Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Happy New Year!

James Ensor
L’Intrigue, 1890
Huile sur toile, 90 x 150 cm
Musée Royal des Beaux Arts, Anvers, Belgique
© ADAGP, Paris 2009


Happy New Year!

Monday, December 30, 2013

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Brooklyn Boys Go Bowling @ Theodore:Art




From the Press Release:

Theodore:Art is pleased to present the work of four idiosyncratic Brooklyn based painters.

Michael Callaghan was born in San Francisco, California and received a degree in Biophysics from UC Berkeley. He worked at UC San Francisco Medical School and Haverford College in the chemistry department before moving to the film industry where he was an assistant cameraman for several years in New York City. Michael Callaghan lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Steven Charles is a New York based artist born in England. He earned his BA from the University of North Texas and his MFA from Temple University in Rome. His works have been exhibited in New York in solo shows at Pierogi, Brooklyn and Marlborough, New York, as well as abroad in Canada and Spain. Most recently Charles had solo exhibitions at Stux Gallery, New York, and at Associated Gallery, Brooklyn. In 2000, his work earned him both a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and a New York Foundation for the Arts Art Fellowship.

Brian Dupont is a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute (BFA) and Cornell University (MFA). His work was exhibited most recently at a solo show at Adah Rose Gallery, Kensington, Maryland in 2013 and in a two-person show with Chris Rusak in 2012 at Skydive Art Space in Houston, Texas. Dupont writes about contemporary art and art issues, most recently for 'Big, Red and Shiny,' 'Idiom,' and his own site 'Artists Texts' and curates the Extra Gallery space. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Christopher Moss received a BFA in 2000 from the Marywood University, Scranton, PA and an MFA in 2006 from CUNY Brooklyn College. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Shaheen Contemporary (Cleveland, OH), Grizzly Grizzly (Philadelphia, PA) and Small Black Door (Ridgewood, NY) among others, and is available at Artware Editions (New York) and Theodore:Art (Brooklyn) where he will have his first New York solo exhibition in March 2014.



Brooklyn Boys Go Bowling
Michael Callaghan, Brian Dupont, and Christopher Moss 
Opening: January 3, 6-9 PM
January 3 - February 16, 2014
Theodore:Art
56 Bogart Street
Brooklyn, NY 11206

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Drifter: Curated by David Rhodes @ Hionas Gallery

Joe Fyfe and Dennis Hollingsworth

Joe Fyfe

Joe Fyfe

Nichole Cherubini

Mary Heilmann

Martha Clippinger

Dennis Hollingsworth

 Martha Clippinger

Joe Fyfe

Cordy Ryman

Cordy Ryman (detail)

Arlene Schechet

Installation view



Drifter
Curated by David Rhodes
Featuring work by: Nicole Cherubini, Martha Clippinger, Joe Fyfe, Mary Heilmann, Dennis Hollingsworth, Cordy Ryman, and Arlene, Shechet
Through January 11, 2014
124 Forsyth Street
New York, NY 10002

Friday, December 20, 2013

In Process: Marc Cheetham

Next up in my In Process series is this entry by Marc Cheetham.  Here Cheetham gives us a look at his unique way of building an image. we see the development of the painting The Idea of True North, 2013.
For more information on Cheetham's work check out his website here.
Also his work is currently on view in the exhibition Pair curated by Ian White Williams at Proto Gallery on view through February 9, 2014.










 The Idea of True North, 2013, acrylic on burlap on panel, 11x9.5 in.



From the Artist's Statement:

“The Idea of True North” is the first painting that I have finished after a four month lay off, and the first painting that I finished in my new studio. I felt a bit more anxiety starting than I normally do, but that feeling dissipated soon after I started drawing. I came to a general idea about how I wanted the composition relatively quick; however, I struggled with the size and the number of shapes to use. Once I was happy with the composition, I decided which burlap to use based off of how each reacts to gesso. I tend to prefer how the darker brown burlap grays the gesso a little bit. For color, I felt that orange was needed for the right shape. From there I added the blue onto the left shape and green on the ground. While the green was wet the painting still felt off to me, so I put a pink wash over the orange and another blue wash over the blue to darken it. Since the painting was still not right, I decided to "start over" with a warm white wash over the green. After the white wash dried I decided to sit with it for a couple of weeks until I felt that it could stand on its own. When it came to titling the work I consulted my list of possible titles and picked one that seemed to best fit. This title in particular is based off a song titled “The Idea of North “by Defiance, Ohio.




Marc Cheetham at work in his studio in Pequannock, NJ, 2013

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Eight Painters @ Kathryn Markel Fine Arts

Postcard image: Matthew Neil Gehring, For Whom this Glen is Sacred, 2013, oil on canvas, 78x84 in.
(click to enlarge)


I am organizing a show for Katheryn Markel Fine Arts and hope you will be able to join us for the opening on January 4th.

From the Press Release:


Eight Painters

Organized by Paul Behnke

With Karen Baumeister, Paul Behnke, Karl Bielik, James Erikson, Matthew Neil Gehring, Dale McNeil, Brooke Moyse, and Julie Torres



January 4, 2014 – February 1, 2014

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 4, 6:00 – 8:00 PM





New York, NY (December 6, 2013) – Kathryn Markel Fine Arts is pleased to present Eight Painters, a group exhibition organized by painter Paul Behnke, presenting new and recent abstract work by Karen Baumeister, Paul Behnke, Karl Bielik, James Erikson, Matthew Neil Gehring, Dale McNeil, Brooke Moyse, and Julie Torres.

The show will run from January 4, 2014 to February 1, 2014.



The exhibit draws inspiration from group exhibitions of the 1940’s and 1950’s, before clever curatorial themes consistently dictated the work to be included in group shows. Eight Painters’ only criteria for inclusion are an individual vision, a certain ambition that transcends any specific scale or way of working, and an abiding belief in the ability of paint and the genre of abstraction to best communicate that ambition and vision.



“Painting is feeling. There are situations, states of mind, mood which call for some form of artistic expression, because one knows that only some form of art is capable of going beyond them to give us intuitive contact with a superior set of truths.”

– Roger Hilton



The opening reception for Eight Painters will take place on Saturday, January 4 from 6 – 8 PM.

 Kathryn Markel Fine Arts
529 W 20th Street
6th floor
New York, NY 10011

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Carl Andre: Quote

Carl Andre in 1978. 
Photograph: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORB


"Art is what we do. Culture is what is done to us. A photograph of an art object is not the art object. An essay about an artist's work is not the artist's work."
-Carl Andre


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

In Process w/ Matthew Fisher

 For this installment of my In Process feature, Matthew Fisher offers this meditation on drawings and how they lead up and relate to, a finished painting.


Louis' Swing, 2013,  ink, glue, and collage on antique paper, 5x7.5 IN

Untitled, 2012, ink and collage on antique paper, 5.5x8 IN 

The Olympians, 2013, acyrlic on canvas, 25 x 40 IN


From the Artist's Statement:

Drawing is a lot like a one night stand for a swinging single. They come. They go. Some hang around for weeks, others are almost forgotten as soon as they're made. Every once in awhile you have a chance encounter with them again, taken back by how nice a drawing was; or worse, what was I thinking then? Flipping through my box of completed drawings this summer, I came across Untitled (2012) and was stuck by the weight of one lone wave rising up from the sea, blindly rolling across the ocean, searching for land, or a sandbar, to complete it's journey with a crash. Reworking the image this year, my drawing style had evolved to include more detail. Tilting the horizon line counter clockwise in Louis' Swing (2013), the wave was given a greater sense of direction and speed: the unlevel waterline, higher on the back, caused the weight of the wave pushing down on open sea as the cascading wave drowns out the sun. Hanging around on the studio wall, Louis's Swing became the inspiration for The Olympians. A portrait of a frozen wave whose top is moving faster then it's body, toppling as it becomes one again with the ocean that spawned it. From the ocean, to the ocean – dust to dust, water to water.


Matthew Fisher in his studio.
Photograph by Lajos Greenen

Matthew Fisher is represented by ADA Gallery and Mulherin + Pollard.

See more of Fisher's work in his upcoming one person exhibition at Ampersand Gallery in Portland, OR - March 2014.




Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Installation View: Context Art Miami 2013

L to R: work by Christian Haub, Don Martiny, Marilla Palmer, and Paul Behnke
Photo courtesy of Kathryn Markel Fine Arts



An installation view of Kathryn Markel Fine Arts' Booth E30 @ Context Art Miami 2013.

December 3 - 8, 2013
Art Miami Pavilion / Midtown Miami - Wynwood
3101 NE 1st Avenue
Miami, FL 33137

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Context Art Miami w/ Kathryn Markel Fine Arts


Very happy to be showing work with Kathryn Markel Fine Arts @ Context Art Miami 2013.
 

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts
New York / Bridgehampton
Booth E30

December 3 - 8, 2013
Art Miami Pavilion / Midtown Miami - Wynwood
3101 NE 1st Avenue
Miami, FL 33137

View catalog.

William Bradley @ Galerie Richard






 From the Press Release:
He is not yet 30, but already London-based William Bradley is taking on the heroes of Abstract Expressionism by challenging their use of automation and spontaneity.  His work begins with abstract gestural watercolors, which are then scanned and digitally manipulated into a calculated arrangement. These resolved designs are then repainted in oil on canvas. His work can be described as "abstract art about abstract art" with an underlying concept that explores the communicative disconnect between artist and viewer that is specific to the pure abstract language. Bradley constructs a language of references or quotes from mostly Abstract Expressionists including Motherwell, Still, Gottlieb, De Kooning, while maintaining his own distinctive approach. 

Bradley does not intend for his paintings to be interpreted as works of Abstract Expressionism. Instead, he exploits characteristics of the style in order to expose the contextual limitations.  Thus, the paintings act to classify the artistic movement as a brand and an exhausted academism.  The Modern concept is refreshed in these works through a contemporary portrayal. Although initially intuitive, gestural strokes are instead consciously transcribed patterns. 

What Bradley proposes is a painted depiction of painting codes pertaining to abstract expressionism, early pop art but also generic painting.  The visual signifiers, whether taken from high art or mundane reference, are simply used as visual or memorial rituals entering the elaboration of another artistic lexicon.  Therefore, Bradley could be considered a conceptual artist.  His work refers now to Ad Reinhardt, Blinky Palermo, Daniel Buren, and to a recent generation that reinfuses conceptual strategy to painting.













William Bradley: Tall Tales
On view through December 28, 2013
Galerie Richard
514 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011