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21/10/2004

Two solo shows

Black & White Gallery, New York

Andrew Piedilato / Dewitt Godfrey

Indoor Gallery

Andrew Piedilato - Recent Paintings

Andrew Piedilato’s large-scale abstract canvases begin with a simple object and end with an act of discovery. Using something mundane like a shoe as a jumping off point, he traces and repeats the shape, stretching and pulling it beyond recognition, leaving only the weight of a traditional figure to sit in the space. Juxtaposing a wide array of mark-making techniques, sections of flat color recede into the background and bold shapes lie on top creating a sense of depth and the loose illusion of a picture plane. Scanning the rich surface of the canvas our eyes can trace the energy of a swirling line, only to get lost in muddy recesses, and be pulled out again by a beacon of electric color.

Rather than imposing ideas onto painting, Piedilato likes the discovery of finding ideas within the creative process. Using his hands to paint, working in poor lighting, sometimes even closing his eyes, are just a few of the devices Piedilato uses to limit his illustrational control over the final composition. He resists further conscious attachment or judgment regarding any particular passage, technique or painting by turning them around for a time returning to them later with fresh eyes. Sometimes he paints over entire canvases with a thick impasto, so that only a specter of the painting that he began with can be seen peaking through. Other times, having run out of paints he has stopped work on a piece returning to it to find that this arrangement of marks is the something unexpected he was looking for. More interested in causing problems than in solving them, Piedilato’s risk-taking methods open the work to chance allowing the possibility of something new to happen.

Andrew Piedilato received a BFA, from The University of Georgia, Athens, GA (1998), and an MFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY (2002).

Outdoor gallery

Dewitt Godfrey - Picker Sculpture

"The sculptor wraps strips of Corten steel into circles of various sizes, then bolts them together into a highly permeable wall you can walk through or sit inside. The construction gives steel the friendliness of Jell-O, a sleight of hand reminiscent of Joel Shapiro’s improbable ability to make a few wood posts look like a ballerina." The New Yorker, Goings On About Town, Art, 10/04/ 2004

PICKER SCULPTURE is the latest in a series of work by Dewitt Godfrey. Comprised of multiple units varying in size from 2 x 2 feet to 9 x 9 feet, PICKER SCULPTURE continues to bisect and fill the outdoor gallery space, exponentially increasing the unpredictability of the final form of the installation. Its original version was installed in front of the Dana Art Center on the Colgate University Campus in the summer of 2004.

Godfrey’s most recent shows include one-person shows at Amherst College and Mount Holyoke College, at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston and the Sculpture Center in New York, and Black & White Gallery, in Brooklyn, New York.

Godfrey has received grants and awards from the Fulbright Foundation, Japan Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, Henry Luce Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Sculpture Space in Utica, among many others. He has a master's in sculpture from Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland and a bachelor's in art from Yale University.

The artist would like to acknowledge the support of The Faculty Research Council, The Dean’s Office, and the Director and staff of The Picker Gallery at Colgate University for making this work possible.

Image:
Andrew Piedilato, French Couple, 2004, oil on canvas, 97"x 96"

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, October 22, 6-9 pm

Black & White Gallery
483 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

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