Gabriel J. Shuldiner “Translucent Saturation”

David Richard Gallery

This event has ended.

David Richard Gallery presents Translucent Saturation, an exhibition of new and recent paintings by New York artist Gabriel J. Shuldiner in his second solo exhibition with the gallery. The presentation surveys Shuldiner’s recent migration to creating his unconventional lush and gestural paintings—that read as much as wall sculptures and objects as they do paintings—on traditional canvas and paper supports. His earlier works were primarily created from found materials, mostly repurposed construction materials and debris that he found and thus, limiting the scale and compositions to his daily finds. The forty works in the presentation are mostly small to medium in size and intimate in scale with a few larger works that push the limits of his process. They wind their way up the gallery staircase and into the second-floor exhibition hall where they are hung by aesthetic and conceptual groupings in pairs and small series. While Shuldiner has historically worked with only the color black, several of these newest works sport small splashes of neon and bright colors that draw attention to important interior spaces and structural elements within the sculptural hybrid artworks that defy categorization and straddle objects and painting.

The exhibition, Translucent Saturation, will be on view October 21 through November 13, 2020 at David Richard Gallery located at 211 East 121 Street, New York, New York 10035, P: 212-882-1705 and everyone can interact and participate in the exhibition in several different ways: 1) in person and safely socially distanced while wearing a face covering; 2) privately by appointment; 3) online at the following link: https://www.davidrichardgallery.com/exhibit/519-gabriel-j-shuldiner to view the digital catalog, 360 degree video and installation images; 4) watching and listening to video discussions with the artist regarding his artworks, influences and processes; and 5) participating in the opening with the artist, Gabriel J. Shuldiner, who will be hosting a Zoom virtual walkabout at David Richard Gallery at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, October 21st. Click this link to join the Zoom virtual walkabout

Shuldiner’s approach to artmaking is intuitive and organic. He does not begin with sketches, but rather starts each creation based on inspiration from everyday, ordinary construction materials as well as debris and objects that are discarded and rejected by others. Earlier in his studio practice, he let his work be defined largely by such finds and repurposed materials. However, now, as noted above, he prefers to start with a more traditional support of canvas on wooden stretchers or heavy paper, which limits the square inches in one dimension, but not in depth and certainly not in terms of the range of diverse and unconventional materials he deploys.

Taking notes as he is working on a piece and referring to them in regard to possible alterations or approaches for future similar works is Shuldiner’s preferred method of working. While he does not work in series, per se, he does like to explore a range of options with certain works and materials in terms of composition, use of colors other than black (only occasionally), scale, subdividing an artwork or combining a couple of pieces that work better together than apart. As a result, there are many pairs of similar, but not identical, artworks that are presented together in this exhibition as they have a strong dialog as a pair as well as in the aggregate. Nearly all works are sold as a stand-alone painting, even though they might be presented as a pair, or larger grouping.

The color black is the formal quality of Shuldiner’s artworks that has remained constant throughout his oeuvre. He loves the depth and mystery of flat black, the interplay of shiny and matte black surfaces with either natural or artificial light as both sources produce a range of depth of the matte black pigment as well as pure white from the reflections off the glossy surfaces, along with an array of greys and values in between the two extremes. Thus, while Shuldiner’s artworks appear as monochromatic black at first glance, they are not, the value range is tremendous and fully represented, even without his addition of an occasional pop of fluorescent color that shouts, “Danger, Will Robinson!!” Shuldiner also finds black to be seductive and luscious when the high gloss pigment is combined with his bulbus and biomorphic forms.

A range of noteworthy luminaries and icons of art history have unknowingly served as Shuldiner’s mentors, inspiring and informing much of his material-based abstractions, unified primarily with the color black as well as a feistiness and resistance to being categorized as one “ism” or another. Yes, Shuldiner does think of his work as a hybrid between multiple pair-wise combinations of Minimalism, Monochromes, expressionism, Art Brut, Art Informel and Arte Povera. His approaches celebrate the power as well as the dynamic internal tensions of hybridity. Therefore, it is no surprise that his artworks are inspired by the thick, bold, black brushstrokes of Pierre Soulages; the rebellious, anti-cultural, non-traditional approaches and gritty surfaces of Jean Dubuffet; the Minimalist, white-on-white paintings of Robert Ryman that were non-illusory and non-pictorial that revealed both his process and supports; the expressionist approaches of Bram Bogart who explored the materiality and physicality of paint and how the gesture became one with the medium to produce sculptural paintings; and of course, Ad Reinhardt with the subtilty and elegance of his enigmatic important black paintings.

The simple take away from this exhibition is that Gabriel J. Shuldiner is a painter—first and foremost. He sleeps, eats and breaths painting. His work is as much of an analysis and deconstruction of painting as it is a re-construction and re-visioning of painting. He reveals his process, the materials, fasteners and adhesives are visible and unified compositionally under a veneer of black color so that the focus is on the materiality of the medium, his supports and physicality of the artist’s hand to reveal forms, shapes and movement through a literal approach and leveraging the interplay of light on the surfaces. His paintings do not capture a picture nor create a narrative, instead, they are exuberant and evoke a mood, a vibe, an engagement and experience with each piece. Pairs and short series of works reveal his inspirations and ideas. Process drives the outcome, even if that means using a chainsaw to split a piece into parts to ultimately resolve his vision. Having said that, the artist is fine with the viewer seeing the work as a painting on a wall or an object on a pedestal. He realizes that upon first glance, his work is mostly considered as an object and sculpture, but his roots run deep in painting. However, when the artworks leave the studio and go into the world, he is fine however the work is enjoyed in its new environment.

Shuldiner has never bought into the notion that “painting is dead”. In fact, he feels quite the opposite and celebrates painting as the most basic artmaking practice right alongside drawing as well as the use of graphite and charcoal as the purest of mediums. Like many artists, he still has a lot to say and prefers to use painting to deliver his message, albeit with his unconventional approaches, materials and methods of application.

Gabriel J. Shuldiner is a painter, even though his work appears more sculptural. His passion is painting and pushing the boundaries, both in regard to the medium and supports. He frequently re-purposes the detritus of the world around us, bending, coaxing, twisting and forcing found and discarded objects and materials into a new existence. A pseudo-trademarked amalgam of black pigments called ‘postapocalypticBLACK’ is Shuldiner’s secret ingredient in his alchemical process of turning base matter into a more precious substance. Despite the overriding insistence of the color black, the surfaces have a painterly quality, alternating between matte and sheen and sometimes injected with a tiny shock of fluorescent color. The works move between monolithic statements of form to more free-flowing, seemingly fragile elements.

In Shuldiner’s words, by “combining elements of minimalism and punk attitude, the idea is to remix unmatchable elements, slash boundaries and create a [beautiful] tension between [opposites]… a sort of ‘post-postmodern, post-medium, post-apocalyptic existential zen meditation at times deceptively sardonic, cynical and nihilistic…” He further states, “My work falls somewhere between the minimal, abstract, conceptual and absurd… I deem my work bruteminimalism™ and remain fueled by the ironic and powered by black: the most mysterious, powerful and misunderstood [non] color.”

Shuldiner studied at New York University, School of Visual Arts and Parsons The New School for Design in New York. His awards include an Elizabeth Foundation For the Arts Studio Residency, 2013-2015 and Artist In The Marketplace, Aim 30, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY, 2010-2011. His artwork has been exhibited in numerous shows including: “postapocalypticblack™”, New Museum, NY; Post Cards From the Edge at Luhring Augstine, Bronx Museum of Art, NY; and Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, IN, among others.