NYAB Event - Jonathan Allmaier "Pointing Paintings, Bump Paintings, and Key Paintings"

Jonathan Allmaier "Pointing Paintings, Bump Paintings, and Key Paintings"

James Fuentes LLC

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James Fuentes presents solo exhibition by Jonathan Allmaier.

Jonathan Allmaier creates paintings that question the distinction between object and medium. Beginning with making his own paint from crushed pigment the artist follows the physical studio materials until they become an idea. Integral qualities such as scale, stretcher construction, canvas preparation, and paint application are not only the variables here: they are a definitive set of characteristics that allow a painting to make itself, re-casting the artist as assistant to the work, and placing it in an animist sphere. The paintings, as a result of this effort, exhibit unusual and elusive qualities.

As the artist states, the paintings determine their own descriptions. A "pointing painting" occurs when the painting's primary concern is pointing at the stretcher and canvas. Since pointing is not descriptive, the pointing is not done with a brush, but it could be done with anything else: a stick, a throw, a jump, a hammer, a bottle, a launch, a piece of plastic, etc. A "bump painting" occurs when the painting's concern is drawing on the stretcher and canvas. This is descriptive, but there is no outside object of description: the drawing is not done with a brush, but it could be done with anything else. A "key painting" occurs when there is an outside object of description (in some cases, another painting) calling for the use of the brush.

Jonathan Allmaier studied philosophy and visual art at Brown University (Providence, RI) and went on to complete his MFA at the Tyler School of Art (Philadelphia, PA) in 2007. This will be the artist's first solo exhibition.