NYAB Event - John Bianchi and Jeffrey Kessel Exhibition

John Bianchi and Jeffrey Kessel Exhibition

Thierry Goldberg

This event has ended.

Thierry-Goldberg Gallery presents a two-person exhibition with new work by John Bianchi and Jeffrey Kessel.

In his process-based series the excavated paintings, John Bianchi applies spray paint directly onto a foam panel, which in turn begins to break down and shrink. Bianchi masks certain areas of the plain while allowing the paint to etch into the rest of the panel, using the paint as a corrosive sculptural carving tool and creating a textured surface, reminiscent of an ancient fossil.

Bianchi’s series in the front room of the gallery is created by selectively piecing together aluminum and plywood, to which he applies acrylic paint, and then sands down the surface so that the textures blend. Here, Bianchi works in an opposite direction from his excavated paintings, patching together shiny metal, glossy paint, and natural wood and then using a sander to flatten the surface.

Similarly, Jeffrey Kessel’s new series in the back of the gallery space follows a masking creation process. He paints directly on stretched canvas with trowels, and then layers the canvas by scraping, wiping, and splattering paint. With his new series, Kessel has decisively overlaid a similar pattern over all the works, allowing his layers of paint splatters, scrapes, and drips to show through selectively. Here too, using a corrosion of sort, Kessel is working with the placement and opacity of the overlaid pattern, to build up the surface only to flatten it and back again.

Jeffrey Kessel (b.1978) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He received his MFA in painting from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2006, and his BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2003. His first solo show with Thierry Goldberg Gallery was in 2012. His work was also included in exhibitions at Derek Eller Gallery (solo) and Bortolami Gallery, both in New York. Kessel’s work has been reviewed and featured in The New York Observer, Gallerist, Time Out New York, Artcritical, and Hunted Projects.

John Bianchi (b.1978) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He received his MFA in 2008 from Yale University, and his BFA from Cooper Union in 2003. His work has been exhibited at Signal Gallery, Know More Games, Projekt 722, and Primetime, all in Brooklyn, NY; Guild and Greyshkul, and James Fuentes, in New York; and Night Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. Bianchi’s work was recently reviewed and featured on Artinfo, and The L Magazine.

[Image: John Bianchi “Untitled” (2013) acrylic and aluminum on panel 63 x 48 in.]