Three – Damien Flood, Joy Garnett, Andrew Seto
14 May – 19 June 2011
Theodore:Art
53 Mercer St. NYC 10013
212. 966. 4324
Gallery hours Friday – Sunday 12 – 6 pm or by appointment
Stephanie Theodore of Theodore:Art presents a studied exhibition of contemporary abstractions that blur the lines between figuration and non-objectivity.
From the gallery's press release:
"Damien Flood's work is situated between fact and fiction. The paintings are modern landscapes that reference the history of painting with an underlying fantastical element. A fleeting familiarity can be found in the work that is soon replaced by an ambiguous questioning.
Joy Garnett utilises painting to investigate the modern experience of global events as mediated and choreographed by images from news media and social networks. Walter Benjamin’s prediction that alienated man would be dazzled by the spectacle of destruction seems prescient in light of Garnett’s lushly painted scenes of disaster and chaos.Andrew Seto makes paintings of paradox, positing immediate sensory experience as viscerally urgent questions. Texture and colour of a rich, sensual nature approach the threshold of order within an indeterminacy of form. Not so much answers as much as resolution, an equilibrium of sorts, is found."
The three painters share a predominately muted palette, a rough painterliness, and a small scale that add rigor and a sense of seriousness to the work. These are strong attempts toward a personal vision that confront, and shame their slicker Chelsea contemporaries.
Three is hung in a way that emphasizes the similarities and differences of the painters. By mixing the work and presenting it in small clusters Theodore allows the viewer to compare and contrast the concerns and approaches of each painter more readily without confining the paintings according maker. This curatorial decision strengthens the concept behind the group show.
Happily, the show is not over hung. Each painting or grouping has room to breathe thus occupying it's own physical space as well as space in the viewer's mind.
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