James Little "Presents"
June Kelly Gallery
This event has ended.
An exhibition of new abstract paintings by James Little -- large, horizontal canvases covered with narrow vertical bands in a variety of geometric configurations and in unusual but harmonious combinations of brilliant color -- will open at the June Kelly Gallery, on May 12. The exhibition, entitled Ex Pluribus Unum (one from many), will remain on view through June 21.
Little’s hard-edge forms in these paintings comprise thin upright rectangles, triangles and diamonds that march across the canvas in an orderly procession. But Little’s handing of color is the key to his effort.
Mario Naves, the art writer, says in an essay in the exhibition’s invitation that Little’s paintings have a powerful impact.
“Pronounced, often abrupt rhythms and bold patterning,” Naves writes, “point to a sensibility attuned to the subtleties of pictorial construction. In his palette especially, Little demonstrates an uncanny knack for art’s evocative power and range.”
“Little’s sense of color,” Naves continues, “is encompassing in terms of inspiration and allusion, and glances upon a dizzying array of cultural touchstones – from Vermeer’s light-filled interiors to the paint job on a passing livery cab, from Byzantine reliquaries to African textiles to the myriad construction sites surrounding his Brooklyn studio.”
The work, Naves says, is “defined by an emphatic, softly stated sensuality. Little’s canvases, crafted from finely calibrated mixtures of oil and beeswax, are lustrous and dense, just short of fleshy.”
Little’s paintings, Naves says “reaffirm that the eye is part of the mind, sure, but it belongs to the body, too. Pleasure is to be embraced and embodied. Little realizes this endeavor with quiet and consummate mastery.”
Little lives and works in New York City. He holds a BFA degree from the Memphis Academy of Art and an MFA degree from Syracuse University.
Media
Schedule
from May 12, 2011 to June 21, 2011