Abstract Approaches

          “ABSTRACT APPROACHES”

  November 22 – March 28, 2015

Ernest Briggs, Lawrence Calcagno, Friedel Dzubas Amaranth Ehrenhalt, Joseph Fiore, Stanley Hayter, Carl Hecker, Buffie Johnson, Michael Loew, Jeanne Miles, Betty Parsons, Irving Petlin,  Jeanne Reynal, Ethel Schwabacher, Thomas Sills

The Anita Shapolsky Gallery is pleased to present “Abstract Approaches”, a comprehensive collection of many works from the The New York School of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as works as early as 1935 and as recent as 2009. Abstract art means many things. It is not as simple as a room full of gestural paintings, almost indistinguishable from one another. It varies beyond the use of linear shapes and pure geometry. Abstract artists are more complex than one style, or one viable term. This group represents the mecca of this influential art scene, whose tradition has been upheld and continues to be relevant over several decades.

The works exhibited encompass a wide range of approaches that emblematize the Abstract movement. Varying degrees of linearity are shown, as seen in Jeanne Miles’ “The Sound of Children’s Laughter” (1954). Miles work explores the divine and spiritual truths. She encourages the viewer to contemplate universal mysteries. Painterly, loose works with a representational basis are also prominently displayed as seen in Irving Petlin’s “The High Plants” (1969) and Buffie Johnson’s “Cyclical Time” (1962). Irivng Petlin is especially known for his mastery of the pastel medium and often drawing inspiration from poetry. Buffie Johnson’s work is of an existential nature. Johnson’s cosmic like paintings convey her belief in the cylindrical behavior of life with its eternal returns.  The two paintings by Stanley Hayter  “Pavane” (1935), a wooden collage, “Untitled”(1945), an oil painting, are the earliest works in the exhibition. Hayter was associated with the Surrealist movement as well as Abstract Expressionism. He is renowned as one of the most significant printmakers of the twentieth century. The studio he founded in Paris, Atelier 17, is legendary. The inclusion of Jeanne Reynal’s sculpture “Sphere” (1950s) nods to the diversity of mediums employed by this art movement. Reynal adopted the ancient technique of Mosaic in her pieces, and through doing so gave a sense of movement and life to flat surfaces. She used found rocks, stones, shells, marble and other semi-precious stones. She was assisted by her husband (also included in this exhibition) Thomas Sills, who would help her break up stones for her sculptures. Upon meeting Sills, an African American, Reynal left her wealthy husband and the two joined forces in both romance and art making. Thomas Sills’ paintings feature luminous organic forms and innovative compositions in lush fields of color. Carl Hecker, a sculptor, is the youngest artist included in the exhibition. Hecker’s piece “Roadflower with Puddles” (2009) uses synthetic materials and is very playful. Carl fits well in this mix because he was associated with the Martha Jackson Collection with her son David Anderson.

Artists whose works are being shown in this exhibition are pioneers and masters of the Abstract movement. The six women in the exhibition hold their own amongst the men. Betty Parsons, for example, is considered the godmother of Abstract Expressionism and was not only one of the first advocates of many influential artists, but an artist in her own right. Parsons recorded her experiences with nature using radiant luminescence and eventually turned to sculpture using found wood. She made a brave choice in showing other female artists, which at times resulted in males protesting and walking out of her exhibitions. Amaranth Ehrenhalt, another female artist featured in this exhibition, is an incredibly prolific and multidisciplinary artist. Ehrenhalt’s work has been internationally exhibited since the 1950s. Still alive and exhibiting work globally, Ehrenhalt works in painting, sculpture, tapestry, drawings, prints, mosaics, poetry and prose. Ehrenhalt’s work is frenetic, and features a fearless use of color. The dynamic energy of her work transcends to provoke an emotional response from viewers of all backgrounds. The inclusion of her tapestry piece “Aubrietta” (2008) once again enhances the viewer’s sense of the many diverse approaches to abstract art.

  An overarching theme of explorations in nature, light, sensual forms, and cylindrical as well as square shapes is evident in the curation of this exhibition. The many approaches exhibited here shed light on the profound creativity of the abstract artists. What is most exceptional is the ability of these artists to express ideas while treating their subject matter with a tenderness and sensitivity. In today’s art world of constantly changing trends, few movements have stood the test of time, and certainly none can compare.

“ABSTRACT APPROACHES” will be on view at the Anita Shapolsky Gallery at 152 East 65^th Street from Nov. 22 – Feb 14, 2014

For additional information and jpegs

 please contact the gallery at

[email protected]

www.anitashapolskygallery.com

The Hard Line

THE HARD LINE

Seymour Boardman, Ilya Bolotowsky, Nassos Daphnis, Kendall Shaw

September 11 – November 15, 2014

 

The Anita Shapolsky Gallery is presenting an exhibit of four artists renowned for their contributions to hard-edged works in which color is primary.

The approach of Seymour Boardman (1921-2005) to visual structure evolved from his earlier works which evidenced a concern with expressive painted surfaces. After losing the use of his left hand during World War II, Boardman resumed his art studies in France from 1946-1949. “Visual structure” played a major role in his approach. Boardman moved from the use of gestural paint strokes to formally composed canvases that are specific in the use of color, shape placement, and line. In his acrylic 1961 Untitled (72” x 38”), Boardman places his shapes at the bottom of the rectangular canvas, interacting with both the space above and the actual bottom edge of the painting. He engages the spectrum of black by using two variations-each marked by different intensities and richness. Over a decade later, in the 1978 acrylic Untitled (26” x 34”) he uses only lines to explore the vastness of his white color field. Boardman’s work is included in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Newark Museum, Rose Art Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum and other more.

 

A founding member of the American Abstract Artists (1936), a group that rejected the popular realist imagery of the day, Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981) was one of the few artists to create an abstract mural for the WPA.  His biomorphic forms gave way to the grids, shaped canvases, and the use of primary colors interacting with white space – which operate as bands or lines. Bolotowsky was influenced by his countryman Kazimir Malevich, and when he first saw the paintings of Piet Mondrian in 1933, he was strongly impacted by the ideology of Neo-Plasticism. In the 1958 Naples Yellow and Grey (26” x 34 ½”), Bolotowsky delivers a nuanced work, without the use of primary colors. Instead, he punctuates gradations of white, greys, and the warmth of Naples Yellow with slender rectangles of aqua blue, dusty rose, and bluish purple – all of equal intensities. Bolotowksy’s work is included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum, the Guggenheim Museum – (where he had a retrospective in 1974) and other public institutions.

The creative journey of Nassos Daphnis (1914- 2010) took him from early paintings recalling his youth in Greece, to the City Walls Project in the Manhattan of the 1970’s. His abstract, geometric images adorned building walls from the West Side Highway to Madison Avenue and 26^th Street. Daphnis first showed at the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1959. His ouvre included the exploration of geometric planes of color, often arranged in patterns. He then morphed to a wide-ranging examination of circles, discs, rings, and spheres. The latter he explored in three-dimensional epoxy on novaply (a form of particle board). In PX-9-69 (30” x 30”) from 1969, Daphnis uses enamel on a circular plexiglass field to explore the push and pull of movement via both color and shape. The black and red motif uses missile-like forms to converge on a central black diamond. Simultaneously, bands of blue, yellow, and white both push towards the center while alluding to the space beyond the perimeters of the canvas. Daphnis is included in the collections of the Aldrich Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and Chrysler Museum and many others.

Emanating from an extensive background in science, specifically physics, Kendall Shaw (b.1924) has consistently been concerned with the metaphysics of art. Throughout his career, color and space have been primary. In his Cajun Minimalist series, Shaw uses panels of acrylic on canvas—placed to interact with the white wall space—to illustrate his philosophy of color as energy. In his 2012 Alligator Kum, Shaw employs four panels of color, two narrow and two wide. The narrow red and orange bands are separated by a span of white wall, equal in measure to them. The result is a shifting and ongoing dialogue. Shaw’s work is in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Japan, and the New Orleans Museum of Art.

All four artists reduced complicated image to its essence through a simple play with basic color planes.

For additional information and jpegs, please contact the gallery at: [email protected]

 

 

The Hard Line

THE HARD LINE

Seymour Boardman, Ilya Bolotowsky, Nassos Daphnis, Kendall Shaw

September 11 – November 15, 2014

 

The Anita Shapolsky Gallery is presenting an exhibit of four artists renowned for their contributions to hard-edged works in which color is primary.

The approach of Seymour Boardman (1921-2005) to visual structure evolved from his earlier works which evidenced a concern with expressive painted surfaces. After losing the use of his left hand during World War II, Boardman resumed his art studies in France from 1946-1949. “Visual structure” played a major role in his approach. Boardman moved from the use of gestural paint strokes to formally composed canvases that are specific in the use of color, shape placement, and line. In his acrylic 1961 Untitled (72” x 38”), Boardman places his shapes at the bottom of the rectangular canvas, interacting with both the space above and the actual bottom edge of the painting. He engages the spectrum of black by using two variations-each marked by different intensities and richness. Over a decade later, in the 1978 acrylic Untitled (26” x 34”) he uses only lines to explore the vastness of his white color field. Boardman’s work is included in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Newark Museum, Rose Art Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum and other more.

 

A founding member of the American Abstract Artists (1936), a group that rejected the popular realist imagery of the day, Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981) was one of the few artists to create an abstract mural for the WPA.  His biomorphic forms gave way to the grids, shaped canvases, and the use of primary colors interacting with white space – which operate as bands or lines. Bolotowsky was influenced by his countryman Kazimir Malevich, and when he first saw the paintings of Piet Mondrian in 1933, he was strongly impacted by the ideology of Neo-Plasticism. In the 1958 Naples Yellow and Grey (26” x 34 ½”), Bolotowsky delivers a nuanced work, without the use of primary colors. Instead, he punctuates gradations of white, greys, and the warmth of Naples Yellow with slender rectangles of aqua blue, dusty rose, and bluish purple – all of equal intensities. Bolotowksy’s work is included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum, the Guggenheim Museum – (where he had a retrospective in 1974) and other public institutions.

The creative journey of Nassos Daphnis (1914- 2010) took him from early paintings recalling his youth in Greece, to the City Walls Project in the Manhattan of the 1970’s. His abstract, geometric images adorned building walls from the West Side Highway to Madison Avenue and 26^th Street. Daphnis first showed at the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1959. His ouvre included the exploration of geometric planes of color, often arranged in patterns. He then morphed to a wide-ranging examination of circles, discs, rings, and spheres. The latter he explored in three-dimensional epoxy on novaply (a form of particle board). In PX-9-69 (30” x 30”) from 1969, Daphnis uses enamel on a circular plexiglass field to explore the push and pull of movement via both color and shape. The black and red motif uses missile-like forms to converge on a central black diamond. Simultaneously, bands of blue, yellow, and white both push towards the center while alluding to the space beyond the perimeters of the canvas. Daphnis is included in the collections of the Aldrich Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and Chrysler Museum and many others.

Emanating from an extensive background in science, specifically physics, Kendall Shaw (b.1924) has consistently been concerned with the metaphysics of art. Throughout his career, color and space have been primary. In his Cajun Minimalist series, Shaw uses panels of acrylic on canvas—placed to interact with the white wall space—to illustrate his philosophy of color as energy. In his 2012 Alligator Kum, Shaw employs four panels of color, two narrow and two wide. The narrow red and orange bands are separated by a span of white wall, equal in measure to them. The result is a shifting and ongoing dialogue. Shaw’s work is in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Japan, and the New Orleans Museum of Art.

All four artists reduced complicated image to its essence through a simple play with basic color planes.

For additional information and jpegs, please contact the gallery at: [email protected]

 

 

Karl Hagedorn: Symbolic Abstraction, May 8 thru Summer 2014

 

Press Release

The Anita Shapolsky Gallery will be presenting paintings by Karl Hagedorn (1922-2005) through the summer of 2014.

Hagedorn’s life and experiences were impacted by history and geography. Born in what had been the Weimar Republic, Hagedorn lived through Nazism, Communist rule in East Germany, relocation to the West German Republic-and then to the United States.

Hagedorn’s imagery was influenced by his childhood memories of the mechanical shapes and parts of his father’s sawmill, what he called “a kaleidoscope of geometric planes”. Durer, Pierro della Francesa, Leger, Miro, the Cubist and the Surrealists were artists he pointed to as impacting his vision.

An interweaving of his German and American identities informed his sensibilities, yielding a dynamic body of work.

Selected collections: Brooklyn Museum, Walker Art Center, New York Public Library, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Goethe Institute, Deutsches Museum and the Kunsthistorisches Museum.