January Memories 2

The thing is that particular painting was NOT my first choice. This one was...

The problem that happened was it was too big to send out. I had it boxed up and taped, address on it and everything. Then I tried putting it in our car to take it to the USPS. Not gonna work, car was too small. I can fit a 48" X 36" painting in the car, but it can only be that size. Since this was with a box, that wasn't going to happen. Thankfully my neighbor was around and he helped bring the painting to the Post Office. Funny thing is he works for the PO but couldn't tell me what the ladies at the store were going to say. It turned out it was too big to go through their standard shipping routes. So deflated as I was, I was about to get more deflated, since our neighbor had left when the box was at the store. We still had to figure a way to get it home. What I did was I sat in the back seat with the painting hanging out the back and me using all my pressure to keep the painting INSIDE the car on the trip back home. We live not that far away from the USPS store. Maybe 3/4 Mile maybe.

Once the painting was back home. I began looking for it's replacement. I found the painting I did send, we packed it up, much easier than before. And this time it did fit in the car. A few days later it was at SIDESHOW GALLERY, and I was officially an artist that was about to exhibit in New York City for the first time.

Jeffrey

January Memories 1

I didn't realize until just minutes ago that a number of my exhibitions have all been in January. From my first NYC exhibition that I was in to the next year when I was in my first small group exhibition in Chelsea. Just spending a moment to remember the wonderful opportunities that have come around the beginning of the new year.

My first NYC exhibition was 2013 in Williamsburg Brooklyn at Sideshow Gallery, Owner Richard Timperio got known for holding the biggest and most democratic exhibition on the planet. It ran until the year he passed away, when most of the work was done by all the wonderful helpers that Rich always was blessed to have around him. I cannot take away from Rich's eye for hanging exhibitions. The guy could have given classes on it. But how do you teach something that is so ingrained within you?

The first show I was in there was called SIDESHOW NATION. There were around 500 artists from around the world in this show. Mostly I think everyone was from the NY area, along with a number of us who sent in work. I sent this painting in...

 

It was also one of the paintings I took to visit Joseph Marioni, he liked it and put it on his wall. I was very happy. 

 

Here it is hanging UP in Sideshow Gallery, photo taken by Peter Reginato. I was filming that night because Loren Munk couldn't be there himself. I didn't film the show the way he would have, but I did a pretty good job.

Cerith Wyn Evans at Century Pictures

"Cerith Wyn Evans artistic practice focuses on how ideas can be communicated through form."

The beginning of an artist statement that isn't complete bullshit.

This past weekend, I was doing the Brooklyn Artist Studio's roundup, stopped by some galleries in the Bushwick section, found the new Koenig & Clinton space, stopped in, and in the project space Leo Koenig calls Century Pictures, there was the first work by Cerith that I have been able to catch in person. 

Having not known any of his work in person, and only seeing reproductions, my first thought after thinking and pondering the exhibition was, this fellas work should not be allowed to be reproduced on websites. It only does a quarter of the justice that viewing in person can give you. This particular work that Koenig installed, is a beautiful chandelier, which immediately drew my attention based...I believe...is roughly the same kind a friend of mine has installed in his home. Funny how things like that can happen. And I was able to see this chandelier just a couple weeks back for the first time. So in a way, this is my way of telling my friend that some famous artist is using the same chandelier he has as an artwork. Oh the funny things the universe does for those paying attention.

After the initial viewing was done, it was time to really get into the meat and potatoes of this piece. First off, if you have problems with strobing lights, this might not be the exhibition for you. But that depends on how much you can handle. As Evans has it in his practice that he likes to utilize Morse Code in some of his works, which give the work it's flashiness. Granted my brain didn't immediately go to Morse Code without it being revealed under the press release. But once I knew that, it made some pieces of the puzzle fall into place, and my interest grew.

One problem I've had with conceptual art over the years, is that so much of it is based on the idea, and past viewings have proven this to me, that the idea outweighs the actual artwork. This time it was definitely one and the same, the idea of morse code in a chandelier is brilliance. Especially one as beautiful as this work is.

I'm going to stop here and just put up some pics I took with my iphone4. I used to have a better LG G4 cameraphone, but like all G4 users, last april the phone died on all of us and now there is a big lawsuit against LG for this crap. So unfortunately the photos aren't as good as I could get, but you'll get enough with this to help you make up your mind to witness this exhibition for yourself. There is another show in the front of some wonderfully manipulated photographs from "Miljohn Ruperto & Ulrik Heltoft’s ongoing series, Voynich Botanical Studies. Carefully rendered by Ruperto and then manually printed by Heltoft, the otherworldly images of twenty unique ‘specimens’ have been inspired by the original Voynich Manuscript. This exhibition brings together the largest gathering of ‘specimens’ ever on view since the project commenced in 2013." (as quoted from the press release). Being that I am a fan of this manuscript, I was definitely intrigued by the exhibition. But Cerith's exhibition was the one that really grabbed me.

The exhibition is up till October 22nd. 1329 Willoughby AvenueBrooklyn, NY, 11237
(212) 334-7866

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Chris Succo at Journal Gallery Brooklyn NY

Of the few exhibitions I witnessed while in NYC for this visit. I knew that two of them were high on my desirable list. One was Chris Succo at The Journal Gallery in Williamsburg. Photos all with my iPhone 4, which doesn't have the best white balance.

I first learned of Succo's work from an online article about him and his work. To see someone who seemed so obsessed with white paint was quite interesting to me in this age. So much so that he even has his own custom white made for him.

These paintings are a group of 7 large paintings in the front room and a suite of small paintings in the back room. The hanging of this exhibition was very well planned and executed in my eyes. Thankfully the light was able to diffuse in such a way by being so close to the ceiling that it made it feel like it was almost all lit by natural light. The people behind The Journal Gallery really have shows their passion for making one of the best spaces for viewing art in Brooklyn.

The main painting in the back wall of the main viewing room is quite the showpiece for the exhibition. Filled like the other landscape painting in the show with his famous signature in black aerosol paint. But then counterpointed with a glazing of white over top, done in a manner very similar, if not exactly similar to that of Gerhard Richter. Who is known to him for doing this technique. My knowledge of art history tells me it was done many years before by David Diao and Jack Whitten, but both of those painters did the technique in their own way. Which is what Succo accomplishes here, his own riff on the squeegee method.

Remember you can click on the images and see it's larger size.

The more portrait oriented paintings were filled with mystery. A mystery that discussed to me, Succo's love for painting, and his love of history. Which I saw in the catalog for the exhibition. The man has got one heck of a library in his studio. Enough to make any artist jealous. As my eyes danced over the calm but once violent surfaces, I began to notice the way Succo signs his work. Remember, this was my first time witnessing the work in person. My mind immediately went to another of my favorite painters...Robert Ryman. A painter who signed almost all his work in such a way, that if you looked hard enough you could always find his signature. Succo's work was in that same manner in these works. I even caught myself taking pics of all the signatures I could find from one painting in the images below...found 6.

I began counting Succo's signature within the painting below. Counted 6 signatures.

Playing with surfaces is always something that is of interest to me in painting and these paintings kept me interested for quite the period of time. I usually don't spend that much time in a gallery but this day was definitely different for me.

Usually in my viewing of paintings, when it comes to large work such as this, I usually see the painting accompanied by a thicker stretcher, this was definitely not the case in these paintings. I loved how thin the stretchers were and how it allowed the work to sink into the walls, almost giving it a fresco effect.

In the back room are a series of 12 paintings which I would refer to as "For the love of pleasure in painting". Very happy work that asks you to dare him to not have fun while painting. I can imagine these bringing their new adoptees much pleasure in their lives. Within these works you can clearly, and sometimes not so clearly, see his signature strokes. Which definitely set him apart from others who make this type of "reckless abandon" painting. Each work is also cleverly dated IN the painting. Lush surfaces and even more lush colorings tell me that if you spend some time in this room, it'll bring you out of your funk.

The exhibition DRIVE will be on view until the 21st of June. So if you have been tempted by my talk, head on down and swim in it for yourself.

Spitball @ Storefront Ten Eyck

While out and about on Sunday I felt like walking around and seeing what other galleries I could find. My mind immediately went to Storefront Ten Eyck, a gallery that painter Deborah Brown has been running since 2012. The gallery was originally in a small space on Wilson Street but recently moved to a giant space on Ten Eyck where there is plenty of room to move around and for her to share larger artworks with the public.

Spitball is an exhibition coming from the minds of Kris Chatterson and Vince Contarino, referring to themselves as Progress Report. They run a blog that showcases artists in their studios and talks about the creative process. Check out their website, you'll spend a lot of time in there. The exhibition itself contains the work of 15 artists of all kinds of styles. Here's a few photos from my visit. Unfortunately even I don't know who most of these works are in the photos. So you'll just have to go down there and find out for yourself.

A painting in a small bedroom space, made the space feel like a temple.

 

Looks like someone is blowing up Anne Truitt.

Deborah Brown paintings in the side room.

Matthew Deleget work in the front room.

It's hard to write about a group show without focusing on a few select pieces. I want to tell you what I thought and felt as I took in the exhibition, but frankly if you know my writing you know I don't want to feel like I am planting thoughts in your head. Go enjoy it until April 6, 2014. 324 Ten Eyck St, Brooklyn NY 11206

Brent Owens @ English Kills

Sunday afternoon I headed over to the Bushwick section of Brooklyn to see what I had only seen in a couple photos. Brought to my attention by one Loren Munk AKA James Kalm and his selection of exhibition documentaries on various artists on youtube. I am in connection with Mr. Munk on Facebook and saw his post about Mr. Owens almost immediately after it came up in the feed. Immediately I knew it was something I wanted to find out more about. I got in touch with Mr. Owens and he told me that the gallery English Kills is only open on weekends, including Sundays, so I made my way down there to much delight.

I couldn't really tell where it was when walking down there, but thankfully Brent was about to open up the gallery and recognized me, we walked in through the back way and came across a cavalcade of truly imagined work from nature. All of Brent's work is on wood surfaces, a number of them are carved directly from fallen trees or stumps pulled from the ground. I was originally intrigued by his "rug" paintings, done with routed surfaces carefully painted making beautiful handmade patterns. I am usually not a pattern type of person, but these handmade ones really catch and delight the eye.

A few sculptures really stood out too. Well, in retrospect, almost all of them stood out for me. Brent uses wood in ways I have not seen done before. From his use of a stump that had grown over bricks, to a fallen tree from Sandy's wrath turned into a beautiful inner landscape. I almost felt myself being drawn into it's world of pinkness, reminding me of my time in caves, it's stalactites and stalagmites piercing my memory. I'm done talking, check out the picks....

The front/side door for English Kills Gallery.

The artist at work repairing a sculpture.

Hope you enjoyed my little survey of photos I took that afternoon. It's always best to go down there and see for yourself, so I hope these gave you an idea that you'd like to see more. These handmade works really have me thinking long and dark about nature and how it covers us. Thanks Brent for the visit.

http://www.englishkillsartgallery.com/