Calendar of Events

Erin Raedeke Things Left

January 31 – February 25, 2012
Reception: Saturday, February 4, 3 – 5 pm

In her first solo exhibition in New York City, Erin Raedeke explores complex relationships by observing the detritus of everyday life. In “Things Left,” the still life becomes a vehicle for grappling with unresolved thoughts and memories. The viewer enters the paintings as if they were entering a play mid-scene. The elusive plot is not unlike the subconscious. Fragments are not connected in an ordered way. Patterns are observed and dynamics play out as the motivations of characters emerge. Is the whimsical bird in a painting an innocent witness or does it play a more complicit role? These are the things that are left in the residue of daily life.

Broken/Window/Plane
at the Tracy Williams, Ltd – NYC
Organized by John Yau

16 February – 17 March 2012
Artists:
Gary Stephan
Catherine Murphy
Lois Dodd
Paul DeMuro
Andrea Belag
Merlin James
Joanne Greenbaum
Sangram Majumdar
Judy Ledgerwood
Marc Handelman
Olav Christopher Jenssen
Nicholas Krushenick

The idea for this exhibition came from a conversation that I had with Gary Stephan while we
were looking at the newest paintings in his studio. He began talking about “pressure being
applied to the picture plane,” but didn’t specify whether this force came from the artist, history,
or nature. And, to compound matters, I also realized that there is the pressure on the artist as
well, from authorities and institutions, not to mention gravity.
In order to clear a space for yourself, you have to ask a basic question but defer the solution:
couldn’t the picture plane be both solid and transparent, layered and punctuated, there and not
there, something we see even when it is invisible? Why would you want to confine painting’s
identity to a narrow set of conventions? Why not try and find fresh ways to distinguish it?
Stephan’s observations confirmed a long-held suspicion. Painters – the best ones, anyway –
have long found ways to supersede the received wisdom regarding painting’s identity. The
reasons are obvious – why would you want to spend your days thinking of a painting solely as a
two-dimensional surface upon which to apply paint? Might not a more challenging goal be to
bring everything back into play – from discredited illusionism and the figure/ground problem to
allusiveness and association – without being nostalgic, sentimental, ironic, or coy?
I was reminded of conversations that I had had with Lois Dodd, Sangram Majumdar, Catherine
Murphy and others. A space for reflection had opened up, and I thought it was worth exploring.
The sole motivation for my selections was the work itself – the paintings are in dialogue with
others in the show. They speak across generations. They don’t recognize the borders separating
abstraction from observation. They are free spirits. Speculation and play have replaced claims to
being factual. Or, to put it another way, the artists in this exhibition recognize that what you
need – if you wish to pull a rabbit out of a hat – is a rabbit and a hat.

(from the press release)

Inside Edward Hopper’s Truro Studio: Paintings by Philip Koch
Edward Hopper House Art Center
March 31 – May 13, 2012

As a young artist Philip Koch was inspired by the work of Edward Hopper to change
from making abstract painting to working in a realist direction. Since 1983 Koch has
enjoyed thirteen residencies staying and painting in Hopper’s Cape Cod studio in S. Truro,
MA.

The Edward Hopper House Art Center, Hopper’s birthplace and boyhood home will show
a selection of paintings Koch has made of the interior of Hopper’s Truro studio.

There will be an opening reception Saturday, March 31, 5-7p.m.
At 7p.m. Koch will present a slide talk “Three Things You Didn’t Know
About Edward Hopper.”

82 N. Broadway
Nyack, NY 10960
845-358-0774
http://www.edwardhopperhouse.org/upcoming-exhibitions.html