After 10 years with Haines Gallery, Cole is bringing us a remarkable new body of paintings and drawings in an almost exclusive array of black and white. Cole's work has been described as obsessive, but she prefers the term passionate, as it is self-determination rather than compulsion that urges her towards creation and completion. Cole does not rely on a preconceived plan; the work unfolds through time and rigorous process.
Paintings + Drawings
Haines Gallery is pleased to announce its sixth solo exhibition for New York artist Max Cole. After 10 years with Haines Gallery, Cole is bringing us a remarkable new body of paintings and drawings in an almost exclusive array of black and white.
Cole's work has been described as obsessive, but she prefers the term passionate, as it is self-determination rather than compulsion that urges her towards creation and completion. Cole does not rely on a preconceived plan; the work unfolds through time and rigorous process. She has let her work evolve over the past 30 years with little control over its direction. What results is an expression of serenity and transcendence.
She describes the newest drawings, in particular, as appearing more precise or controlled than those of just a few years previous. This exhibition will include both a series of small drawings hung densely in the gallery as well as some much larger works on paper. In her paintings Cole perseveres to create a close knit series of works that although evoking the same feeling, each retains an individual personality. Using rational thought as well as intuition, she ritualistically manifests horizontal configurations comprised of miniscule vertical, hatch mark gestures. These "banded paintings" give a sense of expanding space, their horizontals opening beyond the confines of the canvas. The internal space becomes more introverted, with each mark recording the intense focus required to create each gesticulation. The linear configurations interact with light to create visual vibrations and irregularities.
Cole has a very full year ahead including four other solo exhibitions at galleries throughout Europe including Verona, Cologne, Zurich and Vienna; two of which will be accompanied by new catalogues. Max Cole has also been invited as an Artist in Residence at the Albers Foundation in Bethany, Connecticut in January of 2005.
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles has just recently acquired a new work into their permanent collection. Cole is also represented in such prestigious collections as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; the Panza di Biumo Collection, Varese, Italy; and the Museums of Moderner Kunst in Otterndorf, Wuppertal, Ingolstadt, Cologne, and Munich, Germany.
Haines Gallery
49 Geary Street, Suite 540
San Francsico, CA 94108
Tel: 415-397-8114
Fax: 415-397-8115