Daniel Lefcourt
dal 24/2/2011 al 25/3/2011
Segnalato da
24/2/2011
Daniel Lefcourt
Taxter & Spengemann, New York
Prepared Ground. Intimate monochrome paintings. His work the real manifests itself in unexpected, often counter-intuitive ways. In these paintings the traces, marks, and impressions, are not always what they seem. In fact, many of the impressions would be impossible to make with any direct technique.
The intimate monochrome paintings in Daniel Lefcourt’s exhibition Prepared Ground return to the
subject of painting itself, yet here painting is never fully itself.
On the one hand, the works are positivistic, presenting only brute materials and evidence of their
manipulation. Impressions and textures function as proof of past operations, inviting us to
reconstruct those operations in the present. Scraps of wood, water, cloth, paper, dirt, and other
materials appear to have left indexical impressions on the surface of the painting. The works are not
abstract, for as with artists who observe a strict adherence to procedure (Ryman, Barré) the
concern is always to present the real – without illusion, and without editorializing.
Yet, in Lefcourt’s work the real manifests itself in unexpected, often counter-intuitive ways. In these
paintings the traces, marks, and impressions, are not always what they seem. In fact, many of the
impressions would be impossible to make with any direct technique. This is particularly true given
the chosen materials’ propensity towards impermanence and chance. In Lefcourt’s work, gradual
transformations – paper soaking into liquid, bubbles forming and dissolving, soil crumbling, dust
blowing – have been frozen in mid-process.
To accomplish this task of freezing, Lefcourt devised an elaborate preservation method, in which
digital photographs are translated into three-dimensions, and then output using a computer
controlled router to carve low-relief molds. Acrylic paint is then poured into the mold, and finally
peeled-up and adhered to the linen support. Here painting is understood not only as support and
surface, but as particle and binder. Paint cast into Painting. In the final stage, the rote application of
monochromatic oil paint both covers and discloses the topography of the surface. The resulting
traces of process – what might be called non-indexical traces – are at once simulated and
substantial, shallow and fertile. Is this Painting behind itself?
About the artist:
Daniel Lefcourt received his MFA from Columbia University in 2005 and his BFA from the Rhode
Island School of Design in 1997. He currently lives and works in New York, NY. Prepared Ground is
Daniel’s third exhibition at Taxter & Spengemann. Recent solo exhibitions include Check, Galley Luis
Campana, Berlin, Sutton Lane, London and Reversed and Remanded, Galerie Mitterand + Sanz,
Zurich, Switzerland. He has been included in numerous group shows such as: Knight’s Move,
Sculpture Center, NY; The Perpetual Dialogue, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, NY; Subject Index,
Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, Sweeden; The Gold Standard, Day Labor, Greater New York 2000,
and Animations, all at PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City; Do You Like Stuff?, Swiss
Institute, New York; amongst many others.
Image: Debris Field, 2011, Oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches
Opening Reception: Friday, February 25, 2011, 6 to 8 pm
Taxter & Spengemann
459 W. 18th St. New York, NY 10011
Hours: Tues- Sat 10am - 6pm