This month I’m pleased to have work included in “Brooklyn Bridge,” a group show at George Lawson in San Francisco curated by Justine Frischmann. The exhibtion features fourteen contemporary painters who work in and around Brooklyn. In her fine catalogue essay, Frischmann, a gifted painter and former guitarist and lead singer of the British post-punk band Elastica, compares the Brooklyn painting community to the London Punk revival of the 1990s.
[Image at top: Installation view with (left to right) Katherine Bradford, Jason Stopa, Chris Martin and me. ]
Wendy White, Bwin, 2014, acyrlic on canvas, wood, enamel 18.5 x 18.5 inches.
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Andrea Belag, Don’t Look Back, 2012, oil on linen 30 x 22 inches.
“They are closely knit, talking,
arguing, listening, competing, supporting each other,” Frischmann writes. “Working and living
and partying together. They have nothing to lose because no one is
listening to them anyway. And then, one by one, they start ‘breaking’
and all of a sudden, the critics start writing about a movement. And it
has power because it didn�t just come from the journalists or the
advertising execs, it comes from the streets, from grass roots, from
something that had been forming and gaining power for years. It has the
advantage of multiple view points and shared experience, a large and
complex network of people behind it.”
Frischmann admires the low-tech physicality of the paintings she has selected, suggesting that the work reveals a freedom from fashion and historical precedent. Although the artists are aware of the rich history of painting in New York, they aren’t beholden to it. Frischmann likens the Brooklyn painters to heirs and heiresses who “own everything that has come before and were born to spend
it as they choose.”
Saira McLaren, In Recline, 2013, acrylic dye and gold bronze dust on raw linen 25 x 24 inches.
Jason Stopa, The Day, 2013, oil and sprayed paint on canvas, 24 x 18 inches.
Mike Olin, Cabin Dust, 2012, oil and mixed media on linen, 17 x 13 inches.
Paul Pagk, o g l s 132, 2011-13, oil on linen 25 x 24 inches.
Clare Grill, Char, 201, oil on linen 18 x 16 inches.
“Brooklyn Bridge,” curated by Justine Frischmann. Artists include Andrea Belag, Katherine Bradford, Farrell Brickhouse, Sharon Butler,
Clare Grill, Clinton King, Chris Martin, Saira McLaren, Paul DeMuro,
Mike Olin, Paul Pagk, Jason Stopa, Julie Torres, and Wendy White. George Lawson Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Through July 12, 2014. Click here to download the complete catalog for the show.
Related posts:
Out of context: Bushwick Open Studios, 2014
Hivemind: ALLTOGETHERNOW
Studio visit: Andrea Belag
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