Dale Henry
dal 17/1/2014 al 27/2/2014
Segnalato da
17/1/2014
Dale Henry
Pioneer Works, New York
The Artist Who Left New York. An exhibition of painting, sculptural works and writing. The second incarnation of this show includes works as well as new pieces not seen since the 1970's, or never shown.
curated by Alanna Heiss, Clocktower Gallery Founder and Director; Dustin Yellin, Pioneer Works Founder and Director; and artist Richard Nonas.
The Clocktower Gallery and Pioneer Works, Center for Art and Innovation present Dale Henry: The Artist Who Left New York, an exhibition of painting, sculptural works and writing by Dale Henry.
First presented in fall 2013 at the historic Clocktower Gallery, the exhibition marks the Clocktower's exit from its historic Lower Manhattan building, where the institution was founded in 1972. This second incarnation celebrates the Clocktower's arrival at Pioneer Works as an institutional resident. Presented in the Red Hook space’s vast brick and timber galleries, the show includes works installed at the Clocktower as well as new pieces not seen since the 1970’s, and in several cases, never shown.
Henry was a productive and respected figure in New York from the mid 1960’s to late 1970’s. His works were shown in leading institutions including the Clocktower Gallery and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, and his gallerist, John Weber, was highly regarded, championing artists including Sol LeWitt, Hans Haacke, Dorothea Rockburne, Mario Merz, Daniel Buren, and Alice Aycock. Henry worked primarily with paint, resin, glass and wood, creating diverse and challenging post-minimalist and conceptual works that not only embodied key artistic concerns of the period, but were often ahead of their time. Henry’s works were mostly conceived as parts of a cohesive series and installed site-specifically, while exploring, experimenting with, and deconstructing medium and light. Henry wrote extensively about his inspiration from Western painting and history, and his work’s resulting conceptual basis.
One of Henry’s most unusual and memorable works was his installation at P.S.1 for the 1976 inaugural exhibition, Rooms, in which he used decaying wall paint, carved walls and Fontana-style slits in the canvas to create site-specific paintings. He was one of the few painters included in the exhibition –most other artists were sculptors– and one of the few to create a true, three-dimensional installation through the medium of painting.
In spite of his artistic achievements, Henry became disenchanted with the commercialization of the art world, and felt that he was underappreciated and misunderstood by critics, dealers, and even his peers. In 1986, he permanently left New York for the remote town of Cartersville, Virginia. There, Henry stopped making work, instead dedicating the last decades of his life to obsessively inventorying, annotating, packing, and organizing his oeuvre. He hoped to bequeath the work to someone who would take it on as a project, and keep it outside of any commercial appraisal or venture. He eventually determined that Alanna Heiss, and the Clocktower Gallery, should be this individual. Henry gradually cut all ties with all but a handful of friends and peers, and died in September, 2011, a nearly forgotten artist.
Dale Henry was born in 1931 to a rural family in Anniston, AL. He grew up living with eight different families in different states, and attending twelve schools. At 17, he hitchhiked to Houston, TX, to begin working as an artist. He took life-drawing classes at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, his only formal artistic training. In 1951, he moved to San Francisco, where he began to show his work through the support of curator Ross Smith. Henry moved to New York in 1967, and from then until 1986, he showed work at Fischbach Gallery, the John Weber Gallery, the Clocktower Gallery and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, among others. From 1970 to 1986, Henry was a professor at the School of Visual Arts. In 1977, Henry moved part-time to Bullville, NY, and in 1986, left New York permanently for Cartersville, VA, where he died in September, 2011.
The Clockotwer Gallery is the oldest alternative art space in New York, founded in 1972 by Alanna Heiss. For 40 years, the institution produced seminal projects by some of the most important artists of our time. After leaving its historic Lower Manhattan building, the Clocktower continues to program multidisciplinary projects all over the city through a year of creative collaborations with partners Pioneer Works, Times Square Arts, Knockdown Center, Playland Motel, Neuehouse, and others.
Pioneer Works, Center for Art and Innovation is a a 501c3 non-profit platform for innovation in contemporary arts and sciences, and an incubator for cross-disciplinary collaboration. The center's Red Hook building houses exhibitions, performing arts, classes, lectures, residencies & publications. Its multi-disciplinary programming supports cultural innovators and engages the community in productive dialogues, emphasizing creative work and social change.
Image: Interiors & Wall Paintings, Installation at John Weber Gallery, 1979; Photo: Dale Henry
Opening Saturday, January 18th, 2014
Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer St. in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York 11231