The exhibition Batlle Pagk consists of work by two New York based artists, sculptor Jay Batlle and painter Paul Pagk. Playing with issues of sculptural formalism, Batlle's pieces combine wit and combative vigor, their conceptual rigor subverted by freestyle funk. Likewise, Pagk deploys the tropes of modernism, conceptualism and minimalism to build his own material vocabulary that both extends and subverts all the aforementioned categories.
Sculptures and paintings
curated by Adrian Dannatt
The exhibition Batlle Pagk consists of work by two New York based
artists, sculptor Jay Batlle and painter Paul Pagk.
Batlle is exhibiting a wall work "Stencil Index Utensil", loosely
derived from the architecture of a fire escape. Its wooden armature
is aggressed by red spray paint echoing a 3D psycho-geographical map.
The movable floor piece "Optimistic Island Nostalgia" recalls the
form of gas station pumps using light fixtures, electrical cord and
hardware. The third work in the show could be read as a totemic tree
rooted in a feathered pillow and graced with aluminum leaves. Playing
with issues of sculptural formalism, Batlle's pieces combine wit and
combative vigor, their conceptual rigor subverted by freestyle funk.
Likewise, Pagk deploys the tropes of modernism, conceptualism and
minimalism to build his own material vocabulary that both extends and
subverts all the aforementioned categories. The overtly rich surface
of these oils provides a charged field for a range of graphic tactics
that play off everything from the architectural to the archaic. If
the strength of these paintings first seems generated by their
striking coloration, rose, chartreuse, celadon, equally important is
the intelligence of their composition and physical tactility. Pagk
is exhibiting three large paintings along with a variety of smaller
works.
Jay Batlle was born in 1976 and studied at the University of
California, Los Angeles, and on a fellowship at Atelier's 63 in
Amsterdam. He has exhibited in California at a variety of spaces
including Beyond Baroque, Spanish Kitchens, Studio 870, Echo Park
Projects and Refusalon in San Francisco. On the East Coast he has
shown work at Exit Art, Rare, Hunter College, Dorsky
Projects, Queens, and "New Attitudes in Sculpture" in Boston. He has
had a solo and group shows with Esso Gallery, New York. In Europe he
has shown with Galerie Frank, Paris, at Loop in Berlin, and has
forthcoming shows at Galleria 1000eventi in Milan and Alberto Peola,
Turin.
Paul Pagk was born in London and grew up in Paris where he studied at
the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He has exhibited widely in Europe
including Galerie Eric Dupont, Paris, and had a Space in 1991
followed by a second solo exhibition in 1993. Pagk has shown work at
AC Project Room, CRG, Ronald Feldman, Pierogi, Von Lintel and with
Geoffrey Young in Great Barrington. His work is in numerous private
collections as well as the Musée de Toulouse, Foundation 20/21, New
York, and FRAC Picardie where his drawings were selected by Gabriel
Orozco for a show this year.
Opening Reception: Tuesday, April 15, 6-8.30
THOMAS ERBEN GALLERY
516 West 20th Street NEW YORK NY 10011
Ph: 212-645.8701 Fx: 212-645.9630