Steve DiBenedetto, Hayal Pozanti, Julia Rommel, and Ruth Root. a series of solo exhibitions that will provide a window into the practices of four engaging painters who imbue the medium with relevance and character.
Steve DiBenedetto, Hayal Pozanti, Julia Rommel, and Ruth Root
The last 100 years have witnessed the explosion of
virtually every available means and medium in the service of
artmaking—yet painting has not only maintained a central position
in visual art, but has also adapted creatively to rapid changes in our
culture as a whole. Today, painting is embedded in the broad debate of
actual vs. virtual, and its ability to balance what is illusive and what
is real, what is tactile and what is optical, and what is emotive and
what is formal, provides fertile ground for a diverse range of artists.
This fall, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut
will present Painting in Four Takes, a series of solo exhibitions that
will provide a window into the practices of four engaging painters who
imbue the medium with relevance and character. The series, on view from
November 15, 2015 through April 3, 2016, will mark the first time in over
20 years that The Aldrich has dedicated all of its galleries to painting.
"While some point to marketability as the basis for the unwavering
position of painting as a leading visual arts medium, for many artists,
painting provides the most relevant platform for expression, allowing for
both the potential of innovation and deep historical continuity," says
Richard Klein, The Aldrich's exhibitions director.
Aldrich curator Amy Smith-Stewart explains, "The four artists selected
span generations, methods, and intentions, but all are deeply entrenched
in what painting is and can be in the image-dominated atmosphere of our
21st century."
The four exhibitions will be celebrated at a free opening reception from
2 to 5pm on Sunday, November 15, to which the public is invited.
Steve DiBenedetto: Evidence of Everything
In a career that spans three decades, Steve DiBenedetto (b. 1958, Bronx,
New York) has established himself as an idiosyncratic artist who has
brought the pursuit of painting into the unpredictable chaos and flux
that categorize the postmodern world. Evidence of Everything is his first
major solo museum exhibition.
Hayal Pozanti: Deep Learning
The practice of Hayal Pozanti (b. 1983, Istanbul, Turkey) spans painting,
digital animation and sculpture. For her first solo museum exhibition,
she will debut a new series of paintings and digital animations. Pozanti
negotiates two opposing image-producing interfaces: the digital, with its
mechanical, frenetic pace, and a traditional studio practice, with its
slowness, imperfection, and tactile insistence.
Julia Rommel: Two Italians, Six Lifeguards
For her first solo museum exhibition, Julia Rommel (b. 1980, Salisbury,
Maryland) will debut a series of new paintings presented alongside small
works from 2010–12. Rommel's oil paintings range from head to body
size, and oscillate between cool and warm palettes, color fields of denim
blues, moody greys, creamy whites, salmon pinks, and citrus hues.
Ruth Root: Old Odd and Oval
Old, Odd, and Oval will be Ruth Root's (b. 1967, Chicago, Illinois) first
solo museum exhibition in the United States. Root's practice centers on
an intensive investigation of color, material, form, and support. For
more than two decades, she has worked within the language of abstract
painting, exploring the physical and illusory boundary of wall and
object, foreground and background, even inventing her own color wheel to
challenge canonized color theory.
Support
Generous support for these exhibitions has been provided by The Coby
Foundation, Jennifer and Claude Amadeo, Valerie and Greg Jensen, Andrew
Kreps Gallery, and the Patrons Circle contributors.
Image: Hayal Pozanti, 18, 2015. Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco
Press contact:
Kris Honeycutt 203.438.4519, extension 125 press@aldrichart.org
Opening: November 15, 2 - 5 p.m.
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
258 Main Street 06854 Ridgefield, CT
Hours: Mon-Sun from 10 to 17, Tue closed