Linda Francis, Interference, 2010
Mixed media on wood
24 x 24 inches

November 12 – 26, 2011

Artists: Clary Stolte, Don Voisine, Henriëtte van ‘t Hoog, José Heerkens, Kasarian Dane, Linda Francis, Mel Prest, Paul Pagk, Richard Schur.

A Romance of Many Dimensions is comprised of nine artists/painters who share at least two things: their work expands the idea of dimensionality past the exactitude of two and three- dimensional space, and, they have had all been interviewed by Brent Hallard. You can find the interviews posted online at Visual Discrepancies.

The title of the show comes from Edwin A. Abbott’s Flatland — A Romance of Many Dimensions, who dedicates the book…

To The Inhabitants of SPACE IN GENERAL And H. C. IN PARTICULAR This Work is Dedicated
By a Humble Native of Flatland
In the Hope that
Even as he was Initiated into the Mysteries
Of THREE Dimensions
Having been previously conversant
With ONLY TWO
So the Citizens of that Celestial Region
May aspire yet higher and higher
To the Secrets of FOUR FIVE OR EVEN SIX Dimensions
Thereby contributing
To the Enlargement of THE IMAGINATION
And the possible Development
Of that most rare and excellent Gift of MODESTY
Among the Superior Races
Of SOLID HUMANITY

What better sentiments come to mind than this to suggest the tenets of a reductive visual practice… the enlargement of the imagination, the development of that rare and excellent gift of modesty?

Like the novella, the paintings in “A Romance…” do not provide an axiom for the existence of higher dimensions into other worlds. That’s something a mathematician or physicist might be able to do better. Rather, the works in this exhibition attend to the flat — surfaces, shapes and color — as if in defiance of the existence of the dimensional world that they inhabit.

The experience of a painting, noting that the term painting here can be applied rather loosely, is primarily phenomenological. Yet just as a line or shape can suggest an aspect of the recognizable as a response to the world around us, shapes also go on to form recognizable things, and, as such link the three-dimensional experience of supports and canvases as they protrude from the wall.

While early abstraction had its interest in non-Euclidian geometry, the fourth dimension and the idea of time and motion as a perceived illusion, artists such Mondrian and Malevich clearly worked with the phenomenal world that they were in. Their mature paintings generally had a top and a bottom, not of sky and sea, but in correspondence to the way the body responds to the environment. And if some of this early experimentation appears to be gravity free, on closer inspection it becomes clear that a bodily response to gravity is there expressed through a modesty of means.

The artists in the show all work with visual dialects, understanding that line is connected to form, that object is connected to color and line, that our participation informs and blends all this, and the relationships formed hereafter are very much about our connectivity, be-coming aware of another sensual realm that may have no physical location. It is here that the artist romances, bringing together relationships, for the viewer to experience and wonder about.

A Romance of Many Dimensions is curated by Brent Hallard.

ABOUT BROOKLYN ARTISTS GYM
BAG is gallery and artists’ studio facility in the Park Slope/Gowanus area of Brooklyn, NY. BAG’s mission is to help make it possible for artists to further their work and careers at a reasonable cost. Started five years ago, BAG also offers classes, critiques, figure drawing, library, wifi, kitchenette and all studio facilities.

Installation view

thru October 23, 2010

“I’ve chosen artists’ work that I feel share something of a fetish with/in the production/object, particularly based on an aesthetic predisposition that can run formally, culturally, adding the social/personal. How I personally interpret this is with a Tokyo sensibility, how Japanese respond to objects and their placement, their positioned sense of worth, a cuteness, an austere vs. touch. The exhibition consists of individual pieces, multiples, or artists books, which may sit on the wall, or on shelves within the grid, mixing up the idea of ‘art object’, ‘art multiple’, and/or simply as a ‘monogram’ [a copy record of the art/practice] to bring together a whole presentation, inviting communication and contact. And that, in a nutshell, is touch.” –Brent Hallard, Oct. 2010

These things that may sit on the wall, on a table, draw attention not only unto themselves but also in proximity, of ideas, of soothers and disquietude: two grids on tangential walls, another formed by a mass of white, tabletops bunched together, anticipate a social meeting of sorts, like-minded, or in location disparity, objects intertwine ideas, engage an audience that may lead them, us, to a precipice of the inexorable… a spree, a want, desire, an enchanted moment with what is there, a champagne bubble, a twist of color, an abstract motif turned clock tower, some things something suggested… other times not… shiny surfaces, bars of color, dingle dangles that pull on the psychological purse, strings… these but a few of my favorite things… Touch is a meeting place, not always bound by the physical, though often unleashed via the temporal… a get-together, a conversation, where we can touch.

Participating Artists:
Shinsuke Aso, Kasarian Dane, Brent Hallard, Lynne Harlow, Henriëtte van ‘t Hoog, IS projects, Linn Meyers, Mel Prest, Karen Schifano, Jessica Snow, Clary Stolte, Hadi Tabatabai, Cecilia Vissers, Don Voisine, Nancy White, Patricia Zarate

Julian Dashper in New Caledonia, July 2008

August 7 – September 4, 2010

MINUS SPACE is honored to announce the memorial exhibition Julian Dashper (1960-2009): It Is Life. The exhibition marks the one-year anniversary of the New Zealand artist’s death and it will feature a single work by Julian entitled Future Call, as well as written tributes to him by more than 70 artists internationally.

Julian Dashper is one of the most significant reductive artists of his generation. He was one of MINUS SPACE’s earliest international collaborators and supporters, starting around the time of our inception in 2003. Julian has had a core presence in our project ever since. Renowned for his generosity to others, he was highly esteemed both as an artist and individual, and is dearly missed by his family, friends, and the community of artists. As evident in the written tributes to him by artists to be included in the exhibition, Julian’s practice extended well beyond the walls of his studio. He was a “husband, father, friend, partner, collaborator, teacher, mentor, and advocate”. His life and work directly impacted hundreds of artists and others around the globe. His influence and legacy will continue for many years to come.

For Julian Dashper (1960-2009): It Is Life, MINUS SPACE will present Julian’s work Future Call consisting of a single telephone installed in the gallery that is periodically called from New Zealand, which is 16 hours ahead of New York City, only to be left ringing and unanswered. Traditionally completed by Julian, Future Call will be performed throughout the exhibition by Julian’s wife, artist Marie Shannon.

In addition, more than 70 artists and other individuals from around the globe contributed texts to the exhibition, including personal notes, memories, anecdotes, criticism, correspondence, poems, and elegies:

Soledad Arias, Marcus Bering, Channa Boon, Ralf Brög, Henry Brown & Millicent Borges Accardi, Mary-Louise Browne, Vicente Butron, Melanie Crader & Mick Johnson, Christoph Dahlhausen, Kasarian Dane, Judy Darragh & Rosanna Albertini, Christopher Dean, Matthew Deleget & Rossana Martinez, Ali Duffey, Daniel Feingold, Linda Francis, Alicia Frankovich, Zipora Fried, Andrea Gaskin, Daniel Göttin & Gerda Maise, Michelle Grabner, Billy Gruner & Sarah Keighery, Vaughan Gunson, Jenny Halliday, Lynne Harlow, Miriam Harris, Gilbert Hsiao, William Hsu, Simon Ingram, Kyle Jenkins, Ian Jervis, Jeffrey Cortland Jones, James Juszczyk, Steve Karlik, Mark Kirby, WJM Kok, Keira Kotler, Elodie Lesourd, Stephen Little, Joshua Lux, MariaMaria, Jackie Meier, Moreno Miorelli, Dane Mitchell, Victoria Munro, Geoff Newton, John Nixon, Rose Nolan, Salvatore Panatteri, Carrie Patterson, Nathan Pohio, Gwynneth Porter, Mel Prest, Linda Roche, Layla Rudneva-Mackay, Rene Rusjan, Erik Saxon, Karen Schifano, Marie Shannon, Sandra Smith, Barbara Strathdee, Clary Stolte, Robert Swain, David Thomas, Mandy Thomsett-Taylor, Tilman, Jan van der Ploeg, Machiel van Soest, Erica van Zon, Jan Maarten Voskuil, Isha Welsh, Marcus Williams, Emi Winter, Rachael Wren, Patricia Zarate, and others.

Fittingly, Julian Dashper was born on February 29, 1960 (leap year day). During his career, he mounted more than 140 solo exhibitions of his work worldwide, including in New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Europe, and the United States. In 2001, he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to be an artist in residence at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, TX. A 25-year retrospective of Julian’s work, entitled Midwestern Unlike You and Me, curated by Christopher Cook and David Raskin, traveled the United States during 2005-2006, making stops at the Sioux City Art Center, IA; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, NE; and Ulrich Museum of Art, KS. Julian’s work was included in our comprehensive group exhibition MINUS SPACE at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in NYC in 2008-2009. Julian died on July 30, 2009, and is survived by his wife Marie Shannon and their teenage son Leo.

SUPPORT
We would like to thank artists Marie Shannon, Victoria Munro, and Jan van der Ploeg for their tremendous assistance in organizing this exhibition. We would also like to thank all of the artists who contributed heartfelt texts to the show. MINUS SPACE’s programming is made possible by the generous support of The Golden Rule Foundation, as well as individual donors. We thank you!

PRESS
Summer Group Shows, by Robert Shuster, Village Voice, August 25, 2010
Julian Dashper: It Is Life at MINUS SPACE, by Tana Mitchell, PROCESS Blog, August 18, 2010
Julian Dashper (1960-2009): It Is Life at MINUS SPACE, James Kalm Report, August 8, 2010
A Must-See, Artlog, August 7, 2010
Artlog’s Top Art & Culture Picks, Huffington Post, August 4, 2010
Be Prepared to Go With the Flow, by Adam Gifford, New Zealand Herald, July 31, 2010

Work by Brent Hallard

November 12 – December 19, 2009

An international, visual conversation between abstract painters; a traveling, transformable series of shows.

Exhibiting artists – Kasarian Dane, Stephan Fritsch, Brent Hallard, Leonhard Hurzlmeier, Robin McDonnell, Mel Prest, Richard Schur, Nancy White, John Zurier

Meridian Gallery is pleased to present TRANS: form | color the San Francisco manifestation of a series of international traveling shows by nine artists from Japan, Germany and the United States who are engaged in a dialogue about Painting and Abstraction.

Begun as an in-person and online conversation between Richard Schur in Munich, Mel Prest in San Francisco and Brent Hallard in Tokyo, TRANS has grown into an exhibition with nine artists. Three of the artists hail from Germany, four artists live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area, one in upstate New York and one lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. Working both internationally and in a variety of approaches to Abstraction, the artists have created this show as a visual dialogue between themselves and as a means to join today’s contemporary painting dialogue.

The show poses questions of cultural/aesthetic difference, as well as, the ways that the works align both formally and conceptually, with a range of abstraction spanning hard-edge, optical, minimal, expressive and conceptual. An aspect of the artists’ continuing dialogue is the installation of TRANS: form | color, which is done onsite by the artists together. This convergence of approach and locale creates a dynamic and timely exhibition.

Each of the artists work with optically engaging abstraction whose roots lie in different twentieth century trajectories, yet the work is very much of the twenty first century, with its awareness of history as well as conceptual concerns and aesthetics of contemporary painting.

“…These painters, calling themselves TRANS, meeting in person or on the Internet, found that they share a common interest in the painting process, pure, and often not so simple. Unlike previous groups, they share no common ideology and they certainly are not likely to publish a manifesto. And they all agree that it is the viewer’s response, which completes the work…”
—Peter Selz

TRANS:Abstraktion opened in November 2007 at Weltraum, a non-profit gallery space in Munich, Germany. In March 2009 TRANS:formal traveled to Pharmaka, a non-profit space in Los Angeles. Each show includes new work by each artist –thus keeping a fresh and ongoing dialogue. TRANS: form | color at Meridian Gallery will be the first time all artists will be present at the exhibition.

Catalogue available, with notes on TRANS: form | color by Peter Selz.

Installation view

October 16 – November 20, 2009

The exhibition features the painting Untitled (Original Six: Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, New York), which is a tribute to the original six National Hockey League teams: The Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, and New York Rangers. The colors of the paintings are drawn from these teams’ traditional colors and the installation consists of six 48 x 72 inch panels. Presented in one uninterrupted line, the work makes a bold visual statement, while referencing the strong history of color used by these six hockey teams.

Kasarian Dane has shown his paintings nationally and internationally, including exhibitions in Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, London, and San Juan. He currently lives and works in upstate New York where he teaches painting at St. Lawrence University.

Read the complete interview

Brent Hallard: You have been working on areas of color; vertical or horizontal bands of either matte paint or gloss paint with sometimes both present in the one painting at the same time. The structure between two areas of color, you couldn’t really call it a line, though, well, in the material – a space where something stops and then something starts.

You have used aluminum supports for some time now. They sit well, both functioning as unadorned surface where paint can just glide over, and as a sheer and clean plane on which to see the color, the paint.

What brought you to use these supports? Do you do all the preparation yourself? If so could you tell what that entails to get something to sit on the wall, for paint to sit upon the support?

Kasarian Dane: I’ve been using aluminum since about 1996 or so. I discovered it as a painting support in graduate school at The Art Institute of Chicago. I was making these fairly reductive paintings on canvas and was really struggling with what to do with the sides of the canvas: do I paint the edges of the canvas? Do I tape the sides so they stay clean? Are the sides of the canvas with the paint build up an important index of the process or a distraction from what’s happening on the surface plane? How thick or thin should I make the stretcher? I tried a lot of different ideas with this, thick stretchers, thin stretchers, etc. and it was not satisfying. The sides of the canvas were always another plane to deal with in relationship to the surface plane, and I was just not interested in making paintings on the sides of my paintings…

Works by Leo Hurzlmeir, Richard Schur & Brent Hallard (l to r)

March 12 – May 2, 2009

Exhibiting artists: Kasarian Dane, Stephan Fritsch, Brent Hallard, Leo Hurzlmeir, Robin McDonnell, Mel Prest, Richard Schur, Nancy White, John Zurier 


Pharmaka is pleased to present “TRANS:formal” the Los Angeles manifestation in a series of traveling shows by nine artists from Germany, Japan and the United States who are all engaged in a dialogue about Abstraction in painting.

Working both internationally and in a variety of approaches to Abstraction, the artists have created this show as a dialogue between themselves and as a means to engage the viewer in this conversation.

The show poses questions of cultural/aesthetic difference as well as the ways that the works align formally and conceptually. This convergence of approach and locale creates a dynamic, timely exhibition.

Begun as a conversation between an artist living in Munich and another in San Francisco, this dialogue has evolved into a show of nine artists. Three of the artists live in Munich, Germany, one lives in Tokyo, Japan, four live in the San Francisco bay area, one in upstate New York.

The show first opened in Munich, Germany as TRANS: Abstraktion at Weltraum gallery in November 2007, and in November 2009 it will travel to San Francisco to the Meridian Gallery. Each show will have new work by each of the artists thus keeping a fresh and ongoing dialogue. The show provides a location for the artists to come together and converse. Many of the artists will be engaging in the artists talk at Pharmaka on March 14.

Each of the artists work with optically engaging abstraction whose roots lie in different twentieth century trajectories, yet the work is very much of the twenty first century with its awareness of history as well as the conceptual concerns and aesthetics of contemporary painting.

Kasarian Dane uses highly colorful hard-edge painting to push a perception of the reductive. His vertical strips of color jerk and cajole the edges of the eye. In an elegantly calibrated and vibrant space, it appears nothing else is there: nothing else is needed. Born 1972 in Duluth, Minnesota; lives in upstate New York.

Stephan Fritsch is equally at home on and off the canvas. Referencing aspects of gestural painting, graffiti and architecture, he builds complex canvases and installations. His color instances, discovered in daily encounters, mingle with brushstrokes and create images that evoke unexpected and fresh associations. Born 1962 in Stuttgart, Germany; lives in Munich.

Brent Hallard’s work is full of contradictions: quirky and conventional, jarring and elegant, humorous and refined. Using plastics, vinyl, aluminum, painted tape and templates, he often imbues a singular minimalist shape with multi-possibilities, pushing a perceptual vision into a realm of irreconcilable illusion. Born in 1962 in Sydney, Australia; lives in Tokyo, Japan.

Leo Hurzlmeir’s paintings move between motifs of abstraction to figuration and narrative and are engaged in the materiality of paint itself. Within this realm of play, his work undergoes a highly personal process of abstraction that is always left open to associative readings. Born 1983 in Starnberg, Germany; lives in Munich

Robin McDonnell uses an abstract ‘process’ driven language to create a complex field of activity in her paintings. The intention is to create an opticality that is both engaging and immersive to the viewer without providing resolutions or answers, thus creating an open ended visual experience. Born 1955 in New York, NY; lives in Berkeley, California.

Mel Prest’s conceptual color drawings transform language into color and shape. With a systematic but open process, words derived from pop culture, the urban, and the everyday produce a precarious architectural space. In her paintings a dissonant palette of hand-painted lines evoke the optical effect of collapsing space creating perceptual puzzles. Born in 1969 in Saint Paul, Minnesota; lives in San Francisco, California.

Richard Schur combines rigorous visual enquiry with a knowing playfulness where amalgamations of marks break the dominance of the geometric. With a systematic and sensuous use of color, space in Schur’s paintings is both elusive and palpable.. Born 1971 in Munich, Germany; lives in Munich 
 


Nancy White orders geometric shapes with precision to intensify the instabilities of visual acuity. On hand pigmented grounds after-images emerge; forms can appear simultaneously flat and three-dimensional. Her frame paintings create an amplification of light and color. Born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1947; lives in Redwood City, California.

John Zurier is highly attuned to and carefully considers the intrinsic characteristics of all his materials. His brushwork can be simultaneously expansive and restricted, formal and informal, lush and austere and always compels a closer, slower and longer look. In all his work an ethereal quality is evoked revealing the experience of seeing as something difficult and real. Born in Santa Monica, California in 1956; lives in Berkeley, California.

October 17 — December 14, 2007