Paul Czerlitzki: So Far So Good
Imagine
March 2–April 2, 2016
Opening: March 2, 7–9pm
Brand New Gallery
via Carlo Farini 32
20159 Milan
Italy
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 11–13h and 14.30–19h
T +39 02 89 05 30 83
info [at] brandnew-gallery.com
www.brandnew-gallery.com
Paul Czerlitzki
So Far So Good
Brand New Gallery is pleased to present So Far So Good the first solo exhibition by Paul Czerlitzki in Italy.
The conceptual paintings of the artist, who was born in Danzig in 1986, constitute series of works, so-called “pictorial corpora,” which are connected with one another from the beginning of the process of creation onwards. So Far So Good includes a wall painting and large-scale canvas works.
In the site specific wall work Czerlitzki uses the canvas only as a performative transfer material: the acrylic colour penetrates the fibres of the canvas and is transferred onto the walls behind. In this way the artist has only a conditional, contingent influence on the result. The works so created are depictions of the canvas structure inverted into the negative.
In these picture series, Czerlitzki is pursuing the idea of an organic pictorial corpus expanding in all directions, its component parts—the individual “paintings”—having an existence of their own but being premonstrations of a whole which leaves traditional categories of oeuvre and (individual) work behind it. Paul Czerlitzki conceives painting as a playing field, on which he is, little by little, forever shifting the parameters (format, surface, paint, quantity of paint, control).
The playing field of the current exhibition is expanded by a further pictorial corpus of works, whose shade or colour gradation become iridescent as the beholder changes his viewing point, emerged from the above-mentioned wall work. When, during the production of the wall painting, black acrylic dust spread around the room, Czerlitzki caught it on white-primed canvases, thus generating the so-termed “dust pieces” out of a side-product of the wall-hung work. The volatile, yet visually highly visceral surface exudes a seductive power, holding the gaze spell-bound in a bewitchingly oscillating pictorial space that, despite its flatness, points to an almost uncanny infinity. The fixing of the acrylic dust on the surfaces is highly labile, stabilizing itself only after a lengthy period of time. The dust works are thus extremely vulnerable “paintings,” at the mercy of the exhibition-goers, their physical control and wilfulness. The works enter upon a mutual relationship, into which the beholders physically inscribe themselves, leaving behind traces and so, as it were, becoming co-authors of the works of art. At the same time, the surface effect of the dust works conditions the movement and perception of the beholders—above all their self-perception.
The exhibition is strictly connected to the last two solo exhibitions: Anna at Johann König (Berlin, 2015) and More Time at Galerie Laurent Godin (Paris, 2016).
Imagine
Artists: Jonathan Baldock, Manfredi Beninati, Leon Benn, Jesse Benson, Ellen Berkenblit, Johnny Bicos, Katherine Bradford, Thomas Braida, Sefano Calligaro, Valerio Carrubba, Nina Chanel Abney, Michael Cline, Ann Craven, John Currin, Folkert de Jong, Gabriele De Santis, Michael Dotson, Austin Eddy, Inka Essenhigh, Nick Farhi, Giulio Frigo, Magalie Guerin, Heather Guertin, Daniel Heidkamp, Anton Henning, Elliott Hundley, Raffi Kalenderian, Laureen Keeley, Yashua Klos, Becky Kolsrud, Denise Kupferschmidt, José Lerma, Lauren Luloff, Nikki Maloof, Margherita Manzelli, Max Maslansky, Simon Mathers, Anthony Miler, Ryan Mosley, Joshua Nathanson, William J. O’Brien, Enoc Perez, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Josh Reames, Andrea Romano, Giuliano Sale, Nicola Samorì, Christian Schoeler, John Seal, Lui Shtini, Tamuna Sirbiladze, Jim Thorell, Ann Toebbe, Santo Tolone, Ian Tweedy, Kristen Van Deventer, Matthew Watson, Caroline Wells Chandrel, John Wesley, Sam Windett, Konrad Wyrebek, Eric Yahnker, Guy Yanai
Brand New Gallery is pleased to present Imagine a group exhibition that features more than 60 artists who are experimenting with the possibilities of figuration in painting.
Referring to the song “Imagine,” composed by John Lennon the lead singer of the Beatles, the show aims to explore and present the new figurative trend in contemporary art.
The word imagine has a double meaning: it’s an invite to dream, to create and to think and it also refers to the possibility of concreteness.
Imagine investigates the artist’s gesture, the use of the media and how images have been created by ones imagination or from the observation of reality.
Similar to the song “Imagine,” the artists involved are heterogeneous in regard to age, media and country of origin.
From portraits and still lifes to landscapes, each artist offers their own unique style of capturing an image.
The installation will resemble a Wunderkammer where visitors come into direct contact with the creative process of art.
Many thanks to the Italian and international galleries and to all the artists involved in this ambitious project for their precious collaboration. A special thanks to a dear friend from Genova and to Elisa and Giulio for their help and support during the organization of the exhibition.
