KENNY SCHARF – KOLORS

Posted on 2013-04-29

Inspired by Color Field masterworks, deceptively present themselves as backdrops for the sculptures. Upon closer inspection, the tonally unified paintings beckon the viewer into vibrant, other-worldly, biomorphic atmospheres composed of a variety of shapes, dimensions and details. The three never-before-seen sculptures revisit the classic icons of Scharf’s repertoire of symbolic imagery developed over thirty years. Scharf’s exhibition possesses a unique energy and exuberance, highlighted by both his cosmic paintings and nostalgic sculptures. A fully illustrated catalogue, published in collaboration with Standard Press and Damiani, will accompany the exhibition and be available for purchase at the PK SHOP and The Standard Shop at The Standard, High Line ($40).

Scharf’s use of airbrush-like oil and acrylic paint embodies the influence of street culture within contemporary art practices that he helped establish. Scharf’s inspiration stems from the past, the future, nature, and the cosmic world of inner and outer space. In his sculptures, Scharf makes use of his iconic imagery, freezing expressive cartoon-like faces in curvilinear three-dimensional reflective forms. Scharf presents larger-than-life versions of three seminal characters from his pantheon of cartoon-like creatures. Two sculptures, Squirtz and Red Scary Guy, present an embodiment of anger and happiness; whereas Totemotiki climbs twelve feet to the ceiling, stacking characters that showcase the duality and interconnectedness of human emotions.

Opposite – Red Scary Guy, 2012

Exhibition runs through to May 4th, 2013

Paul Kasmin Gallery
515 West 27th Street
New York
10001

www.paulkasmingallery.com

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ESTUARY

Posted on 2013-04-29

Estuary brings together the work of 12 artists who have been inspired by the outer limits of the Thames where the river becomes the sea. The exhibition marks the 10th anniversary of the Museum of London Docklands, a converted Georgian warehouse on West India Quay.

With its dramatic landscape – desolate mudflats and saltmarshes, vast open skies, container ports, power stations and seaside resorts – the Estuary has long been a rich source of inspiration for artists and writers. Through film, photography, painting and printmaking, the contemporary artists featured in this exhibition offer new insight into this often overlooked, yet utterly compelling, environment and the people that live and work there.

Exhibition runs from May 17th to October 27th, 2013

Museum of London Docklands
West India Quay
Canary Wharf
London
E14 4AL

www.museumoflondon.org.uk

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KOEN VAN DEN BROEK – APEX

Posted on 2013-04-29

In this body of large-scale work van den Broek uses the history of his own paintings as a reference point and conceives fresh commentaries on abstraction. He formally resolves his signature tension between the photographic and the painterly, transcending from referential and cerebral to the experiential and spiritual.

A trained architect, van den Broek uses light, shape, and repetition to build generic structures, be it natural or man-made, through layering and the application of vibrant colors. Shadows cast by anonymous buildings, cracks in sun baked pavement, and lonely overpass bridges suggest human presence and a narrative long past. His preference for the casual and reflective aligns with Edward Hopper and Wayne Thiebaud.

Known for employing photographic images taken on road trips as the basis for his work – from Belgium to Tokyo, Chicago, Los Angeles and beyond, with this new series van den Broek abandons this alibi, and with it, the inherent distancing and melancholic effects. Instead, he samples the 20th and 21st century, as seen through his own eyes, invoking Abstract Expressionism in the vein of Clyfford Still infused with the self-conscious and self-referential characteristics of American Conceptualism.

Opposite – Torque #7

Exhibition runs through to May 24th, 2013

Friedman Benda
515 West 26th Street
New York
NY
10001

www.friedmanbenda.com

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