new on newtown

Matt Rich, Ampersand, 2012, acrylic on cut paper with linen tape, 54 x 48 1/2 inches

Matt Rich, Patriot and Hatchet

Halsey McKay

Cambridge-based artist Matt Rich exhibits wall-hugging paper paintings at Halsey McKay through July 17. Painterly, economical, and scrappy at the same time, Rich's works seem to defy painting conventions. Incidents of color and structured slices of cut paper weave into delicate geometric abstractions. 

Aspects of the works feel as though they've been sampled from a larger network of found imagery, like splices of graffiti or other paintings. They command the wall with remarkable clarity, but if you find yourself in a jam you can easily slip one under a door.

Matt Rich, Six, 2012, acrylic on cut paper with linen tape, 40 x 24 inches

Hilary Pecis, In Accordance

Upstairs at Halsey McKay, the San Francisco artist Hilary Pecis weds psychedelia, mass media, and assemblage in a body of work that is as crisp as broken glass. 

Hilary Pecis, Ice, 2012, archival inkjet print, edition of 5, 20 x 24 inches

In her current show, In Accordance, Pecis slices and dices into images of natural phenomena torquing space with kaleidoscopic results. Dissonant and apocalyptic, the image field suggests a rejiggering of contemporary vision.

 

Hilary Pecis, Beach, 2012, cut paper collage, 11 x 15 inches

  Reed Krakoff, One Chair   

at Harper's Books

Designer Reed Krakoff, known for his collections in structural, post-modern women's wear, is stretching out. First exhibited earlier this year at Salon 94, on view at Harper's are one hundred chairs, identical except for the color of felt sheathing, designed by the artist's wife, Delphine. 

A somewhat Beuysian experience, here Krakoff poised the simple geometry of the chair with the sensuousness of felt, arranging each unit in distinctly non-utilitarian fashion. The chairs range in scale and color -- from real life to Barbie sized, and from simple grey to eye-popping pinks and acid green. 

Paula Hayes at Glenn Horowitz

Currently at Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, the New York artist and acclaimed landscape designer, Paula Hayes exhibits hand-blown glass terrariums, rarely seen large scale drawings, and an intriguing sound installation.

Hayes, whose 2010 exhibit of gigantic terrariums at MoMA, Nocturne of the Limax Maximus, brought the natural world inside the venerated halls of that institution, creates delicate, often life-sustaining environments filled with exotic plants, gems and minerals, and other intrigues. 

Donald Sultan at The Drawing Room

Donald Sultan, Rouge Poppies April 25 2012, conte on paper, 22 1/2 x 30 1/4 inches

On view at The Drawing Room, works on paper by Donald Sultan that range from toothy explorations in charcoal and velvet flocking to buoyant gouaches that celebrate the flowers he cultivates in his Sag Harbor garden.

Skyflowers Blue Green May 31 1997, tempera on Somerset

Sultan, whose iconic images have been a part of the contemporary art vernacular for some four decades, here articulates poppies, oranges, mimosa in a variety of media, and in his series, Wallflowers, the rich botanical imagery of blossoming wisteria, bluebells, and other species spill across white backgrounds with poetic elegance.

As Sultan handily ricochets between the industrial and the bucolic, dazzling color and effervescent blacks and whites, he traverses a language all his own, redefining the traditional still-life, botanical painting, and nature's plenty.

  

Andrew Schoultz at Eric Firestone Gallery

detail, Andrew Schoultz, Ex Uno Plura

And just up the street, on view at Eric Firestone Gallery -- don't miss Andrew Schoultz, Ex Uno Plura, an eye-popping installation of painted vintage flags along with the artist's signature wall painting, on view through July 7th. 

Schoultz's paintings and site-specific works draw on cultural themes and an appreciation of civic, military, and world history. The show, which sparked a bit of controversy among East Hampton's locals, is more of an ode to the American flag than an indictment of it. The installation, an extravaganza of dizzying proportion, absolutely reflects the restlessness and clamor of contemporary living.

Summer in East Hampton is happening on Newtown Lane.

mind, matter and exquisite things

detail: Daniel Wiener, Mongrel, 2008, Apoxie sculpt

diversities of sculpture/derivations from nature

longhouse reserve

curated by bonnie rychlak 

On view this season, the artist/curator Bonnie Rychlak has assembled stunning works by six contemporary artists. The show, now on view at LongHouse, includes Ronald Bladen, Ann Chu, Brian Gaman, Jene Highstein, Judith Shea and Daniel Wiener. 

another form of art, also at Longhouse

Rychlak's mission was to assemble divergent works that would create a dialogue not through a thematic concept but across genres, focus, and places in history. A signature work, The X, by the late Ronald Bladen sets the stage for a cross-generational exchange.  

Ronald Bladen, The X, 1965, painted aluminum

Bladen was an icon, and back in the day his impact on my generation of artists was profound. Elegant simplicity, exacting minimalism and economy of means torqued our meanings and the way we, as artists, assimilate symbols, language and abstract form.

 

Nearby, 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Judith Shea presents an elegiac work titled Idol. Part of her 9/11 series, The Legacy Collection, Shea's cloaked man overlooks the gushing Black Mirror (by Ray Smith and Associates), that presides over a curious trinity. Flanked by the fountain that is so reminiscent of New York's 9/11 Memorial at ground zero and Bladen's monumental "x", Shea's powerful figure appears at once pensive, judicious, and archetypal.

Judith Shea, Idol, 2011-12, bronze, stainless steel, aluminum

Black Mirror (Ray Smith and Associates)

At first glance, Ann Chu's Maranao Man appears like a boy Harlequin, but closer inspection reveals a disagreeable scowl -- not the stuff of your average jester. Chu's intriguing contradictions bounce between satire and folklore, delivered here with a touch of whimsy and a little intimidation. 

Ann Chu, Maranao Man, 2004, bronze

The Maranao, for which her sculpture is named, are Islamic inhabitants of Lake Lanao in the Philippines. Theirs is a tribal culture that is defined by its Kulintang (gong) music, art and artistry and traditions fueled by folklore. Their complex imagery, derived from legends, storytelling, and their own tropical environs, is noteworthy. Okir, perhaps the best known of Maranao ornamentation, combines the geometric and the organic in complex floral patterns. Chu's Maranao Man is similarly festooned -- his costume embellished with elaborate floral designs -- rendering him sympathetic in spite of his onerous expression.

Brian Gaman, Untitled 3 Globes, 1987, cast iron and steel

The luscious patina on Brian Gaman's orbs is a phenomenon owed to this exhibition, as the works had never before been sited outdoors. The elements have provided a painterly surface treatment, with time and process accumulating in rivulets of color.

As Rychlak notes in her astute catalog essay, these works express a monumentality even though they're not that big. As a concept, "the globe" is immense in and of itself and here Gaman's Untitled 3 Globes reiterate the curvature of the earth, a physical imperative that is implicit among the wide expanses at LongHouse.

Form determines content in Jene Highstein's soaring Flora Tower, a looming stack of hand-hammered stainless steel segments that are gently imposing, ceremonial, and iconic. Highstein has said of his work:  

"Stone age tools, ceremonial objects, and idols fascinate me and are among the source of materials for my work. The content of my work is not so much nature abstracted, but a form which is evolved in relation to nature and which carries with it natural associations."  from The Mattress Factory

For some four decades now, Highstein's body of work has straddled the tenets of modernism and minimalism, yet it remains independent of both. Materiality, process and gesture -- ceremony and ritual -- the evolution of Highstein's art defies categorization.

  

Daniel Wiener, Mongrel, 2008

Functioning at the other end of the kaleidoscope, in Daniel Wiener's installation, Mongrel, three distinct sculptural forms convulse with energy under the dappled sunlight of this pastoral setting. The works possess a writhing, psychedelic restlessness that is exquisitely modern, and the Guggenheim seemed to agree -- Wiener received a Guggenheim Fellowship earlier this year.

Made of a self-hardening epoxy component and pigmented with swirls of color, the works are exuberant and sensuous, exerting a nervous immediacy and visual intrigue in which there seems to be no rest. A whorl of rubbery barnacles transits into a plinth here or a horizontal riff there, like an exotic coffee table set out in the middle of Arcadia.

Still, the drama and visual ferment in Wiener's sculpture is more subtle than it at first appears.

Intrinsic in these works is their unknowability -- they gush color and form like a subset of action painting, slipping in and out of their own passages as form boils over into structure.

It's summer on the East End when LongHouse opens. Bravo to Bonnie Rychlak for assembling this provocative show among the bucolic meadows of East Hampton's most prized public garden. 

Visiting hours to LongHouse vary throughout the summer. Visit their website for hours, directions and special events.

For more information on Bonnie Rychlak, see Jennifer Landes's informative profile in the East Hampton Star.

back to basics: color and form

Polly Apfelbaum, Color Nest, 2010-11, Plasticine, polymer clay and glitter; photos courtesy Ameringer McEnery Yohe

Stone Gravy

curated by David Pagel

at Ameringer McEnery Yohe

I love this show. 

Bravo David Pagel, man of many hats including the Parrish Art Museum's own LA-based adjunct curator, whose exhibition Stone Gravy is a perfect summer treat. It's on view at Ameringer McEnery Yohe through July 7th.

Polly Apfelbaum, 4 some, 2010-11, Plasticine and polymer clay

Polly Apfelbaum has been flirting with process, painting and installation for decades, and in that time she's morphed into one of the most interesting artists around. Her works are rascally and sparkling, ingenuous and urbane at the same time, and they stretch the margins of painting to parts unknown. 

Matt Wedle, Flower Tree, 2011, ceramic

While I was busy doing something else ceramics has become a new art form altogether, evidenced here with sumptuous works by Matt Wedel and the forever excellent Ron Nagle, a national treasure.

Ron Nagle, Beirut Canal, 2009, ceramic

Richard Allen Morris, Power Bar, 2000, acrylic on pine panel

The title of the show is taken from "stone soup" -- a folk story in which soup is made for the weary and hungry from inedible scraps. For Pagel, Stone Gravy seems to be a sort of homage to the fundamentals of art making. In the catalog text he attempts to identify the circumstances "...that are intrinsic to the various ways artists make matter matter."

Allison Miller, Solid, 2011, oil and acrylic on canvas

David Pagel, responsible for some of the most intoxicating shows at The Parrish including the current exhibit EST 3: Southern California in New York, on view through June 17th, brings a little California sunshine wherever he drops anchor. 

Don't miss this delightful show.

coffee, conundrums and convolutions

Bastienne Schmidt at Ricco Maresca

Growing up in Greece and Germany, as a child Bastienne Schmidt was often surrounded by her archeologist father's lifetime of research and the ancient vessel fragments he presided over. The artist's memories of a life silhouetted against the crisp blue of the Aegean serve as a powerful source for the paintings now on view at Ricco Maresca.

Untitled Silhouette Vessel, 2012, polymer paint and coffee on paper

When Schmidt and I spoke at her studio last week, the conversation illuminated her focus in a way that shed new light for me on this complex body of painting, collage, and photography. 

In much of her work she employs a visual alphabet that is informed by language as well as personal biography, memory and the politics of self.

Collection of Soaps, 2003, Chromogenic print

In the above work from her 2010 publication, Home Stills, Schmidt assembled used bars of soap on a floral ground -- a tribute both to the field work her father brought home and to her observations on the artistry to be located within domestic life. 

From the Silhouette Vessel series, 2012

The new works -- part self-portrait, part memorial -- are a sort of homage to the artist's earliest knowledge of structured thinking that she refers to as "typologies" or "declarations of meaning." 

Schmidt's approach to art making might fall under the rubric of the pseudoscientific; as she organizes her thinking, she groups her oeuvre into bodies that range from explorations on the female archetype to mortality to fields of abstraction. 

In the Silhouette Vessels, Schmidt doesn't so much paint vessels as she orchestrates the movement of espresso and paint -- willing it more than painting it -- into form. As the liquids fuse into fractal ridges and pools of color, the dominant hues (variants of an arid Mediterranean blue) ooze into vessel forms that range in shape from spheres and pods to beakers. 

There's a performative aspect to this work, as if memory has washed over Schmidt and come to rest in these vessel forms.

In her studio, we looked at paintings from the Highways series, gigantic works in which loopy lines traverse broad paper geographies, intersecting one another at various junctures. 

The connective imagery within each bundle of crisscrosses are collage elements -- aerial photographs of highway systems, each one carrying long lines of automobiles -- visible only on close inspection. 

Highways, 2011, acrylic and collage on paper, 90 x 42"

Among Schmidt's systems of thinking are other systems -- a little like a mirror looking into a mirror -- that fold over inside of themselves. This is, I think, key to understanding this intriguing body of work. 

 

detail, Highways

Bastienne Schmidt, Silhouette Vessels, is on view at Ricco Maresca through June 16th.

Bastienne Schmidt, Silhouette Vessels, Ricco/Maresca

rock n roll on newtown lane

Harper's Books looking good; Jane Huntington's Reclaimed Bunny #2, (above), 2010, C-print

Open for the Stones V2

Harper's Books

curated by Kevin Teare

Kevin Teare, Child of the Moon, 2012, oil on mylar

Bravo Kevin Teare, curator extraordinaire of Open for the Stones V2 at Harper's Books in East Hampton. Teare, a veteran of both the music and art worlds, has orchestrated quite the round-up of artists-cum-musicians, or vice versa. 

Mike Solomon, Kick and Snare, 1992, Plasticine and powdered pigment

Above, perfection from Mike Solomon -- waxy imprints of form and function. The performative and the static. Very cool.
 
Teare seems to be one of those people that's living at least 4 or 5 lifetimes simultaneously. Large works on paper on view here seem to pulsate behind glass enclosures. The syncopation is divine. Like many of the artists here, he's also a successful recording artist.

From Stuart Sutcliffe's inky collage to Tara Israel's chilling Hank 3 images, Teare's compilation offers a glimpse into the double lives of some of our most heralded artist/musicians. Check out some of the works:

Steve Miller, Against Ideas, 2000, pigment dispersion and silkscreen on canvas

Don Christensen, Goose Step, 2012, acrylic on wooden step stool, wire

           Stuart Sutcliffe, Untitled Hamburg Series, #15, c. 1960-62                    Liz Markus, T: Art forum Ad (Clemente); B: Art forum A                                                                                                                                   Ad (Polke), both 2012, glitter and collage

If not for a life tragically cut short at just 22 years old, surely Stuart Sutcliffe would have developed into an artist among the pantheon of British greats.

Peter Dayton, Wipe Out, 2012

a group of us, Murdered to Keep Us Safe, 2012 and Bethany Fancher, Harlem

Bethany Fancher, Indie Rocker, 2009

Other wonderful works by Ron Nagle, Jameson Ellis and Pat Place are not to be missed.

Open for the Stones V2 will be on tour through 2012, stopping in New York City and then off to parts unknown. You can check it out at Harper's Books through June 25. 

black + white + black + white

Denise Kupferschmidt, Motifs

Halsey McKay

Denise Kupferschmidt's exhibition in the upstairs gallery at Halsey Mckay combines the clarity of minimalism with a sort of mythical -- even utopian -- vision. Her cast concrete sculptures employ a version of neo-De-Stijl, sharing in the structural simplicity of works by antecedents such as Georges Vantongerloo and Jean Arp.  Her drawings and paintings invite associations to early Warhol, Egyptian heiroglyphs, texting abbreviations, and other symbols, along with the crisp hybrid language that has become Kupferschmidt's oeuvre.

Her 3-D works, endowed with a dose of contemporary tongue-in-cheekiness, are clean and totemic, and they possess the kinds of surface intrigue and associative meanings that keep you looking and thinking and coming back to look again.

Denise Kupferschmidt, Motifs, is on view through May 29.

opening salvo, east hampton

detail: Glound 15, 2012, glue, wire, acrylic on canvas

Timothy Bergstrom, Glound 

HALSEY MCKAY

New space, new art, new view at Halsey McKay, debuting with works by Chicago artist, Timothy Bergstrom and drawings, paintings and sculpture by Denise Kupferschmidt in the new and very awesome upper gallery (next post). 

Glound 4, 2011, glue, wire, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24"

Bergstrom's works are dense, dynamic and structural. They seem to straddle myriad lineages that bounce from Futurism to Constructivism to crystallography, setting up camp among an array of idioms the likes of Antoine Pevsner, the Brooklyn Bridge, communal spider webs and subversive knitting. Even the soft geometry of Ernesto Neto dovetails into a similar mosh pit of structural abstraction, movement and big thinking. Still, these works are all Bergstrom's own, staking claim to new territory within gesture and process.

Tantra Timbre, 2012, glue, wire, acrylic and pigment on canvas, 60 x 48"

  

The works on view here, ten in all, pit swirling voids against small convulsions that pulse across the canvas. As the artist's process accumulates, its evidence forms into ribs, ridges and starburst shapes. Bergstrom builds his paintings as much as he paints them, loading the surfaces with gossamer lines that burst open like fireworks or elaborate quasars.

Glound 5, 2011, glue, acryloid, wire, acrylic, pigment on canvas, 28 x 24"

In reality, the bones of this work are derived from the phonetics and tonal qualities of language. In the process of building, assembling and gluing the elements into from, Bergstrom's words are buried under pigment and glue. He calls the works, "Glounds" -- a pseudo term derived from combining "glue" and "sound," two elements that are integral to his creative process.

Glound 15, 2012, glue, wire, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 48"

Don't miss Timothy Bergstrom, Glounds, on view through May 29 at Halsey McKay.

Next post: Denise Kupferschmidt, Motifs, also at Halsey McKay

forrest bess very best

Forrest Bess (by Robert Gober)

2012 Whitney Biennial

Forrest Bess (1911-1977) was a fisherman who lived much of his life in isolation on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Still, for twenty mid-century years, he exhibited his paintings at Betty Parsons in New York. But his wish to exhibit his medical works based on the unification of male and female sexuality alongside his paintings was not to be realized in his lifetime. 

Sculptor Robert Gober, who was invited to exhibit at the 2012 Whitney Biennial, chose to submit a curated exhibition that pays homage to Bess, to his wishes, and to a selection of his visionary paintings, journal entries and archival photographs. Where Parsons demurred, Gober's installation offers a breathtaking look at Bess's exhaustive writings on hermaphroditism, alchemy, mythology and mysticism as well as photo documentation of Bess's own self-surgical procedures that morphed him into something of a pseudo-hermaphrodite. 

In a Whitney Biennial mostly devoid of painting (notable exceptions, the stunning Nicole Eisenman installation and brilliant paintings by Andrew Masullo) this is one of the absolute highlights as well as an artistic and curatorial coup for Gober, whose wonderful 2009-10 exhibit, Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield won critical acclaim across the country.  

More thoughts and good links on the Whitney Biennial coming...