NYAB Event - Neil Tetkowski “EARTH FRAGMENTS ”

Neil Tetkowski “EARTH FRAGMENTS ”

hpgrp gallery

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hpgrp GALLERY NEW YORK presents an exhibition of Neil Tetkowski’s solo show, “EARTH FRAGMENTS ”.

Neil Tetkowski says that “to engage with the Earth is what every plant, animal, and human being do and ultimately depend on.” His material of choice comes directly from the Earth. Most often he uses clay, which he believes is the perfect medium to express his relationship to the natural environment. The artist uses the traditional elements of fire, earth, air and water. In contrast to our increasingly digital world, his artwork is visceral, refreshing and expressionistic. EARTH FRAGMENTS features 25 wall sculptures and four free standing works, all from 2012.

“In EARTH FRAGMENTS Tetkowski’s exhibition of ceramic work at hpgrp GALLERY NEW YORK, it is fascinating to see how many different worlds Tetkowski can conjure up from his bits and pieces. His combinatorial gestural forms and nuanced glazing and chromatic effects are parts within a multi-leveled polyphonic visual and haptic language that describes a range of emotions, correspondences and relations. They take us somewhere else than earth, yet they always ground us in the primordial medium of which he is master.

EARTH FRAGMENTS as a totality is sensually complex. Each work within the context of the ensemble is its own universe that tells its own complete and autonomous story as it relates simultaneously to the works that surround it and makes it become part of a bigger interrelated whole.

The forms come alive and teem with energy and vitality while remaining, seemingly, utterly mute and immobile on another plane of existence outside of the world of Symbol and Idea. EARTH FRAGMENTS sustains an aura where the inorganic becomes organic and reverses itself, each manifestation blooming and shattering under the black sun of incompleteness and the mattering of matter.” - Dominique Nahas

Some of Tetkowski’s projects have evolved into cultural, ecological and geo-political exploration. A decade ago, the artist built a sculpture at the United Nations using a blend of earth materials from every nation. Neil Tetkowski has received awards and fellowships including a Ford Foundation grant. His artwork is widely published and placed in permanent collections of 45 museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo.