“Beyond the Surface: Constructing Destruction” Exhibition

“Beyond the Surface: Constructing Destruction” Exhibition

Westbeth Gallery

This event has ended.

Westbeth Gallery presents its 2024 season with “Beyond the Surface: Constructing Destruction.” Curated by Vida Geranmayeh and Daniel G. Hill, this exhibition brings together a diverse group of artists who challenge and expand the boundaries of painting, drawing, and sculpture.

“Beyond the Surface: Constructing Destruction” navigates the nuanced space between creation and disruption, with a focus on transformative techniques and the integral role of materials in the creative process. The exhibition re- contextualizes the traditional mediums of painting and sculpture, as each artist explores the dynamic interplay of contrasting transformations. In an era marked by global challenges, the exhibition positions art as a platform for dialogue and positive change. It confronts self-censorship, extends the reach of artistic expression, and encourages viewers to investigate uncharted territories. By reexamining the familiar, these artists discover new paths within estab- lished genres, inspiring viewers to question and reconsider prevailing artistic notions. The exhibition underscores the importance of mastery of craft in achieving innovation, often leading to an expansion of artistic boundaries.
Gail Biederman utilizes felt and yarn, creating psychogeographic maps in her large-scale installations and intimate works on paper, drawing upon experience and memory.
Lily de Bont radically reimagines the painter’s linen, deconstructing the canvas into loose threads, leading to complex compositions where gravity plays a pivotal role.
Kevin Finklea’s minimalist paintings and wall-relief sculptures emphasize the subtleties of color and form, encouraging a contemplative experience counter to contemporary life’s pace.
Daniel G. Hill explores the physical and metaphorical roles of gravity in art, creating self-reflexive pieces that provoke wonder and contemplation.
Kathleen Kucka uses burning as a transformative technique, exploring rebirth and destruction through a personal lan- guage of forms and patterns.
Steven Millar delves into symbolic models and expansive installations, reflecting on paradoxical landscapes that blend utopian desires with complicated realities.
Gelah Penn’s site-responsive installations and wall constructions blur the lines between drawing and sculpture, orchestrat- ing events of perceptual incident and psychological unease.
David Rhodes articulates visual narratives in black paint on raw canvas or paper, playing with repetition and diversity through varied vertical lines, and fostering contemplative engagement with form and space.
Mary Schiliro experiments with acrylic paint and Mylar, exploring the tangible versus the ephemeral as metaphors for the human condition. Her work expands the boundaries of painting and presents new possibilities for presentation.
Howard Schwartzberg uniquely employs paint and canvas to craft shapes, pushing beyond traditional painting boundaries and exploring the canvas’s multidimensional roles in artistic expression.
Jan Maarten Voskuil stretches painting into the third dimension, cutting and reconstructing canvases into modular forms that blur the lines between painting, sculpture, design, and architecture.

Media

• Painting
• Drawing
• Sculpture

ADVERTISE ON NYAB