NYAB Event - John Zurier, Jason Fox, Richard Allen Morris "Paintings"

John Zurier, Jason Fox, Richard Allen Morris "Paintings"

Peter Blum Gallery

This event has ended.

The exhibition John Zurier, Jason Fox, Richard Allen Morris brings together 3 different painting positions.

John Zurier: White Paintings and Night Paintings occupies the two main galleries. The White Paintings reference the qualities of light, weather, and surface, but without ever turning to pictorial or figurative language. These paintings probe the material surface and can be read as an intimation of space without the illusion of depth. Zurier found inspiration for the Night Paintings from traditional indigo textiles in Japan. He translates his experience of looking out of the window through half-open blinds by scraping away some of the pigment, allowing the lighter ground to emerge. As the indigo color soaks into the raw linen, completely darkening the surface, Zurier’s only way of navigating the canvas is to rely on his feel, touch and memory.

Jason Fox’s cycle entitled Stations is presented in the side gallery. This series from 2009 consists of 15 acrylic on canvas paintings each 24 x 20 inches. The imagery ranges from abstract, geometrical shapes to loose portraits. Fox’s use of historical references point specifically to Malevich and Palermo in this grouping. He deliberately uses cheap store bought, pre-fabricated stretchers to emphasize the particular use of humble materials.

Richard Allen Morris: New Works, on view in the front gallery, features a selection of recent paintings from 2009-2010. The small canvases –no work measures more than 24 x 18 inches- expand on Morris’ interest in Abstract Expressionism with an eye to Pop Art. Morris paints the first layer of the works in a bright monochrome hue and then partly covers the surface with acrylic paint squeezed straight out of the tube or applied thickly with a palette knife. The self-taught Morris, now in his late seventies, continues to playfully explore the potential of painting.

John Zurier was born in Santa Monica, CA, in 1956 and lives in Berkeley, CA. He received his MFA in painting from the University of California, Berkeley. Zurier has exhibited at the Berkeley Art Museum (2009, 2004, 2002, 2001), Gwangju Biennale (2008), New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA (2006), the de Young Museum (2005), and the Whitney Biennial (2002). Most recently he was awarded the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (2010).

Jason Fox was born in 1964 in Yonkers, New York and currently lives and works in Poughkeepsie, New York. Fox received a M.F.A from Columbia University, New York. National and international exhibitions include shows at Franklin Parrasch Gallery, NY (2009), Zach Feuer Gallery, NY (2009) Andrea Rosen Gallery, NY (2009), Paula Cooper Gallery, NY (2009), Mario Diacono at Ars Libri, Boston, MA (2007), The Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, TX (2007), Greater New York at P.S.1, NY (2005), the Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, Mexico City (2004), and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, NY (2004, 2005) and several exhibitions at Feature Inc, NY.

Richard Allen Morris was born in 1933 in Long Beach, CA and lives and works in San Diego, CA. His solo shows include exhibitions at the Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany (2004) and the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, CA (2005). He participated in numerous group shows including the Daros Collection, Zürich, Switzerland (2008), the Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland (2008), the Kunstmuseum Wiesbaden, Germany (2008), and the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (2008).

[Image: R. A. Morris "Indonesian" (2009)]