Saturday, December 16, 2017

Autumn in New York, Part 7: Stitched, Stapled, and Tacked


Panorama of Howardena Pindell: Recent Paintings at the Garth Greenan Gallery, Chelsea,
extended through December 21


Like a Polaroid photo, this post developed on its own. As I viewed the handwork and hardware that formed a number of works, text and images became visible in my mind's eye. From Howardena Pindell’s splendid stitched canvases, I spent some time with Lance Letscher’s relatively small-scale stapled collages, the staples functioning much like Pindell’s stitches. Up in Western Massachusetts, Nancy Natale was showing a group of constructions whose painted strips are tacked in place. Back in Manhattan, Liza Lou's subtly striped color field revealed itself on closer inspection to be made of tiny glass beads stitched by hand.

 HOWARDENA PINDELL
 Nautilus #1,  2014-2015, mixed media on canvas, 68 x 70 inches
Detail below





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Long known for her process-intensive work, Pindell cuts and then reassembles canvas into organic shapes that spiral or meander. Tiny cut circles, perhaps made by a hole puncher, have long been a feature of the topographical surface of Pindell's paintings, and in these new works we can see additional elements: glitter, sequins, and larger round or ovoid shapes. The paintings are shown unstretched, which underscores the organic nature of her abstraction. A veteran painter, Pindell was a founding member of A.I. R. Gallery and has shown widely. Press material notes that a retrospective, Howardena Pindell: What Remains to Be Seen, will take place at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in the early part of 2018.
 HOWARDENA PINDELL
 Songlines: Labyrinth (Versailles), 2017, mixed media on canvas, 40.50 x 80 inches
Detail below


HOWARDENA PINDELL 
Night Flight, 2015-2016, mixed media on canvas, 75 x 63 inches


 HOWARDENA PINDELL
Carnival: Bahia, Brazil, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 74 x 84 inches
Detail below


 HOWARDENA PINDELL
Songlines: Cosmos, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 57 x 81 inches
Image from Garth Greenan Gallery website
Detail below

. . . . .

LANCE LETSCHER
Installation view of one wall of  Cut and Staple: New Work by Lance Letscher at Pavel Zoubok Gallery, Chelsea, through December 23
Image from Pavel Zoubok Gallery website


LANCE LETSCHER
Elephant Study #1, 2017, metal collage, 9 x 7 inches (shown framed at far right in installation shot above)

There are two bodies of work on exhibition: conventional collage in a riot of color and biologic forms, and the works I'm showing you here: cut-metal constructions held together with industrial staples, which give a rhythm and texture to the surface.

LANCE LETSCHER
Installation view, with Elephan Study, left, and Ampersand, right


LANCE LETSCHER
Elephant Study, 2017, metal and staples, 27.75 x 24.25
Detail below




LANCE LETSCHER
Ampersand, 2017, metal collage, 27.75 x 32.50 inches
Detail below


LANCE LETSCHER
Another installation view, with Fox and Rabbit on far wall
Image from Pavel Zoubok Gallery website


LANCE LETSCHER
Fox and Rabbit, 2017, metal collage, 18.75 x 10.50 inches
Detail below


. . . . .


NANCY NATALE
Fall Back, 2017, encaustic with mixed media on panel,  24 x 24 inches

Nancy Natale's grid-based, mixed-media constructions consist of strips of created or found materials laid horizontally, typically secured with tacks applied in a vertical orientation. The result is the visual equivalent of jazz or salsa: a 4/4 or 6/8 rhythm overlaid with the pop of syncopation and marked by improvisation that rides the highs and lows of the notes on the page. Color heightens the effect, but a new achromatic series depends on relief for its impact.


NANCY NATALE
Installation view of Pursuing Geometry at Elusie Gallery, Easthampton, Mass. (through December 2)


NANCY NATALE
Dark Foursome, 2017, mixed media, each 10 x 10 inches


NANCY NATALE
Above: Dark Time 1
Below:
High Contrast

. . . . .


LIZA LOU
Title and date unavailable, stitched glass beads, app. 78 x 78 inches
Seen at Lehman Maupin Gallery, Chelsea. This gorgeous work--so subtle from a distance, so rich from up close--was not in an exhibition but simply on one of the inner-room walls when I saw it. 
You can see a similar such work here.

Detail below



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If you've enjoyed this series--and there are two more installments coming--please consider a donation to this blog. Info is on the sidebar. Your donation is not tax deductible, as I am not affiliated with any organization, however, your donation need not be large. As you can imagine photographing, editing, Photoshopping, researching, and writing each blog post requires hours away from my studio practice. Thanking you in advance.

2 comments:

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  2. Great delivery. Sond arguments. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete