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12/9/2005

David Kroll

Littlejohn Contemporary, New York

Recent paintings

A faithful devotee to the natural world, David Kroll presents contemplative images that represent the seductive and serene elements of nature’s quizzical and ever evolving landscape. Although meticulously orchestrated, his compositions, which combine isolated objects such as vases, fruit, fish and birds, appear displaced within their lush and vast surroundings. His submission to this unlikely amalgamation demonstrates a keen observation of both master Dutch still life painters and the idealistic landscapes of the Hudson River School.

As we observe the juxtaposition of an array of exotic creatures restricted to their mysterious locale it creates a mini drama to which the viewer is left to uncover a narrative.

“There is hardly a gesture in the repertoire of lush and poignant Romanticism that David Kroll does not fully comprehend. It is all here in superb profusion: the masses of flowers and overripe fruit, the wispy trees fading off into the distance, the delicate porcelain and small and precious birds, all depicted as if through the fine-old sepia haze of history, so consummately rendered as to catch us up in a rush of nostalgia for a world that seems irretrievably lost. This is accomplishment enough, this complete evocation of another time and order, and Kroll’s world whispers to us with a warm and placid thoroughness.

But Kroll introduces just enough dissonance into this Arcadia to keep these pictures tense and expectant. Nests with tiny eggs lay exposed upon the ground, lizards, insects, and snakes peep through the undergrowth, elements accrue with such profusion as to be just a bit overarch, as if too much life is jammed into too restrictive spaces. Darker passions loom beneath Kroll’s veneer of normalcy, suggesting a level of drama that in its way too is a legacy of the Romantic spirit.”
James Yood, 1996 from the exhibition catalogue “(un)earthly delights”
Curated by Robert Sill, The Illinois State Museum

For further information and visuals please contact
Jacquie Littlejohn or Anna Ortt
Jacquie@littlejohncontemporary.com
Anna@littlejohncontemporary.com

LITTLEJOHN CONTEMPORARY
245 EAST 72ND STREET #6E, NEW YORK, NY 10021

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