Alex Couwenberg: Swell
Carmon Colangelo: Glocal Diptychs (Front Room)
Chris Kahler: Disequencing (Project Room)
Eric Minh Swenson: The Making of "La Fonda" (New Media Room)
(Apr 05, 2013 to May 04, 2013)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present Alex Couwenberg's second solo exhibition with the gallery. A catalogue, Alex Couwenberg: Swell, will be published on the occasion of the exhibition. Los Angeles based painter Alex Couwenberg's new paintings explore "process" and the "moment" through tightly controlled compositions of paint and mark making. Born and raised in Southern California, Couwenberg creates images that are inspired by the elements indigenous to his surroundings. The work references and suggests the aesthetic associated with mid-century modernism, car culture, skateboards, and surfing. Not to leave out, paying homage to the historical styles of post-war art making associated with Los Angeles and Southern California throughout the 1950's, 60's, and 70's.
In the Project Room, the gallery presents an exhibition titled "Disequencing" by Chris Kahler. A new body of work that utilizes a more intimate scale and simplicity that is in contrast to recent works. A duality exists in the work, playing back and forth with questions of depth and causality. David Pagel of the Los Angeles Times wrote of Kahler's work: "a potent and corrosive beauty, a sublime combination of breakdown and growth, disintegration and accumulation, creation and destruction. Sometimes it seems as if he paints pictures of a world of effervescence, in which solid substances dissolve into roiling gases, steamy atmospheres, and gravity-defying liquid clouds. In his work, it is almost impossible to distinguish between the microscopic and the cosmic, and everything is richer for the confusion."
In the Front Room, the gallery presents an exhibition by Carmon Colangelo titled "Glocal Diptychs". Carmon Colangelo's new work muses about cultural narratives, urban life, human ecologies, globalism, social networking, transcendence, and recording everyday ideas. Glocal Diptychs is a series of nine mixed media prints produced in 2012 at Pele Prints in St. Louis. Each of the works is made from a shared matrix and printed on two sheets of paper using monotype, intaglio, relief process as well as hand-coloring. These prints expand on Colangelo's interest in architectonic forms and the poetics of space with an eye to our changing notions about place and shifts between geographic location and local identity while contemplating a globalized future.
In the New Media Room, the gallery presents a video-interview of Alex Couwenberg by Los Angeles based filmmaker Eric Minh Swenson. The short-film titled "The Making of La Fonda" is directed and produced by Swenson and, is part of an on-going series that focuses on artists' lives and studio practices in Los Angeles. The music is by The Hitchikers, James Lucchesi, and Mick Cripps and video is 20:32 minutes long. More info can be found on his ongoing Los Angeles project at thuvanarts.com. See the documentary video by Eric Minh Swenson (Video Link)
Press Release (PDF)
Richard Hull: Recent Paintings
Mario Trejo: Projected Edifices (Project Room)
Dickson Beall: Borders & Boundaries: Virtual & Real (New Media Room)
(Mar 01, 2013 to Mar 30, 2013)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present Richard Hull's first solo exhibition with the gallery, on view March 1-30, 2013. Richard Hull's paintings fill their canvases with large swathes of color; blocks of opaque hues are overlaid with sweeping brushstrokes clustered together that function like ripples on the water-but far less transient. Rings within a tree may be more appropriate, as the description evokes the same feelings of growth that Hull's painterly gestures achieve. The comparison of grooves on a record player describes some of the patterns, but neither the liveliness of the purposeful irregularities within Hull's stroke widths nor the texture of thick paint upon the canvas.
In the Front Room, the gallery presents an exhibition titled "Projected Edifices" by Mario Trejo. This is his second one-person exhibition at Bruno David Gallery. In his paintings, Trejo visually explores the macro and microcosmic struggle through manic mark-making. His work is a meticulous accumulation of idiosyncratic marks that, at a distance, appear as dark and ethereal cosmic forms, but upon closer inspection reveal themselves as an expanse of scratches that crumble into a Promethean struggle. The hundreds of thousands of marks create illusion of an emerging form, exhibiting the artist's conscious and sensitive attention to both detail and entirety. The drawings begin to expose small universes, each a relic of the arduous performance of repeated gestures.
In the New Media Room, the gallery presents an installation video work titled "Borders & Boundaries: Virtual & Real", by Dickson Beall. In his new work, multi-media artist Dickson Beall explores art, from the time of cave painting to present day. In this necessarily selective review, the artist's focus is on the inter-relationship of expanding "empires" and "bridges" of communication - suggested by superimposed images of the Empire State Building (an emblem of power) and the Brooklyn Bridge (connecting two economies). Using a time line of art images, multiple video tracks and mirrors, Beall creates an immersive experience. His virtual video installation contrasts with his storyboard narrative of small hand-made prints and a large oil painting.
Press Release (PDF)
Kelley Johnson "New Paintings"
Tuan Lee "Grazia" (Project Room)
Escobar-Morales "Resurrection of Hun-Nal-Ye" (New Media Room)
Opening Reception: Friday, February 1, 2013
FIRST FRIDAYS IN GRAND CENTER
Friday, February 1, 2013
5 - 9 PM
(Feb 01, 2013 to Feb 23, 2013)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present Kelley Johnson's fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. A catalogue, KELLEY JOHNSON: NEW PAINTINGS, with new essays by Nicole Yen and Damon Freed, will be published on the occasion of the exhibition. Johnson's artwork explores ways in which painting can be constructed, interested in his paintings as objects, and their ability to illustrate atmospheres and sensations. Found within Johnson's works are juxtapositions of geometric lines and spontaneously blurred arcs, that evoke feelings of depth and vibration. The repetition of similar shapes creates a melodious rhythm within his pieces, and Johnson's color choices amplify or mute the patterns madeswathes of emerald green interrupt muddy grays, dashes of hot pink race against black. Some moments within the artwork willfully declare their presence.
In the Project Room, the gallery presents an exhibition titled "Grazia" by Tuan Lee, a Los Angeles-based photographer. This is his first one-person exhibition at Bruno David Gallery. In what is believed the first fashion magazine, La Dernière Mode from the 1870's, we find a manifesto for fashion: "To teach beauty in everyday things is our concern, or a part of it, but even more a putting-to-use in the cause of delicate enjoyment of artists' visions." Art and fashion exist in separate constructed categories. Art, on the one hand, typically involves something valued as a lasting object. Fashion, on the other hand is ephemeral with an accelerated turnover of style. Tuan Lee's current work focuses on merging these two forms of expression. His work shows that art may at times resemble fashion and fashion may look like art.
In the New Media Room, the gallery presents a single-channel video work titled "Resurrection of Hun-Nal-Ye" by Escobar-Morales. In the Resurrection of Hun-Nal-Ye (2011), Escobar-Morales perform a funerary ritual, referencing the mythical Mayan tale of the Hero Twins reviving their dead father, the Maize God. In their contemporary interpretation of this ancient story, Escobar-Morales simultaneously represent the body and the soul; the God/Goddess and twin offspring, in both physical and technological forms using live performance and web based video projection.
Press Release (PDF)
Forsyth School: Seeing Ourselves
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 24, 2013 from 6 to 8 pm
(Jan 24, 2013 to Jan 26, 2013)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition "Seeing Ourselves" by Forsyth School fifth grade students. The group exhibition with the gallery will be on view January 24-26, 2013, with an opening reception on Thursday, January 24, 2013. The exhibition is under the direction of the 2012 Nicholas Aaron Aitken Artist-in-Residence, Cindy Tower, and their art teacher Ellen Gomez DeFilippo.
The Nicholas Aaron Aitken Artist-in-Residence Program was established at Forsyth School in April 2010 in memory of Nicholas Aitken, a graduate of the Class of 2004 who passed away in November 2009. Nick was a gifted art student and loved Forsyth School. His parents, Tamara and Bart, and his brother Ian (FS '08) felt the Artist-in-Residence Program was a fitting way to honor Nick's memory.
Press Release (PDF)
BLUE - WHITE -RED
A Group Exhibition
(Nov 30, 2012 to Jan 19, 2013)
In this exhibition, the artists associated with the gallery return to the very essence of the three colors and investigate how they interact with surrounding space. A wide range of media is explored, including painting, sculpture, and video. The limited palette provides a constant that amplifies the artists' individual styles.
Throughout history, humans have placed varying significance on color. Colors evoke memories, dispel fears, stimulate the appetite, suggest worth. They scream for attention, converse amiably, whisper between cupped palms pressed against an ear. Across cultures, times, and specific situations, the meaning and purpose of color is constantly changing. Blue, white, and red--in America, this trio is inescapably political. Yet, when broken apart, each color has individual connotations steeped in years of use. Blue - White - Red attempts to step away from these groupings entirely. The artists worked separately; it is not the exhibition's aim to have unifying undertones, political or otherwise. Instead, viewers are encouraged to look at the artworks afresh and investigate how the altered surfaces reflect, absorb, and distribute light.
Press Release (PDF)
GARY PASSANISE: "Painting"
Damon Freed: "En Plein Air" (Front Room)
William Morris: "black/white tv" (New Media Room)
GALLERY TALK: Saturday, November 24, 2012 at 3 pm
(Oct 19, 2012 to Nov 24, 2012)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present Gary Passanise's second solo exhibition with the gallery. In a career spanning over three decades, Gary Passanise has worked fluidly in a variety of media. In the exhibition "Painting", we see a return to his roots in large-scale painting. Passanise engages a reduced palette and deceptively emotive compositional effects in his most recent body of work. The results reveal the confidence of an experienced hand and an always searching and advancing intellect.
In the Front Room, the gallery presents a new exhibition titled "En Plein Air" by Damon Freed. In 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in Nature, "In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature." Freed's landscape drawings stemmed from the recognition of a coming summer, coupled with a strong desire to get out of the studio and away from painting for a while. He wanted to wipe the slate clean.
In the New Media Room, the gallery presents a single-channel video work titled "black/white TV" by William Morris. The 40-second one-channel video originated in 1988 as an experiment with the Sandin Image Processor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Sandin Image Processor, invented by electronics engineer and visual artist Dan Sandin, is an analog video processor/image synthesizer comprised of hand-built electronic modules capable of being interconnected to produce various special effects, which alter the incoming video signal.
Press Release (PDF)
JOAN HALL: "Marginal Waters"
CHERIE SAMPSON: "At the Pole of Heaven": Media Room
Other events at the Gallery:
Cherie Sampson wil have a Gallery Talk at Bruno David Gallery on Friday, October 5th, 2012 at 6pm. The Gallery Talk will consist of an artist lecture and a question-and-answer session with the audience. There will also be a discussion between Peter MacKeith and Cherie Sampson about her current exhibition "At the Pole of Heaven."
Recent Reviews:
- Joan Hall: Marginal Waters by Jessica Baran in the Riverfront Times link
- Joan Hall's work transforms the Bruno David Gallery by Rachel Heidenry in the St. Louis Beacon link
- Joan Hall's Marginal Waters at Bruno David Gallery by Sage Dawson in PRINTERESTING link
(Sep 07, 2012 to Oct 13, 2012)
Bruno David Gallery presents Joan Hall's second solo exhibition with the gallery, Marginal Waters. Fascinated with the ocean for years and traveling over 25,000 miles as a skilled navigator and sailboat racer, it comes as no surprise that Hall's latest work encompasses her passion for the environment. Through Hall's use of Mylar and handmade paper, viewers will recognize marine debris and plastic pollution that infiltrate our oceans. Previously exploring the ocean and its relationship to the body, Hall's work has expanded from the micro-focus of the ocean's relationship to the individual and the body of cells we are made of to the body of global society of which we are all a part of.
In the Media Room, the gallery presents a single-channel video work titled "At the Pole of Heaven" by Cherie Sampson. This video-performance made for the camera was created on Lake Mekri near Ilomantsi, Finland. The performance vignette is inspired by the classic Finnish epic poem, The Kalevala. In the first canto, the goddess Ilmatar rises from her lament in primordial waters to 'set about her creations', initiating the birth of earth and skies. She traverses the birch 'world tree', as a conduit between the worlds of the physical and celestial, a universal journey of the mythic and human alike...a means to re-member our seemingly disparate origins and place in both the "mixture of mud and water" of the earth and the "beautiful and comely stars of heaven..." (Kalevala) The three ladders allude to the tripartite symbolism that frequently appears in the ancient rune poems of Karelia, the cultural area at the border of Finland and Russia.
Press Release (PDF)
BUNNY BURSON: "HIDDEN in Plain Sight" (Main Gallery)
Danielle Spradley: "Over Time" (Project Room)
Lisa K. Blatt: "i am the enola gay" (New Media Room)
Recent Press:
- Reflection: Letters hidden in plain sight generate a moving, transformative exhibition by Robert W. Duffy in STLBeacon link
- Artist's exhibition explores long-hidden family secret by Sarah Weinman in the St. Louis Jewish Light link
- Q & A with Bunny Burson by Brittany Nay in the Ladue News link
- In The Galleries: Hidden in Plain Sight by Jessica Baran in the Riverfront Times link
- Video-interview of Bunny Burson on her current exhibition at Bruno David Gallery. May 2012. ( St. Louisan Video Link)
(May 11, 2012 to Jul 21, 2012)
In the Main Gallery, Bruno David Gallery presents HIDDEN in Plain Sight by Bunny Burson, on view from May 11 to July 21, 2012. Comprised of installations, prints and drawings, Burson's exhibition draws inspiration from a collection of over 100 letters written by the artist's grandparents to her mother between 1939-1941. Using prints, transfers, and overlays, Burson simultaneously grants and denies her viewers access to the content of the letters and their impact on the artist's own personal journey. For Burson, the push to ask these questions came from her daughter, Clare Burson. A singer and songwriter, her latest album, Silver and Ash (Rounder Records), is a concept album that imagines her maternal grandmother's life in Germany, from her birth in 1919 to her escape in 1938. These songs also explore her personal struggles with rupture, silence, guilt, empathy and continuity. A catalogue will accompany the exhibition with essays by Kate Butler and Kara Gordon (Publication date: June 30, 2012).
In the Project Room, the gallery presents a series of new drawings, titled Over Time, by Danielle Spradley. Danielle Spradley's work centers on the immense amount of change over time in the relationship between society and the environment. By painting images of the homeless woven into piles of trash and juxtaposing the trash accumulated in the city with Native American mythological characters, Spradley elevates these remnants of modern society. Her images combine highly detailed relief printing and painting, emphasizing every object's importance. Influenced by living in the Midwest, Spradley pulls motifs from Native American folklore and symbolism, most notably the white buffalo. Spradley uses this buffalo, which embodies the strength of women and the hope for humanity in future generations, to speak to loss in today's society on a number of levels.
In the Media Room, the gallery presents a video work titled i am the enola gay by Lisa K. Blatt. On August 6th, 1945,
Col. Paul Tibbets, Jr. flew the Enola Gay, the American B-29 bomber, off the runway to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, ending the second World War. While this marked victory for the Allies, the atomic bombs devastated Japan, the five-year death total as a result is thought to exceed 200,000 people in Hiroshima alone. Initially, it seems that Lisa K. Blatt's video could be any plane on any runway. It is the video's title and location that load "i am the enola gay" with its significance. On the same runway from which the Enola Gay took off nearly seventy years ago, Blatt recreates this journey in this video, presenting the viewer with the takeoff from the actual runway, including stopping at the bomb loading site.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
CHRIS KAHLER: "Recent Paintings" (Main Gallery)
Buzz Spector: "Malevich: with eight red rectangles" (Front Room)
Katharine Kuharic: "Working in the lou" (Project Room)
Van McElwee: "Supernatural" (New Media Room)
(Mar 09, 2012 to May 05, 2012)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present a new exhibition, "Recent Paintings", by Chris Kahler. Carmine Iannaccone writes of Kahler's work that "it unhinges the function of representation, loosens the joints of correspondence, makes the presumed determinacy of representation indeterminate". Kahler's paintings are this but they are simultaneously that. Iannaccone goes on to note: "Kahler's style of abstraction loosens the laws that govern representation, it puts another question into play: what kind of meaning does this species of vision produce?" The meaning, like the work itself, is multi-layered, and invites viewers to connect their own histories with the experience of looking. A fully illustrated catalogue, with an essay by Carmine Iannaccone and Kara Gordon, accompanies the exhibit.
In the Front Room, the gallery presents Buzz Spector's groundbreaking 1992 installation, Malevich: with eight red rectangles. Spector first exhibited this work in his solo exhibit at Roy Boyd Gallery, Santa Monica, in 1992. Since then this installation of eight handmade unique books plus freestanding wall unit, based on Kasimir Malevich's 1915 painting, Suprematism: with eight red rectangles, has been included in several major institutional exhibits, including the 1992-94 national traveling show, "Knowledge: Aspects of Conceptual Art," curated by Phyllis Plous and Frances Colpitt; "Testo e Contesto: il libro-ambiente," curated by Mirella Bentivoglio for the Palazzo Falconieri, Rome, 1998; and "Life Death Love Hate Pleasure Pain" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
In the Project Room, the gallery presents an exhibition, titled "Working in the Lou" by Katharine Kuharic. Kuharic's work is, in a word, alive. Birthed from "unsolicited images," Kuharic manipulates and reconfigures images that our culture has been desensitized to, shocking the viewer and asking the audience to reconsider what they think they know. Taking stock pictures from junk mail, newspapers, magazines and other sources, Kuharic meticulously paints images to create reconfigured histories. Her works highlight investigations into American celebrity, pop and suburban culture, and personal identity politics. A fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by Kara Gordon accompanies the exhibit.
In the Media Room, the gallery presents a video work titled "Supernatural" by Van McElwee. Just shy of six minutes, this single-channel video is waves of variation that reveal the contours of impossible form. It is as if the process of decay were reversed, causing delicate structures to emerge from the grain of chaos. A John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship funded this work. View the video "Supernatural" (here)
Press Release (PDF)
JUDY PFAFF: "Recent Work" (Main Gallery)
Carmon Colangelo: "Seven Days in O Land O" (Front Room)
Jill Downen: "Midsection" (Project Room)
Monika Weiss: "Abiding (Proba Wody)" (New Media Room)
(Jan 27, 2012 to Mar 03, 2012)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present Judy Pfaff's first solo exhibition in St. Louis since her exhibition Currents 41 at the Saint Louis Art Museum in 1989. Although internationally renowned as one of the pioneers of installation art, the exhibition at Bruno David Gallery, Recent Work exhibits her adroitness in creating smaller works of art. Melding several kinds of media and methods of art-making together, Pfaff redefines the capacities of what art can be. A fully illustrated catalogue with essays by Buzz Spector and Kara Gordon accompanies the exhibit. A video of Judy Pfaff exhibition at Bruno David Gallery. January 2012. (Video Link)
In the Front Room, the gallery presents an exhibition, titled Seven Days in O Land O by Carmon Colangelo. This collection of prints investigates the phenomenon of globalization and the disappearance of local culture and the gradual homogenization of American life. Inspired by a seven-day trip in Orlando, it was originally conceived to be seven interrelated, recto-verso prints that could be bound together and folded in a sequence that is suggestive of a road map. A fully illustrated catalogue with essays by Katherine Van Uum and Theo Lotz accompanies the exhibition. The prints were created at Flying Horse Editions. A video of Carmon Colangelo exhibition at Bruno David Gallery. January 2012. (Video Link)
In the Project Room, the gallery presents an exhibition, titled "Midsection" by Jill Downen. In Midsection, Downen employs the metaphoric relationship between bodies and buildings in an installation of sculptural forms. The torso, specifically from the bust to the navel, takes on the role of sculpted building blocks situated in relation to the space of the project room. Jill Downen's art is a focused investigation of the symbiotic relationship between the human body and architecture expressed in temporal installations, drawings, and models. Jill Downen is a 2010 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellow. A video of Jill Downen exhibition at Bruno David Gallery. January 2012. (Video Link)
In the Media Room, the gallery presents a video work titled "Abiding (Proba Wody)" - (Trial by Water) by Monika Weiss. Aneta Szylak writes, "Monika Weiss combines traditional techniques such as drawing with performance, video and sound installations. The perpetual aspect of her performances, their slowness, repetitiveness are very much experience oriented. Abiding (Proba Wody), (1999-2000) deals with ritual immersion and separates the performing subject from her usual surroundings. Many of her often-risky performances with immersions in different liquids provide sensory deprivation and have almost meditative aspects." [Aneta Szylak in "You Won't Feel A Thing: On Panic, Obsession, Rituality and Anesthesia", Kunsthaus Dresden, Germany, 2007]. A video-interview of Monika Weiss on her exhibition at Bruno David Gallery. January 2012. (Video Link)
Press Release (PDF)
DAMON FREED: "Life Saver" (Main Gallery)
Shawn Burkard: "Ye Ol Saint Nick" (Front Room)
Group Exhibition: "Work On Paper I" (Project Room)
Dickson Beall: "Light Diet" (New Media Room)
(Dec 02, 2011 to Jan 21, 2012)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present Damon Freed's second solo exhibition with the gallery entitled Life Saver. Continuing his exploration of push and pull, Freed delves deeper into the dichotomy of balance and asymmetry. Driven by his tempo of thought and our contemporary cadence, Freed's new paintings have a pulse. Warm colors accentuated by black outlines vibrate throughout the paintings; their asymmetrical applications offset centered compositions. They are warm, full of life, always moving and always on the verge of further action.
In the Project Room, the gallery presents a group exhibition of works on paper titled W.O.P. I by several artists of the gallery including, Carmon Colangelo, Margaret Adams, Jill Downen, Bill Kohn, Alex Couwenberg, Leslie Laskey, Kelley Johnson, Van McElwee, Gary Passanise, Charles Schwall, William Conger, Beverly Fishman, Buzz Spector, Yvette Dubinsky, Frida Baranek, Bunny burson, Laura Beard, Joan Hall, Patricia Olynyk.
In the Front Room, the gallery presents an exhibition, titled Ye Ol Saint Nick by Shawn Burkard. Part of a series, "The House of Mimesis/Revolving Personalities", this photograph illustrates Burkard's Christmas spirit. A unique perspective on the over-commercialization of this religious holiday, Burkard depicts Christmas as a gaudy commercial invention. The fabrication of the scene-the tin foil, the garbage bag as a gift sack-is as contrived as many people's "holiday cheer", but there is no pretense in Burkard's stance. Saint Nick's facial expression, posture and action of pouring out the milk are cynical and satirical. This shocking visual metaphor sends his message loud and clear: we've been bad children and Saint Nick does not want our milk and cookies this year.
In the Media Room, the gallery presents a new video work titled Light Diet by Dickson Beall. "Light Diet" is an investigation of the relationship between past and present. Through this exploration, Beall looks to portray the human experience of change through light and space. Inspired by the Reflection of the Buddha at the Pulitzer Foundation of the Arts, Beall's work with light and movement in space aims to transcend his subject matter. We are constantly moving, constantly burning and replenishing. This process of constant change is beautiful, elegant in its own right. As disparate as the past traditions of the still life might seem to the future realities in artificial intelligence, there is a bridge across the gap. Beall looks to construct and reform this bridge.
Press Release (PDF)
CHARLES SCHWALL: "Source Confluence" (Main Gallery)
Bill Kohn: "Grand Center Series" (WOP Space)
Mario Trejo: "Centered" (Front Room)
Brett Williams: "Blurs" (Media Room)
(Oct 21, 2011 to Nov 26, 2011)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present Charles Schwall's second solo exhibition with the gallery entitled Source Confluence. Schwall's new paintings investigate his longstanding interest in curvilinear and organic formations found in nature that are connected to growth, water imagery, and the life sciences. A fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by Andrea Ferber accompanies the exhibit.
In the WOP Space, the gallery presents a series of works on paper titled Grand Center Series by the late Bill Kohn. In his final body of work, which began in 2002 and continued until his death in November 2004, Kohn returned his focus to St. Louis, painting the landscape of historic and modern buildings around Grand Boulevard in the Grand Center arts district of St. Louis. Kohn created these pieces while working on several large-scale paintings for the 2006 exhibition Centering on the Grand at the CAM (Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis).
In the Front Room, the gallery presents an exhibition, titled Centered by Mario Trejo. This new work is a continuation of the ongoing series "Catharsis". This series is a refreshing remix of the artist's process while reiterating his core artistic values. The title has its root in the Greek katharsos, for "pure". The binary chromatics, parity of mark making, and consistency of dimensions evident in all of the pieces are what Trejo has imposed on his own process: a purification of form and content.
In the Media Room, the gallery presents a new video work titled Blurs by Brett Williams. "Blurs" is an investigation of memory and the difficulties associated with remembering. The way we remember past events in our lives is not reliable and cannot fully be trusted. We construct our memories. Williams spent several hours in wonder and fascination looking down into the cold air return grate in the hallway leading to his grandfather's study. He has strong associations with sound and flashes of images when he tries to remember discreet moments related to the past and his perceived memory. He does not trust his constructed version of the past. Instead, he trusts the rhythms and patterns that emerge from the fog of memory.
Press Release (PDF)
LESLIE LASKEY: "S.E.N.T." (Main Gallery)
Kelley Johnson: "Works on Paper Series" (WOP Space)
"MoPA: Retrospective" (Front Room)
William Morris: "Atraxia" (Media Room)
(Sep 09, 2011 to Oct 15, 2011)
Bruno David Gallery opens its sixth season with an exhibition of new work by Leslie Laskey called S.E.N.T. Security Envelopes Now Tampered. Even as one of the longest, most successful working artists in the St. Louis area, Laskey continually creates work that is new and engaging. After seeing these collages, the viewer will never look at their mail in the same way again.
In the Project Room, we are pleased to present Kelley Johnson's most recent work titled Works on Paper Series. Johnson's ability to absorb the viewer, produce interesting color combinations, and provide a sense of rapidity and tension are carried over from previous work to these new pieces. What makes Johnson's new works on paper unique and exciting are the ways in which those similar ideas from before are presented in a much more minimalist fashion.
In the Front Room the gallery presents a retrospective of the first seven years of the Museum of Pocket Art (MoPA). MoPA began in response to author Walter Mosley's idea that everyone should carry a small piece of artwork in their pocket to brighten their day and share with others. MoPA organizes exhibitions to show in a standard wallet with artwork made specifically to exhibit at a small scale, usually about the size of a business card.
In the Media Room, the gallery presents a new video work by William Morris. The video titled Atraxia illustrates the relationship of a running man to a ringing telephone and its physiological result. The running man symbolizes one's own anxiety; the expectations of performance upon a subject influenced by external stresses. Like the dog in Pavlov's behavioral experiments, the running man hears and reacts to external stimuli.
Press Release (PDF)
LAURA BEARD: "Thick and Smooth" (Main Gallery)
Charles P. Reay (Chip): "Recent Sculptures" (Project and Front Rooms)
Ben Wiener: "Na + (aq) + C5H8NO - (aq) NaC5H8NO4(s)" (Media Room)
SWOON (Caledonia Curry): "Ben" (BDG EastWall) view photos
GALLERY CLOSED: Saturday, July 9 to August 2, 2011
(May 20, 2011 to Aug 20, 2011)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present Laura Beard's second solo exhibition with the gallery entitled "Thick and Smooth". Laura Beard's new paintings and drawings continue her exploration of the primary impulse of abstraction by focusing on the direction and texture of each brushstroke. By using this technique, the paintings take on a structured chaos that is both powerful and energetic. Through pure abstraction, the work strives to engage the emotional impact of color, the structure of human instinct and the complexity of a deliberately flexible process. This unique flexibility allows for the evolution of each new work to build on the experiences of the last.
In the Project Room and the Front Room, we are pleased to present Charles Reay's first solo exhibition at the Bruno David Gallery titled "Recent Sculptures" and "Metamorphosis". Charles (Chip) Reay's studio is an intensely personal space, a space removed from the routines of everyday life, where he can indulge his imagination. It is a space, where free association, experimentation, trials and errors, encourages the outpouring of his creative mind. In his studio, there are no rules or standards of taste or beauty. It is a space for pure expression.
In the Media Room, the gallery presents a new video work by New York based artist Ben Weiner titled "Na + (aq) + C5H8NO - (aq) NaC5H8NO4(s)". Known for his paintings that achieve enigmatic and transcendent abstractions through cropped magnifications, Weiners new body of work has given way to a collection of stop-motion videos. Composed of thousands of photographs of synthetic materials, these videos are constructed like moving paintings. In collaboration with Mark Moore Gallery, Culver City, CA
On the BDG East-Wall, the gallery presents a temporary life-size woodblocks and paper cutouts installation by New York-based artist, Swoon (Caledonia Curry). Several other cutouts are located around the city of St. Louis.
Press Release (PDF)
PRINTS + MULTIPLES
(Mar 10, 2011 to Mar 19, 2011)
Reception: Saturday, March 19, 2011 from 3 to 5pm
A group exhibition of prints and multiples. The exhibition is in conjunction with the SGC International Conference (March 16-19) hosted by Washington University in St. Louis - Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts (SGC International Conference Link). The artists are Todd Anderson, Frida Baranek, Shawn Burkard, Bunny Burson, Carmon Colangelo, Jill Downen, Yvette Drury Dubinsky, Joan Hall, Ann Hamilton, Leslie Laskey, Peter Marcus, Patricia Olynyk, Judy Pfaff, Dionna Raedeke, and Buzz Spector. In the Project Room, Hung Liu: "Za Zhong (Bastard Paintings)"; On the Gallery East-Wall, SWOON: Life-size installation
Peter Marcus: Forms in Architecture, Opening Reception for Peter Marcus: Wednesday, March 16 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at Steinberg Gallery, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.
ARTIST TALKS: (Link)
Hung Liu: 9am on Friday, March 18 at The Chase Park Plaza (Khorassan Room).
Peter Marcus: 2:30p on Thursday, March 17, in Steinberg Hall, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
SWOON: 4:30p on Friday, March 18, at The Chase Park Plaza (Khorassan Room).
PANEL:
"Painting with Prints and the Ties that Bind" (Link)
Panel chair: Patricia Olynyk. Panelists: Hung Liu, David Salgado, and Craig Zammiello
March 18 at 2-3:30p, at Steinberg Hall Auditorium, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. The work of dynamic and experimental artists Hung Liu and Elizabeth Peyton, who collaborate with master printers David Salgado of Trillium Graphics and Craig Zammiello of Two Palms Press, respectively, will be the focus of discussion.
OPEN PRINT STUDIOS: Joan Hall and Danielle Spradley
Saturday, March 19, 12-3 pm at 710 North 20th Street, St. Louis (Map)
Christina Shmigel: "This City, Daily Rising" (Main Gallery)
Shawn Burkard: "Oranges/Megalithic" (Front Room)
Eleanor Dubinsky: "Touch the Sky" (Media Room)
(Jan 21, 2011 to Mar 09, 2011)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present a solo-exhibition by Christina Shmigel entitled "This City, Daily Rising". Christina Shmigel's first solo US exhibition since 2005, is composed of three interrelated installations. Continually shifting between macro- and microcosmic views, the installations are emblematic of Shmigel's play with scale and size, intimacy and monumentality, and create for the viewer something of the vibrancy & intensity of Shanghai (China), the city where she now lives and works.
In the Front Room, the gallery presents an installation/sculpture by Shawn Burkard titled "ORANGES/MEGALITHIC". The sculpture is composed of vinyl orange blocks representing a youth generated subculture, while Ancient Egyptian pyramids inspire the installation's structure. The compilation of past and present develop puzzling yet simple lines that create depth and volume in the work.
In the Media Room, the gallery presents "Touch the Sky", a new video work by New York City based musician and multimedia performance artist Eleanor Dubinsky. She says: "Touch the Sky" is the visual expression of what happens to me physically, spiritually and emotionally as I release elements, relationships and ideas from my consciousness that no longer serve my best interest. The process of making this video is in itself an attempt to help myself release and let go of such elements, and, as I make it, I wonder if the piece's existence as work of art will serve as some reminder or inspiration for others to do the same.
Press Release (PDF)
OVERPAPER
(Nov 12, 2010 to Jan 15, 2011)
A selection of works on, or of, paper by artists including Carmon Colangelo, William Conger, Alex Couwenberg, Jill Downen, Yvette Drury Dubinsky, Beverly Fishman, Joan Hall, Ann Hamilton, Kelley Johnson, Chris Kahler, Matthew Penkala, Judy Pfaff,
Paul Henry Ramirez, and Buzz Spector.
Paper has long been the starting point for conceptions by artists, who worked out their ideas on paper before moving them to other mediums. Now the idea on paper often becomes the art, and this exhibition surveys artists using paper both as the template for creative thinking and as a material base for new artistic forms. A fully illustrated color catalogue accompanies the exhibition.
Press Release (PDF)
KELLEY JOHNSON: Recent Paintings
Iris Nesher: Project Room
Gary Passanise: Front Room
Barry Anderson: Media Room
(Sep 10, 2010 to Nov 06, 2010)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by Kelley Johnson. A native of St. Louis originally trained in the figurative tradition; Johnson's recent paintings move beyond the classical skills he obtained as an art student in Paris. A fully illustrated color catalogue with writings by James Yood and Vara Lyons accompany the exhibition.
In the Project Room, Italian-born, Israel-based artist Iris Nesher presents "In the Dark Rooms," a series of photographs that investigates the very essence of female creativity. Nesher produces provocative, hauntingly beautiful photographs of a selection of female writers, poets, and playwrights of various cultural and religious backgrounds. A fully illustrated color catalogue with writings by Laura Beckman, Yigal Schwartz and Meir Aharonson accompany the exhibition.
In the Front Room, the gallery presents "The Sky Is No Longer The Limit -- Constructions and Proposals" by Gary Passanise. These small, mixed-media constructions contain ideas in miniature, revealing unsettling, unstable environments within. Grappling with the evolution of the American dream and the uncertainty of contemporary times, we are compelled to explore new possibilities and re-consider the path of our history. Prints and drawings illustrate proposals for site-specific installations offering a window into his always evolving creative process.
In the Media Room, video artist Barry Anderson presents a three-channel video entitled "Totem (1)." This new work, created in 2010, depicts, at a distance, a turbulent tornado against a yellow ochre sky, overtaking a Midwestern landscape reminiscent of Dorothy's Kansas. Upon closer inspection, a mass of swirling faces overwhelmed by this natural force becomes visible. These faces, a conglomeration of pop icons, speak to Anderson's recent interest in cultural imagery from 1950s to 1970s Americana.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
RECESSION REJUVENATIONS
June 11 - August 28, 2010
OPENING NIGHT: FRIDAY, JULY 9. 6-9 pm
(Jun 11, 2010 to Aug 28, 2010)
The exhibition "RECESSION REJUVENATIONS", is a testament to the resilience of the creative impulse in the face of economic adversity. Even as the global community is wracked by recession, political unrest, and enormous threats to the environment, artists remain committed to following their inspirations within the confines of their studios. This exhibition of small works represents the current artistic endeavors of St. Louis' foremost contemporary artists and provides an insight into some of the current trends and pulse of the local art community.
The confluence of distinguished art institutions with an array of innovative artists forms the basis of a vibrant arts scene in this metropolitan area. In addition to eminent visual arts establishments such as The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Sheldon Art Galleries, the local arts scene is enriched by musical and performing arts at the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, The Fox Theatre, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, The Sheldon, and the Saint Louis Blues Society. The artists featured in this exhibition are a testament to the vitality of the St. Louis art community amidst these challenging times. These are their personal visions realized.
Press Release (PDF)
THEASTER GATES
Dry Bones and Other Parables from the North
A project of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts at Bruno David Gallery
Curated by Juan William Chavez
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 15
May 15 - June 5, 2010
Media Contact: Rachel Craft at rcraft@pulitzerarts.org or visit the website (Link)
(May 15, 2010 to Jun 05, 2010)
In conjunction with its current exhibition Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark, the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts has organized three artist-drive projects, one of which concludes with an exhibition that will be on view within the Bruno David Gallery. Chicago-based artist and 2010 Whitney Biennial participant Theaster Gates will exhibit "Dry Bones and Other Parables from the North," featuring a series of installations richly influenced by the Book of Ezekiel that address the future of the Hyde Park neighborhood of St. Louis. The Pulitzer's guest curator for this project is Juan William Chávez of Boots Contemporary Art Space.
This series of installations will be the culmination of Gates' work with students from Holy Trinity Catholic School in the Hyde Park neighborhood of St. Louis as part of the Urban Expression project, led by the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, is also in collaboration with Succeeding with Reading by ACCESS Academies.
In conjunction with Succeeding with Reading, photographer Stewart Halperin, poet Janie Ibur and artist Juan William Chávez guided students from Holy Trinity Catholic School in explorations of their daily lives through photography, writing and drawing. These workshops were in preparation for the project with Gates, who worked with the students to activate empty spaces, organize a town hall meeting, and create works of art responding to the neighborhood.
In this exhibition, Gates responds with his own artwork to Hyde Park residents thoughts and desires. These residents formulated a neighborhood "Master Plan" with the help of Chávez and Cujawa Architecture. Gates' project brings to the forefront the current state of cultural, spiritual, and familial life in the Hyde Park community while visualizing some of the residents' hopes for upcoming years. These installations at the Bruno David Gallery will spark new conversations regarding the present and future of this historic St. Louis neighborhood.
The projects will culminate in the Transformation Project Walk on May 15, 2010 from 3 pm to 7 pm at various sites. For information on these projects with The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, please contact Rachel Craft at rcraft@pulitzerarts.org or visit the website (Link)
Press Release (PDF)
CINDY TOWER
Decadense
March 19 - May 8, 2010.
Front Room: NANETTE BOILEAU: Heard but not Said
Media Room: DICKSON BEALL: Membrane Moments: Journey through Loss
OPENING NIGHT: FRIDAY, MARCH 19. 6-9PM
(Mar 19, 2010 to May 08, 2010)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition by Cindy Tower. "Decadense" [sic] includes recent paintings of decrepit, isolated and condemned architectural settings. A fully illustrated color catalogue with writings by Charlie Finch and Angela L. Miller accompany the exhibition.
Originally a sculptor and performance artist, Cindy Tower lets her creative background shine through in paintings that have become visual evidence of performance. Raw in spirit and conviction, Tower's highly articulated works engage the viewer in a visceral, otherworldly experience. Composite views of decrepitude become metaphors of bodily functions and reflect the political climate of our modern world. Wet, gloppy oil paint is applied in a loose yet precise manner in which subjects continuously dematerialize and reemerge. Tower's painting practice mirrors her concept of gradual accumulation that not only provides an exhausting, claustrophobic sensation but also raises questions regarding the complexity and level of exchange that occurs in our modern world. Presenting the themes of consumption, intimacy, obsolescence and loss, the paintings are an overwhelming celebration of materials and process.
Press Release (PDF)
BUZZ SPECTOR
SHELF LIFE: Selected Work
January 22 - March 6, 2010.
Front Room: SHAWN BURKARD: Phantasmagoria
Project Room: BEVERLY FISHMAN: Pharmako - Xanadu
Media Room: MAYA ESCOBAR: el es frida kahlo
(Jan 22, 2010 to Mar 06, 2010)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to present an introductory exhibit of the art of Buzz Spector. "SHELF LIFE: selected work" includes photographs, drawings, collages, and bookworks created over the past ten years. A fully illustrated catalogue with writings by Buzz Spector, Garrett Stewart and, Dora Apel accompany the exhibition.
Buzz Spector is best-known as an artist for his work with books, but his studio practice also includes photography, collage, installation, and drawing. This introductory exhibit covers the past eleven years of Spector's work. The selection reveals the material diversity and intellectual coherence of an artist concerned with memory, perception, and desire. It is no coincidence that Spector is also a writer; he is constantly crafting a poetry of things. Spector comes to St. Louis as the new Dean of the College and Graduate School of Art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University.
Press Release (PDF)
CHRIS KAHLER: Hybrid Dynamic
Front Room: Dionna Raedeke: The Addition
Project Room:
Heather Woofter & Sung Ho Kim: Per.For.Mance (Exhibition closes Saturday, December 12, 2009)
Media Room: William Morris: 8 ms
(Oct 30, 2009 to Jan 09, 2010)
Bruno David Gallery presents Chris Kahler's third solo exhibition, Hybrid Dynamic, a body of work painted over the past two years. A fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by James Yood accompanie the exhibition.
With their dense and layered compositions of vibrant, abstracted subjects, Kahler's new paintings explore dualities. There is a collision of intuitive and rational thought, conflict and order, evoking both the macro and micro sides of the natural world. Synthetic and natural colors collide to create a hybridization of variations of pattern and form that in turn create mutations on multiple levels. Not only biological in nature, these new works explore the fields of architecture, ecology, network theory and cybernetics.
Chris Kahler is an Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing at Eastern Illinois University. He received his BFA at Ohio Wesleyan University and MFA from Northwestern University.
Press Release (PDF)
LESLIE LASKEY: Tango
Legacy: the Work of Laskey's Former Students (Front and Project Rooms)
DICKSON BEALL: Frames and Movements: The artist in Society (Media Room)
(Sep 11, 2009 to Oct 24, 2009)
Leslie Laskey is presenting a series of paintings and drawings inspired by the Argentinean dance. Tango has been a great inspiration for artists, whether they are musicians, filmmakers or visual artists. His fascination for Tango isn't surprising, when one looks at his previous work. Leslie Laskey has already explored the subject in 2006. His series of flower digital prints evoked the sensuality of the dance with hot colors and powerful graphic gestures. Laskey has now chosen another media to further investigate his passion for a dance he has practiced himself.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
OVERVIEW_09
(Jul 30, 2009 to Aug 29, 2009)
A Group Exhibition with
Margaret Adams,
Todd Anderson,
Laura Beard,
Elaine Blatt,
Shawn Burkard,
Bunny Burson,
Carmon Colangelo,
Alex Couwenberg,
Jill Downen,
Yvette Drury Dubinsky,
Corey Escoto,
Beverly Fishman,
Damon Freed,
William Griffin,
Joan Hall,
Takashi Horisaki,
Kim Humphries,
Kelley Johnson,
Chris Kahler,
Bill Kohn,
Leslie Laskey,
Sandra Marchewa,
Peter Marcus,
Genell Miller,
Kathryn Neale,
Robert Pettus,
Daniel Raedeke,
Frank Roth,
Chris Rubin de la Borbolla,
Frank Schwaiger,
Charles Schwall,
Thomas Sleet,
Lindsey Stouffer,
Cindy Tower,
Mario Trejo,
Brett Williams,
Ken Worley, and others.
YVETTE DRURY DUBINSKY
Dividing Time: New Work on Paper
Frank Roth: Narrative Patterns (Project Room)
Van McElwee: Alternity (Media Room)
(May 14, 2009 to Jul 25, 2009)
Yvette Drury Dubinsky's recent and very large chromogenic prints show a continued fascination with the lines, textures, and colors found in natural forms. By enlarging and isolating what there is to see in common and less common vegetables and fruits, Dubinsky shows in a simple way why artists and designers throughout time have used the natural world as inspiration for making art, whether it is abstract or representational, sculptural or two-dimensional. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
JILL DOWNEN: Hard Hat Optional
Chris Rubin de la Borbolla: there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door (Project Room)
Brett Williams: Things You Will See (Media Room)
(Apr 10, 2009 to May 09, 2009)
Jill Downen's latest installation, "Hard Hat Optional", resembles a construction site, filled with anatomical forms reminiscent of sensual bodily elements, pockets of empty space, and areas of densely packed material. She stacks, leans, and places sculptural and architectural forms to be seen not as individual pieces, but rather as a complete installation.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
DAMON FREED: Calm, Cool, Coherent
Larry Torno: When is a Doll not a Doll? (Project Room)
Mario Trejo: Catharsis (Front Room)
Tiffany Shlain: The Tribe (Media Room)
(Mar 05, 2009 to Apr 04, 2009)
Damon Freed belongs to a new generation of landscape artists whose work combines abstraction with explorations of the connection and interaction between man and nature, mind and spirit. Damon Freed's work investigates the relationship between soft and hard edges and an ordered way of seeing shape and form.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
BEVERLY FISHMAN: New Paintings
Genell Miller: Memories (Project Room)
Todd Anderson: The Nearest Faraway Place (Front Room)
Maya Escobar: You and Your Friends vol. 1 (Media Room)
(Jan 23, 2009 to Mar 01, 2009)
Fishman's latest work is a vibrant barrage of information derived from and alluding to charted systems and functions of the natural universe. Fishman utilizes materials from paint and silkscreen, to polished and powder-coated metal to manipulate light and color, illuminating themes addressing abstraction, technology, medicine, and the body.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
CARMON COLANGELO: Big Bang to Big Melt
Sandra Marchewa: Work (Project Room)
Kathryn Neale: Recent Paintings (Front Room)
Eleanor Dubinsky: New Videos (New Media Room)
(Dec 05, 2008 to Jan 17, 2009)
Carmon Colangelo's new exhibition explores ideas about the creation of the universe and man-made changes in the in the environment-from the Big Bang to the Big Melt. This paradoxical relationship expands on Colangelo's investigation of the biological aspects of evolution and takes a closer look at the physical environment.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
LAURA BEARD: New Paintings (Main Gallery)
ROBERT PETTUS: 8 min. 20 sec. (Project Room)
MARTIN BRIEF: Artforum Series (Front Room)
CHERIE SAMPSON: River of Spirit of Life (New Media Room)
(Oct 31, 2008 to Nov 29, 2008)
This exhibition titled New Paintings shows the ways in which Laura smoothly integrates influences of painterly abstraction with a distinctly modern and inventive style.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
WILLIAM GRIFFIN: Recent Paintings (Main Gallery)
PATRICIA OLYNYK: Probe (Project Room)
MARGARET ADAMS: Blindness (Front Room)
JESSICA ROGEN: Let Me Entertain You (New Media Room)
(Oct 03, 2008 to Oct 25, 2008)
William Griffin's most recent work blends the traditions of Old Masters with 21st century sensibility. He paints human figures as forms and shapes, touching and reacting in sensual gestures. By using the figure's power to express strong physical and emotional content, and by reducing the informational material, Griffin abstracts his images - much as a photographer or filmmaker crops and frames observed phenomena and concepts.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
HOWARD JONES: Memory and Refraction
PETER MARCUS: Untitled 1972 (Project Room)
IAN WEAVER: Artifacts From the Black Bottom (Front Room)
NANETTE BOILEAU: White Woman (New Media Room)
(Sep 04, 2008 to Sep 27, 2008)
Howard Jones was an intensely brilliant artist and even in the rambunctious 1950s, '60s and '70s a maverick and an innovator. He was part of the Art and Technology Movement along with Nam June Paik, Le Parc, Takis, Uecker and others. He worked through various artistic phases, including abstract expressionism, op and pop, but settled finally on creating work that harnessed technology for genuinely authentic artistic ambitions. Jones' use of light and sound, separately and simultaneously, was far in advance of his time.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
OVER_VIEW 08
(Jul 11, 2008 to Aug 23, 2008)
OVER_VIEW 08 sums up the works of artists who are affiliated with Bruno David Gallery. The exhibition features a host of both local and international talent, exploring a variety of themes and ideas concerning issues such as the distinction between self and identity, reality and unreality, and humanity and technology. From escapism into the subconscious, to the very tangible exploration of materials, this exhibition of works describes art at its best: an investigation of what we observe.
ELAINE BLATT: Natural Phenomena
JILL DOWNEN: Hybrida Drawings (Project Room)
WYNE GELEYNSE: Kit 1A: Collected Book (Project Room)
(Jun 06, 2008 to Jul 05, 2008)
As a photographer working for 25 years, Elaine Blatt has explored the globe while documenting sights seen by few people. In this latest show, Blatt is presenting a series of work depicting the dazzling natural light show, aurora borealis (the northern lights) from Reykjavik, Iceland. Also included are the incredible rock formations of the Antelope Canyon in Arizona and the sandstone Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon in Utah.
Press Release (PDF)
ALEX COUWENBERG: Working Space
SHAWN BURKARD: Over and over and over (Front room)
JILL DOWNEN: Cornerstone (New Media Room)
Project Room: CONTROLLED CHAOS: Laura Beard, Joan Hall, Kelley Johnson, Cindy Tower and Chris Kahler
(Apr 25, 2008 to May 31, 2008)
Alex Couwenberg has forged a unique reputation in California by producing a distinctive body of work that is a product of his obsession with the process of painting. Born and raised in Los Angeles and Orange County, Alex Couwenberg was exposed to many of the visual elements that create the So Cal terrain. The subject matter in his work comes from a deep appreciation of the aesthetic associated with the Southern California culture.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
LESLIE LASKEY: WORK
(Mar 14, 2008 to Apr 19, 2008)
In the hit-or-miss world of contemporary art, longevity in itself is a virtue. Leslie Laskey's lengthy biography can at times read like the artistic history of the 20th and 21st century. Leslie Laskey demonstrates again that working in the studio is crucial to a creative mind and longevity. His new work explores and engages us in images found in things and places. Showing us how they work, finding sensuality in surfaces and rich mystifying colors. Laskey never separates his art from its viewer as he always engages them in the process of his work.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
FOUR ACES: Large-Scale Prints from Four Universities
(Feb 01, 2008 to Mar 08, 2008)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibit FOUR ACES: Large-Scale Prints from Four Universities. The works exhibited are from 48 graduate students and faculty members of Washington University in St. Louis - Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts; Louisiana State University College of Art and Design, University of Texas - Austin; and University of Wisconsin - Madison.
THOMAS SLEET: Traces
INGO BAUMGARTEN: untitled (ohne titel) (front Room)
ISLAND PRESS: selected prints (Project Room)
ELLA GANT: mother choo choo (Video Room)
(Dec 07, 2007 to Jan 12, 2008)
Thomas Sleet's work is enigmatic as it weaves themes of organic structure, migration, infinite multiples, and primitive culture with systems of individual marks. Sleet engages a new vernacular of style by combining the purification of form with the merging of organic structure and geometry.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
CHRIS KAHLER: VIRAL
COREY ESCOTO: Global Repair Service (Front Room)
ISLAND PRESS: Selected Prints (Project Room)
MAYA ESCOBAR: Acciones Plásticas (Media Room)
(Oct 19, 2007 to Dec 01, 2007)
Chris Kahler harvests biological systems for images and patterns that describe the symbiotic synergy and infection that exist between microscopic organisms and their host. Capitalizing on a process of risk and fluidity, of plan and accident, his work explores the growth, energy, interdependence, and mortality of invented organic forms. His paintings blend and fuse colors whose flow and growth, though controlled, though yielding carefully rendered forms graced with gestural movement, create a web of paint that is as unpredictable as it is elegant. The resulting images are skeins of networks and clusters of colonies that evoke macroscopic tissues with expressionistic nuance.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
JOAN HALL: From Whence We Came
CARMON COLANGELO: Pharmland Series (Front Room)
ELEANOR DUBINSKY: Short Forms (Media Room)
(Oct 07, 2007 to Nov 06, 2007)
Joan hall's recent large-scale, sculptural prints are thickly layered with handmade paper, pulp, and printing ink. The process of addition and subtraction, cutting out shapes and painting with paper creates a deep and complex surface that reveals new images as we look deeper into the work, as though the viewer is diving through the surface of the ocean. Implicit natural phenomena, such as water, wind, currents, and waves not only show the artists long fascination with the sea, but also portray the permeability of human beings basic structure from part to whole; we are of and by the sea.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
FRANK SCHWAIGER: Mythologies
(Jul 20, 2007 to Aug 25, 2007)
Frank Schwaiger latest works are not quite sculpture; these forms are more in touch with the presence between what is real and what is not. The things we might have forgotten, the things we never knew or noticed--the shadow that follows us, the light that warms us, the basic aspects of existence.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
ERNEST TROVA: Insinuations
BUNNY BURSON: Consequences (Project Room)
CHARLES GICK: Flowers From The Mouth (Media Room)
(May 25, 2007 to Jun 30, 2007)
The technique of collage is one of modernism's earliest tools, and "Insinuations" finds Ernest Trova fully immersed in all of its disjointed, comedic potential. The unifying thread in this new body of work are found photographs of meat, reorganized into a world populated by devilish silhouettes of raw beef and greasy sausages, a world where lamb chops enjoy their afternoons on sunny park benches, and where womens blouses are only as ruffled as the sliced ham from which the artist has constructed them. Trovas new imagery is at once grave and playful, violently drawing the viewers attention to both the beauty and fragility of our corporeal existence.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
YVETTE DRURY DUBINSKY: Cité des Arts: Mixed Media
(Apr 20, 2007 to May 19, 2007)
Yvette Dubinsky presents monotypes on paper, large chromogenic prints of organic forms and a new multi-media installation of photographs (and music) made in France on the Paris Metro. All three bodies of work were inspired during her three months in France. The musical collaboration was done with Axel Singer, a composer from Munich, Germany while Dubinsky and Singer were both residents at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in the Spring of 2006. This collaboration was initially presented in a concert at the Cité des Arts in Paris in October.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
PETER MARCUS: Horsehead Series
CHRIS RUBIN DE LA BORBOLLA: la entrada (Project Room)
DICKSON BEALL: 500 Billion Plastic Bags (New Media Room)
(Mar 16, 2007 to Apr 14, 2007)
Peter Marcus creates large-scale experimental prints inspired by and based on architecture. His innovative technique of bonding coated paper to canvas permits his large-scale presentation without the distortion of glazing, a technique that challenges the distinction between printmaking and painting. Complex patterns and textures draw the viewer into his work, with space-defining areas of color applied over primarily black-and-white collagraph, a form of intaglio printing related to engraving and etching. Marcus pieces are about combining opposites, being large while, at the same time, intimate and geometric while organic.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
KELLEY JOHNSON: Recent Paintings
CHARLES SCHWALL: Recent Paintings (Project Room)
LISA K. BLATT: 24 hours in Venice in 24 seconds (New Media Room)
(Feb 09, 2007 to Mar 10, 2007)
Kelley Johnson experiments and explores the possibilities within the confines of oil paint. He creates paintings that can be read as figurative or abstract. Some of the paintings look like images from fantasy books and comics others look like childrens books while others resemble figures from popular myths.
Press Release (PDF)
Essay (PDF)
JENNA BAUER: Thunder Fields
(Jan 05, 2007 to Feb 03, 2007)
Bruno David Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibit: Thunder Fields by Jenna Bauer.
Press Release (PDF)
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