Structure and Imagery

  David Pollack with paintings from his Harbor series, in his studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Photo: Denise Sfraga Let the Painting Build Itself: An Interview with David Pollack by Paul Behnke Paul Behnke:  Well, let's start at the beginning. Would you talk a little about your background? What set you on the path your work is on? You have gone through several overlapping stages since I've been acquainted with your work. David Pollack:  Growing up my dad was a landscape architect but I think he wanted to be a painter too. He was an amazing draftsman and could draw anything. So, that's where my tree imagery comes from. He used to draw trees all the time and they used to hang in my house. And he actually received a Rome Prize where you go to Rome for a year and they give you a studio set up. PB: That's the prize Philip Guston was awarded. Right? DP: That's what I was about to say. Guston was there when my dad was there. So I was around it as a kid and I tried to draw li...

Loverman (the Guardian), 2020, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 in. New in the studio: Small works concentrating on formal elements, dissolution of form, and broken color. Monument to Clairvoyance, 2020, acrylic on panel, 16 x 12 in. Study for an Imaginary Monument, 2020, acrylic on panel, 16 x 12 in. Dark Monument, 2020, acrylic on panel, 16 x 12 in. Monument to People Who Did Right, 2020, acrylic on panel, 16 x 12 in. * All works  © Paul Behnke 

Jeanne Tremel, May 22, 2013, oil on yupo paper, 24 x 24 inches Jeanne Tremel: Slow Dive  [web] An online exclusive solo exhibition June 12 - July 24, 2020 From the Press Release: Court Tree Collective proudly presents Slow Dive by Jeanne Tremel. Whether Jeanne is gathering found objects, hand sewing new ones, or painting colorful abstractions her work moves to the same rhythm. In the discovery of her work, there is something incredibly fresh and organic. Jeanne Tremel (b. 1960) is a visual artist who has shown her works throughout the NYC area, the US, and abroad. Born in Minneapolis, her formal art education began at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota (BFA), and continued in Chicago at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA). Later, at the School of Visual Arts in NYC, she earned a Certificate in Art Therapy. She has exhibited her work most recently at Nancy Margolis Gallery, Pelham Art Center, David & Schweitzer Contem...

(Detail) The paintings in Gary Giordano's new series come face to face with the anxiety-riddled moment of fear and loss we all find ourselves in. The works confront this anxiety in the tradition of the Expressionist painters of Germany (both past and current) and the  series of prints known as the  Miserere by Georges Rouault .   Gary Giordano in his studio last year, Lambertville, NJ Photo  ©  Paul Behnke 2020 "The paintings are my response to the pandemic; to the situation we all find ourselves in. I began painting what I thought the face of the disease would look like but sometimes the original intention of a painting is dropped and maybe something else is resolved. I don't always know what that is. I figure it out later. These are dark but I think, in time, I may see them differently. It's something that you begin and continue on with because you feel your circumstance and experience compel you to." -Gary Giordano

Paul Behnke, Citadel of Faith and Power, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 50 x 48 inches. Citadel of Faith and Power (detail) Citadel of Faith and Power (detail) Citadel of Faith and Power (detail)

Ronan Bowes in his studio in Manhattan. Ronan Bowes was born in 1986 in Northern Ireland. And in many ways his work can be read as a response to that particular place and time and all that they entail and conjure. The rough application of paint and jarring color combinations steer Bowes' paintings and sculptures towards urgent expression and unresolved feeling. But to overlook the physical materials (and how they are used and reused) that make up the works is to miss a concept inherent in the making.  Here paint, canvas and wood are fashioned, disassembled and put together again in service of a regeneration, or at the very least a hopeful, urgent utterance, that says, "I can build on this." They Send their Love, 2017, oil on canvas, 60 x 45 cm The Spot, 2017, oil on canvas, 60 x 45 cm Lios, 2017, oil on panel, 60 x 45 cm Site, 2017, oil on panel, 48 x 32 cm She Loved That Yellow Vase, 2017, oil on canvas, 102 x 108 cm From the Ar...