David Bates "Object→Image→Abstraction"
Betty Cuningham Gallery
This event has ended.
While much of Bates’ previous work has focused on widespread themes, such as the Gulf Coast or the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, his recent work focuses on objects and people directly involved in the artist’s personal world. “I make art of the things I know.” Bates claims. For example, the chairs, ladder-back or wing, resemble furniture in the artist’s home. They are repeated throughout the exhibition, either as a vessel to contain the subjects of his portraits or as the sole subject, realized in collage, oil paint and bronze. Similarly, the objects included in Bates’ monumental still lifes - whether it be the precisely arranged flowers or the items strewn atop tables - all are intimately connected to the artist in some manner.
Accompanying the exhibition is a full color catalogue which will include an essay entitled Object-Image-Abstraction by Dana Friis-Hansen, the recently appointed Director and CEO of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan. Friis-Hansen, who is also a long-time acquaintance of the artist, notes the personalization of the subjects of Bates’ new work and places it within a broader, art historical context; “An avid museumgoer, Bates is a student of painting process, folding lessons from past art into his creative flow. He speaks of revered artist heroes - Hartley, Dove, Marin and Guston - as ‘ghosts in the studio’ whose formal language, gestures or coloration he sometimes touches upon in his own work.”
Media
Schedule
from October 20, 2011 to December 03, 2011
Opening Reception on 2011-10-20 from 18:00 to 20:00