A Few Recent Standouts, NYC

 Rebecca Purdum at the Resnick-Passloff Foundation

 Rebecca Purdum

Rebecca Purdum (detail)

 Emily Berger at Odetta

Otis Jones at Jack Hanley

Knox Martin at Hollis Taggart

Joan Mitchell at David Zwirner

David Novros at Paula Cooper

 Matt Phillips at Hollis Taggart

R.H. Quaytman at the Guggenheim

Don Voisine at McKenzie

May and June in New York

Alain Biltereyst at Jack Hanley 

Back Room at Cheim & Read -- Joan Mitchell, Louise Bourgeois, Ron Gorchov

Hybrid Form at Margaret Thatcher -- Kevin Finklea (above), Frank Badur, 

Omar Chacon, Freddy Chandra, Ted Larsen, Joanne Mattera, Richard Roth  

Felix Gonzalez-Torres at David Zwirner 

 Ellsworth Kelly at Matthew Marks

Jill Moser at Lennon Weinberg

David Novros at Paula Cooper 

Mike Solomon at Berry Campbell

Don Voisine at McKenzie

DON VOISINE at McKenzie

Don Voisine, Narrows, 2015, 40 x 60 inches, oil on wood panel 

One more week to see an exhibition of new paintings by Don Voisine at McKenzie Fine Art (through June 14, 2015). For many years Voisine has worked with variations on his trademark configuration, originally evolved from architectural structures and floor plans. It is comprised of a complex set of vectors, angles, shapes and surfaces, with a central black area that is contained and activated by thin brightly colored perimeter bands. The black of the central area consists of matte and glossy contrasts that create shifting planes when viewed from different vantage points (and make the paintings virtually impossible to photograph). 

For this exhibition, Voisine has expanded his vocabulary to feature a few new elements that perhaps lighten the "gravity" of his previous work, and really offer an alternative relationship to the viewer, giving the show as a whole a more lively cadence. Many of the new pieces substitute intense Cad Red or sometimes shifting whites for the central black area, which causes a dramatic change in the space and presence of the painting. Whereas the black area seems to absorb the surrounding space, pulling the viewer into a deep slow vortex bordered by flickering color; the paintings that feature a red center emanate outward into the space, pulsating and expanding. As do the white paintings, although in a softer, more subtle voice. So as we move through the exhibition, we have a constantly changing relationship to the paintings from one to the next.

Another subtle change in this new work is the introduction of small areas of rubbed out color, where we see through the frontal paint film to the surface of the substrate. This small element is an opening that allows a soft breath to enter the rigor of Voisine's geometry. It is emblematic of the whole show, as the artist explores a broader sensuality within the sharp focus of his vision.

Don Voisine, Staple, 2015, 24 x 24 inches, oil on wood panel

Don Voisine, Porter, 2015, 9 x 9 inches, oil on wood panel

Don Voisine, Grey Line, 2015, 22 x 22 inches, oil on wood panel

Don Voisine, Duane, 2015, 16 x 12 inches, oil on wood panel

Don Voisine, Fold, 2015, 32 x 32 inches, oil on wood panel

All images from the gallery website.

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED at The Curator Gallery

I am very pleased to be participating in a wonderful show, curated by Mark Wethli, at The Curator Gallery in Chelsea. The exhibition includes work by Karen Gelardi, Celia Johnson, Lael Marshall, Duane Paluska, Don Voisine, and myself, and runs through April 18, 2015.

Here are some great installation shots by curator Mark Wethli.

Voisine 

Voisine, Alexander 

Johnson, Alexander 

Gelardi, Paluska, Marshall, Voisine 

Paluska 

Marshall 

Voisene

AMERICAN ABSTRACT ARTISTS At OK Harris

Don Voisine, Debutante Twist, 2009, 72 x 18 inches, oil on wood

To celebrate its 75th anniversary, American Abstract Artists, the venerable artists' organization, is presenting a marvelous exhibition at OK Harris through July 15, 2011. This sprawling but beautifully coherent show features the work of 77 member artists, spanning several generations and comprising a broad range of approaches to abstraction. The roster includes a long list of well known painters including Dorothea Rockburne, Thornton Willis, Merrill Wagner, Will Barnet, and many more -- all showing significant works. There is also a nice group of excellent work by lesser known artists. One thing that distinguishes this exhibition from some previous AAA shows is the scale of the work, made possible by the size of the rambling galleries of OK Harris. Rather than diminutive samples shown salon style, we are treated to full scale paintings, shown with enough space around them to set off each piece individually. It is a museum worthy presentation that this work truly deserves. Moving around the galleries, spending time with each work, one is inevitably taken by the variety and depth of the ongoing investigations. One can sense the 75 year tradition, a seasoning and a blooming -- a way of seeing, thinking, living that in many ways is no less radical now than in 1936.

left: Susan Bonfils, Color Planes 1-A, 2010, 23 x 18.75 x 10 inches, aluminum & acrylic

right: Mark Dagley, Core Belief, 2008, 76 x 72 inches, acrylic on unprimed canvas

Joan Waltemath, Owen (East 1 1,2,3,5,8...), 2008-10, 39.25 x 16.25 inches, oil, zinc, graphite, pewter & florescent pigment on honeycomb aluminum panel

Richard Timperio, Peach Foam-Red Mark, 1995, 68 x 56 inches, acrylic & mixed media on canvas

left: David Row, String Theory, 2008, 50 x 66 inches, oil on canvas

center: Mara Held, Ostinato, 2007, 32 x 48 inches, egg tempera on linen/board

right: Judith Murray, Transport, 2008-9, 50 x 54 inches, oil on linen

Will Barnet, GO-GO II, 2003, 31 3/8 x 19 1/2 inches, oil on canvas

DON VOISINE at McKenzie

Don Voisine, Inauguration, 2009, 60" x 60", oil on wood

Don Voisine, Connection, 2007, 17" x 26", oil on wood

Don Voisine, Sidekick, 2008, 36" x 18", oil on wood

The primary principle at work in the paintings of Don Voisine, thru June 6 at McKenzie Fine Art, is compression -- like the stuff that oozes out between your fingers if you squeeze a handful of mud, the action in Voisine's paintings happens at the pressure points between opposing forces. The compositions themselves are embodiments of this pressurized tension, colorful and speedy around the edges, becoming slower and more dense at their black center. Voisine is able to wring an amazing amount of variation from very few well-chosen elements. Most engaging is the variety of blacks -- purples, greens, blues, reds -- all masquerading as black, with wonderful contrasts between matte and glossy surfaces that change as you walk around the piece. These blacks are activated by strips of pastel or sometimes almost day-glo color of varying widths aligning the verticle or horizontal edges. The X formed by the two intersecting black slabs on a white ground causes a dance of triangular shapes between the black and the bright color. Voisine has found a universe in Malevich's tilted square.