calendario eventi  :: 

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4/5/2005

Two exhibitions

Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco

Robert Sagerman
Marking Time

New York artist, Robert Sagerman, debuts Marking Time, his first San Francisco exhibition, at Brian Gross Fine Art on Thursday, May 5, with a reception for the artist from 5:30 - 7:30pm. Sagerman will introduce his dynamically colored and meticulously layered abstract paintings.

Robert Sagerman describes his processes as a meditative practice. The paintings are comprised of a thick impasto of daubed oil paint, applied individually with a palette knife to create a dense field of color. Sagerman painstakingly records and documents every action associated with the making of a work including the colors used, number of marks per color, and the time spent for each color. This data collection enables him to methodically build a “system” in paint on the canvas. Sagerman purposely applies paint, as if enacting a sacred ritual derived from the Jewish mysticism of the Kabbalah, until all options have been exhausted and his “system” implodes with infinite possibility. The results are formally beautiful, accomplished paintings with incredibly tactile and luscious surfaces.

Born in Bayside, NY in 1966, Robert Sagerman received his MFA in Painting and MA in Art History from the Pratt Institute in 1998, his MA in Religious Studies in 2000 from New York University and is currently working towards his PhD in Jewish Mysticism, Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. Sagerman has participated in numerous exhibitions in New York, Atlanta, and Chicago. Recently, he was included in Painting as Process: Reevaluating Painting, a group exhibition with Gerhard Richter and Robert Ryman at the Earl Lu Gallery, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore. His work is represented in the Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum in Hagen, Germany. The San Francisco exhibition continues through July 2, 2005.

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Stephen Sollins
Domestic Scenes

New York artist, Stephen Sollins, opens a show of new work, Domestic Scenes, at Brian Gross Fine Art on Thursday, May 5, with a reception for the artist from 5:30-7:30 pm. In this exhibition, Sollins examines the disparity between “high” and “low “ art by systematically abstracting sentimental cross-stitched, vintage embroideries.

In his fourth exhibition at Brian Gross Fine Art, Stephen Sollins exhibits “deconstructed” embroideries from his Elegy Series. The series reflects Sollins’ ongoing dialogue with emotional response and systematic formulations that are manifested in everyday objects. Sollins transforms secondhand, embroidered linens into Modernist geometric abstractions by re-formatting the original pattern. As Sollins removes the old design, he counts the stitches by color and then proceeds to re-embroider squares in a geometric grid with each colored square consisting of the same number of stitches per color as the original. The dominant color (by quantity) is always placed at the upper right of the grid with the square size descending from right to left. By juxtaposing the new, controlled composition and the eerie, sentimental remains of the original textile design, Sollins eulogizes the anonymous craftsperson while elevating commonplace linens to fine art.

Stephen Sollins received his M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1997 and his B.A. from Bard College in 1990. His work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions in New York, Louisiana, New Mexico, and California. In 2002, he exhibited his Public Notice series at the Mills College Art Museum. Recently he was a featured participant in Raw Data: Conceptual Art in Louisiana, at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans. In 2004, Sollins exhibited Home Sweet Home, featuring embroidered and removed embroidery works at Mitchell-Innes & Nash in New York.

Image: Stephen Sollins, Elegy (...and glad to be home...), 2004; embroidery and removed embroidery; 21-9/16 x 17-11/16 inches

Brian Gross Fine Art
49 Geary Street, 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94108
Gallery hours: Tuesday - Friday 10:30-5:30; Saturday 11-5.

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