kelley runs through June 2nd at Offer Waterman and Company in London. The majority of these oils, quiet still lifes, are based on the realm of a peaceful cup of tea. Cups, saucers, cream and Carnation make up Kelley’s landscape, but also included in the exhibition are a few portraits or pre-portrait studies, all giving off that misted air of yesteryear, of a more difficult time. Delicate greys and blues and greens are the basis for this palette of very focused, yet soft-edged work.

Artist: Diarmuid Kelley
+ waterman.co.uk

Julia Jacquette captures middle class consumer longing in her paintings and prints, going from advertising influenced lifestyles to gooey desserts to weddings and most recently luxuriously furnished homes. Jacquette’s wedding series allowed the artist to focus on a white on white technique which she then further highlighted by juxtaposing several pieces in a grid pattern. The grid is common in Jacquette’s work. She offers choice to her consumers, knowing they are used to demanding a good selection or array of products.

Artist: Julia Jacquette
+ michaelsteinbergfineart.com

Often photographers will photograph models and make them look real, but Olivo Barbieri does just the opposite. Barbieri’s aerial photography renders his sites and cities almost artificial by using a large-format camera and a tilt-focus lens. Site Specific is the name of a project recently undertaken by Barbieri, an examination of several cities from a bird’s eye view. Rome and Las Vegas are the first two in the series and will be followed by Montreal, Turin, Jordan, Los Angeles and Shanghai.

Artist: Olivo Barbieri
+ yanceyrichardson.com

Still Looking: Essays on American Art by novelist John Updike is a wordsmith's look at artists. Art appreciation has always been a passion of Updike's, and indeed the writer is no stranger to fine art, having once spent a year at art school. Still Looking is a novel approach to art history and Updike is adept at drawing the reader into his subject. Among artists covered by Updike's observations are Albert Pinkham Ryder, Jackson Pollock, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, Edward Hopper, Whistler, Georgia OKeefe and Andy Warhol.

Hardcover, 240 pages, Knopf 2005, $25.20 at Amazon.

Still Looking: Essays on American Art