Monday, March 31, 2014

Peter Reginato @ Andre Zarre Gallery

Those that know me, know of my deep appreciation and admiration for the sculpture of Peter Reginato. Creating his own form, formula, and formations. He has been enjoying a successful exhibition at Andre Zarre Gallery in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.

529 W. 20th Street 7th Floor contains some of the most innovative and provocative sculpture in New York. Sculpture is one of the hardest things to speak about, trying to describe three dimensional work to someone is damn near impossible. As the Painter Joseph Marioni says, "Language is not sight specific". This work is truly a dance for the eyes. Get down there before April 12th, 2014.

Photos never do justice to the power in these two sculptures as they battle for dominance in the room.

Another side of Rough Play amongst his playful drawings, some of them turn into much larger paintings that are just as playful and energetic. They energize every room.

View as you enter the gallery. My personal favorite of the exhibition is the wonderfully yellow Johnny Wadd. I love the balance and tone in this sculpture.

On the right is Rough Play, which I felt truly deserves it's own room as it is a sculpture that can fill a space with it's energy.

The Spanish Poet

Yet another angle from The Spanish Poet.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

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/