The Clear and the Obscure

Michael Berryhill, Ryan Nord Kitchen, Victoria Roth, Patricia Treib

9/4 – 5/6, 2016
(scroll down for English)
 

The Clear and the Obscure es una exposición grupal que une el trabajo de cuatro pintores que a pesar de trabajar de formas muy diferentes tienen similaridades sobresalientes. Desde una preferencia por una paleta brillante, algunas veces pastel y de mucho contraste, con una notable evocación al modernismo temprano en Europa y América, hasta una inclinación a la material/sujeto que reside cómodamente en el umbral entre la figuración y la abstracción, estos cuatro artistas crean obras cuyos contornos e intenciones son al mismo tiempo claras y obscuras. Los métodos y técnicas dentro del grupo varían. Por ejemplo, mientras que Michael Berryhill y Victoria Roth se acercan de una manera mucho más vigorosa, intuitiva y laboriosa a la generación de imágenes ricas y evocadoras, que van descubriendo sobre la marcha, la quasi-caligráfica fabricación de imágenes de Patricia Treib es mucho más metódica y referente a una fuente específica que se repite, mientras que Ryan Nord Kitchen representa esencialmente paisajes que arden en abstracciones ideográficas. Pero de acuerdo con una fe común en la pintura como pintura, sus prácticas heterogéneas y altamente sofisticadas se comprometen profundamente con el cultivo de sus propios vocabularios pictóricos, que son alcanzados con mucho trabajo y alimentados por un compromiso al color, a la fractura y creación de marcas. Crean un trabajo en el cual la intención no es lo opuesto sino dónde reside la el misterio, haciendo un gesto colectivamente hacia la alegre y continua coexistencia de ambos en la pintura contemporánea.


Michael Berryhill (n. 1972, El Paso, Texas. Vive y trabaja en Brooklyn). Una selección de sus exposiciones individuales recientes incluye: (2016) Kanas gallery, NY (2015) Shrine Time, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY; Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA; (2016) Y grupales: (2016) Strange Abstraction, Fredericks & Freiser Gallery, NY; Around Flat, Knockdown Center, Maspeth, NY; (2015) Intimacy in Discourse: Unreasonable Sized Paintings, School of Visual Arts, NY; The Negative Hand, Anonymous Gallery, Mexico City, MX

Ryan Nord Kitchen (n. 1988, Minnesota. Vive y trabaja en Baltimore). Una selección de sus exposiciones individuales recientes incluye: (2016) Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, NY (forthcoming); (2015) Summer Paintings, Terrault Contemporary, Baltimore, MD; Paintings, Galleri Jacob Bjørn, Aarhus, Denmark, Y grupales: (2016) Mother Popcorn, Big Medium, Austin; Jon Pilkington, Ryan Nord Kitchen, Stefanie Heinze, Rod Barton, Londres

Victoria Roth (n. 1986 París, Francia; Vive y trabaja en Brooklyn). Una selección de sus exposiciones grupales recientes incluye: (2016) In the Mix, Hometown Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Vivid Bra, NY; SPRING/BREAK Art Show, NY; (2015) Figuration Inside/Out, Nancy Margolis Gallery, NY; (2014) Leaning Steeples, Show Room Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY

Patricia Treib (n. 1979, Saginaw, MI. Vive y trabaja en Brooklyn) Una selección de sus exposiciones individuales recientes incluye: (2016) Galería Marta Cervera, Madrid (forthcoming); (2015) Patricia Treib, Kate MacGarry, London, UK; (2014) Solo project, Wallspace, Liste Art Basel, Basel, CH; (2013) Patricia Treib, Wallspace, NY, Y grupales: (2016) Nice Weather, curada por David Salle, Skarsted Gallery, NY; (2015) Fictions, Derek Eller, NY

 

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The Clear and the Obscure is a group exhibition that brings together the work of four painters whose very different ways of working nevertheless possess salient affinities. From a preference for a bright, at times pastel and high-contrast palette, whose common debt to early European and American modernism is notable, to a proclivity for subject matter which sits comfortably on the threshold between figuration and abstraction, these four artists create works whose contours and intentions are at once clear and obscure. Methods and techniques among the group vary. For instance, where Michael Berryhill and Victoria Roth wield a much more intuitive, labored and vigorous approach toward generating their rich and evocative imagery, discovering it as they proceed, Patricia Treib’s quasi-calligraphic picture making is much more methodical, referring to a specific, repeated source, while Ryan Nord Kitchen essentially depicts landscapes which all but blaze into ideographic abstractions. But, in accordance with a common faith in painting as painting, these heterogeneous and highly sophisticated practices are deeply engaged in the cultivation of their own pictorial vocabularies, which are hard won and fueled by a commitment to color, facture and mark making. They create work in which intention is not the opposite but the very preserve of mystery, collectively gesturing toward the happy and ongoing co-existence of the two in contemporary painting.


Michael Berryhill (b. 1972, El Paso, Texas. Lives and works in Brooklyn). A selection of recent solo exhibitions includes: (2016) Kanas gallery, New York (2015) Shrine Time, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY; Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA; (2016) and group: (2016) Strange Abstraction, Fredericks & Freiser Gallery, New York, NY; Around Flat, Knockdown Center, Maspeth, NY; (2015) Intimacy in Discourse: Unreasonable Sized Paintings, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY; The Negative Hand, Anonymous Gallery, Mexico City, MX

Ryan Nord Kitchen (b. 1988, Minnesota. Lives and works in Baltimore). A selection of recent solo exhibitions includes: (2016) Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York, NY (forthcoming); (2015) Summer Paintings, Terrault Contemporary, Baltimore, MD; Paintings, Galleri Jacob Bjørn, Aarhus, Denmark, and group: (2016) Mother Popcorn, Big Medium, Austin, TX; Jon Pilkington, Ryan Nord Kitchen, Stefanie Heinze, Rod Barton, London, UK

Victoria Roth (b. 1986 Paris, France; lives and works in Brooklyn). A selection of recent group exhibitions includes: (2016) In the Mix, Hometown Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Vivid Bra, New York, NY; SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York, NY; (2015) Figuration Inside/Out, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY; (2014) Leaning Steeples, Show Room Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY

Patricia Treib (b. 1979, Saginaw, MI. Lives and works in Brooklyn) A selection of recent solo exhibitions includes: (2016) Galería Marta Cervera, Madrid (forthcoming); (2015) Patricia Treib, Kate MacGarry, London, UK; (2014) Solo project, Wallspace, Liste Art Basel, Basel, CH; (2013) Patricia Treib, Wallspace, NY and group: (2016) Nice Weather, curated by David Salle, Skarsted Gallery, NY; (2015) Fictions, Derek Eller, New York, NY