JOHN F. SIMON, JR.

Posted on 2014-01-06

For this exhibition, themes of birth and expansion predominate. In each work, a point of origin is identified, flourishes, and ultimately exceeds the boundary of its own frame. Variations of ‘flow’, ‘mapping’, and ‘expansion’ are routinely incorporated into the details of Simon’s drawing, which now rise to the surface, both figuratively and physically. An unconventional use of robotic fabrication creates surfaces carved in deep relief, and painting becomes prominent as the artist’s focus shifts to the materiality of the fabricated surface. The topography of the sculpture, once only flat or faceted, is rolling and curved. Continuing his pioneering work with the programmed image, Simon’s own custom written software is featured in specific works via computer screens. Conceptually, the work demonstrates Simon’s deepening dedication to drawing and inward reflection. The symbolism of the exhibition as a whole displays the unlimited potential of the human mind and more specifically, artistic growth.

John F. Simon, Jr.: Moment of Escape coincides with the exhibition Intersections: John F. Simon, Jr.: Points, Lines and Colors in Succession, an installation of Simon’s work at the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., reflecting on the painting Succession by Wassily Kandinsky in the museum’s permanent collection.

Opposite – Second Moment (Big White), 2013

Exhibition runs through to February 8th, 2014

Sandra Gering
14 East 63rd Street
New York
NY
10065

www.sandrageringinc.com

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THE SCOTTISH COLOURISTS SERIES – JD FERGUSSON

Posted on 2014-01-06

Fergusson was born in Leith, near Edinburgh and was essentially self-taught. He moved to Paris in 1907 where, more than any of his Scottish contemporaries, Fergusson assimilated and developed the latest developments in French painting. In 1913 he met the dance pioneer Margaret Morris (1891-1980), who became his life-long partner. Morris, her technique, pupils and Summer Schools, became the main sources of inspiration for Fergusson’s work, before his death in Glasgow in 1961. More than 100 paintings, sculptures, works on paper and items of archival material, lent from public and private collections throughout the UK, will be on display.

Opposite – Danu, Mother of Gods, 1952

Exhibition runs through to June 15th, 2014

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
75 Belford Rd
Edinburgh
EH4 3DR

www.nationalgalleries.org

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DAVID TREMLETT – 3 DRAWING ROOMS

Posted on 2014-01-06

British artist David Tremlett, best known for his site-specific wall drawings, makes a vast new work for Ikon, transforming the second floor galleries with geometric shapes, applied directly to the walls using pastel pigment and engine grease. Each of the three rooms has a contrasting composition: horizontal and vertical rectangular blocks of vivid colour, and grey and black, playing off the volumes of architectural space in order to ‘retune’ our perception of them.

Like all of Tremlett’s wall drawings, this work for Ikon has been conjured up in the artist’s imagination, before becoming scale studio drawings. The creation of the final work takes place over several weeks, with the artist and his assistants applying the colour painstakingly by hand. Tremlett’s artistic practice, developed after his formal training at Falmouth School of Art, Birmingham College of Art and the Royal College of Art, is characterised by a critical examination of what sculpture and indeed art could be; an interest in the creative process of making, rather than focusing on a final result. Tremlett refers to his work as objects, flat sculpture, rather than images which, for him, imply illusion. His compositions typically consist of geometric forms, abstract arrangements of arcs, circles, trapezoids, text and line – formal constructs which emanate a pure joy of colourand hue, and relationships between geometry and curved line.

Exhibition runs through to April 21st, 2014

Ikon Gallery
1 Oozells Square
Brindleyplace
Birmingham
B1 2HS

ikon-gallery.org

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