Stanley Casselman “Presence”

Jim Kempner Fine Art

poster for Stanley Casselman “Presence”
[Image: Stanley Casselman "Untitled-Presence-4-19" (2017) Acrylic on polyester screen. 34 x 34 in.]

This event has ended.

Jim Kempner Fine Art presents Presence, an upcoming exhibition of new paintings by Stanley Casselman. Comprised of work from his ongoing series Untitled-Presence, the exhibition will be the artist’s third solo presentation at the gallery.

Untitled-Presence represents a departure from Stanley Casselman’s Inhaling Richter and Luminor series. The works in this exhibition are painted from the back of a polyester screen stretched over an aluminum box-beam frame. Casselman pushes paint through the screen with squeegees; none of these paintings are manipulated from the front side. They range from gestural abstraction (Untitled-Presence-4-8) to near monochromatic minimalism (Untitled-Presence-7-18). The monochromatic surfaces of Untitled-Presence-4-20 and Untitled-Presence-7-17 are structured by geometric compositions, characterized by the repetition of form and texture. Tension arises through the fusion of geometric lines with organic shapes, an example of Casselman’s ongoing exploration of contrast. The lunar-like surfaces of these paintings undulate with varying densities, creating the illusion of having been carved. Diamond dust is applied to the final surface of several works, further enhancing the way light is reflected and refracted.

The conceptual exploration of light has remained at the forefront of Casselman’s practice throughout his career. The two rear-illuminated paintings in the exhibition mark a return to his use of LEDs, an approach that he has not used for nine years. Columns of luminescent light move in waves throughout the porous polyester screen, as seen in Untitled-Presence-6-2. The moiré effect (an interference pattern produced when two screens of the same line density are overlapped) is created by the suspension of a second screen behind the painted one. The amount of screen left open or unpainted, which allows the internal lighting to escape, is critical to the aura of these pieces and functions as a metaphor for dark energy/matter. In practice, the pictorial negative space or open screen is not void but dynamic and evolving due to the moiré and LED light moving through it. Further, beams of light escape beyond the aluminum frame as the LED’s seamlessly change and repeat on a programmed cycle. Waves and wave interaction are the underpinning of Casselman’s programming for these works. As he states, “They’re about color, line and form redirecting and inducing consciousness to expand.”

Stanley Casselman was born in 1963 in Phoenix, Arizona. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States and in Europe. His work is in the collections of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI; Coral Springs Museum of Art; George Museum of Art; New Orleans Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art of Bologna; and numerous private collections. The artist lives and works in New York City.

Media

Schedule

from November 16, 2017 to January 07, 2018

Opening Reception on 2017-11-16 from 18:00 to 20:00

  • Facebook

    Reviews

    All content on this site is © their respective owner(s).
    New York Art Beat (2008) - About - Contact - Privacy - Terms of Use