Elegy, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 48x36 in.
From the Press Release:
While working within the historical lineage of abstraction in New York, Vince Contarino operates within a specific and clearly-defined approach to painting. Central to Contarino’s work is a balancing act articulating form, pattern, and movement through his materials with a sensitivity to painting’s esoteric tendencies as an art form. By negotiating a space which simultaneously embraces the tight stylistic language of graphic relationships, while also subverting the same with a keen awareness of gesture and materiality, Contarino entices the viewer with immediate, slashing gestures and slow, deliberate forms. These decisions act as a control mechanism taming the wild anima of painterly expression, while imbuing hard-edge uniformity with a graceful independence. In constructing the paintings through formal invention, he is also playing with the idea of abstraction as a subjective experience. These works imply an intimacy between the maker and the viewer, and Contarino deftly guides us through these locales with his subtle and nuanced mastery of color, motion, and shape.
Vince Contarino was born in Woodbury, NJ and received his BFA from Ringling College of Art + Design in Sarasota, FL in 1997. Recent exhibition venues include Jason McCoy Gallery in New York; Laroche/Joncas Galerie in Montreal; Geoffrey Young Gallery in Great Barrington, MA; and The Essl Museum in Vienna. He co-founded the artist-run initiative, Progress Report in 2010, was an artist-in-residence at The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Space Program 2010-11, and was a 2012 Fellow in Painting from the New York Foundation of the Arts. His work has been featured in Abstract Critical, Hyperallergic, New American Paintings, and SFAQ.
Vince Contarino: For Your Eyes Only
Opening: May 16, 7 - 10 PM
May 16 - June 22, 2014
44 Stewart Avenue
#49
Brooklyn, NY 11237
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