KEN GREENLEAF RECENT WORK
B E M S H A , 2021, AC RY L I C O N C A N VA S O N S H A P E D S U P P O R T, 37 ¾ X 15¼ I N.
KEN GREENLEAF RECENT WORK Oc tober 14 – November 13, 2021 E s s a y b y P h y l l i s Tu c h m a n
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ALL IMAGES © KEN GREENLE AF E S S AY © P H Y L L I S T U C H M A N
C OV E R: A F T E R A L L , 2020, AC RY L I C O N C A N VA S O N S H A P E D S U P P O R T, 25 X 18 ¼ I N.
KEN GREENLEAF (B. 1945)
K
en Greenleaf’s latest works may surprise you. A former sculptor, Greenleaf has traded steel for canvas and linen. Instead of using a welding torch, he now wields high quality brushes. The modesty of works such as Rain Check, After All, and Bemsha is noteworthy, too. They are not very large. In the past, the term shaped canvas, which these are, always has seemed to connote paintings that are big and boisterous. Greenleaf’s works are more intimate. You find yourself stepping closer to their surfaces rather than moving further back from them. As it is, these paintings are constructed from multiple segments whose irregular geometries are not the sort you studied in high school math class. Moreover, if you were to take this trio of works off the wall in order to look at their supports, you’d be amazed even further. Their backs, constructed from pieces of wood the Maine-based artist fit together variously, look like compact sculptures. Rehang them, and they return to their identity as paintings. Except, the raised sections of Rain Check, After All, and Bemsha suggest that these colored abstractions might also be likened to reliefs. Shapes are integral to another series of paintings as well. These have assertive forms that are more familiar. Curves and angles, executed in black acrylic on pale grounds, abound. However, they play tricks on your eyes. Check out Monopoleum. The joined canvases are practically a visual puzzle. Blink. Notice what perspective can engender?
K E N G R E E N L E A F I N H I S M A I N E S T U D I O, 2 021
Three-dimensional images emerge. The black segments feel as if they are the tops of the pale parts. Blink again. Now these shaped canvases resemble semaphores. None of Greenleaf’s current works reproduce well. The Noise Signal series (1-4) looks rather bland. In person, their existence as collages is immediately apparent. The straightedged black lines are actually strips of some sort of material; the wedge and the circles are textured. Besides being quite lively, they intrigue. How do the textured forms relate to the linear components? There doesn’t seem to be an answer or solution, just a visual conundrum. In this scenario, commonplace shapes assume a mysterious character. If this were a test, you would be stumped. Asked about these paintings, Greenleaf mentioned his interest in Russian Constructivism, particularly the artists Kazimir Malevich and Lyubov Popova. This suggests that a bit of a utopian undercurrent is flowing through these works. His use of black and white rather than a colorful palette suggests, too, that he wants to strip art to its essentials. Score one for abstraction, which is no longer the lingua franca of the contemporary art world. In a recent conversation, Greenleaf related that he suspects that people tend to see the world in terms of straight lines, angles, and curves. There are plenty of these on view in his current solo show at Berry Campbell. The linear marks found in his 3-Body series (1-7) are particularly graceful. He has borrowed his title from the 3-Body problem of higher mathematics. According to Wikipedia, the 3-Body problem “refers to astronomers’ inability to track the collision course of three stars hurtling toward one another through space.” But, Greenleaf says, the term was not a direct inspiration, just a literary appropriation. If you ever enjoyed winter sports, especially gliding and spinning on frozen ponds or Olympic-sized rinks, the arcing, curved lines of these reductive paintings call to mind the cuts the blades of your skates etched into the ice. Poetry in motion. We think of lines as nouns. This artist has transformed lines into verbs. Lately, the whys and therefores of Modernism have seemed less urgent. Mercifully, though, abstraction is still practiced at a high level. With titles gleaned from James Joyce and higher mathematics as well as references to Russian Constructivism, Greenleaf reminds us that art that is not figurative is not devoid of content from a wide range of places and disciplines. With the group of paintings that he now has on view at Berry Campbell, Greenleaf lets us know that Modernism has not run its course. —Phyllis Tuchman
T O O K T H E K AT Y, 2021, AC RY L I C O N C A N VA S O N S H A P E D S U P P O R T, 53 X 50½ I N .
M O N O P O L E U M, 2021, AC RY L I C O N C A N VA S O N S H A P E D S U P P O R T, 29½ X 28 ½ I N.
W O O LY WAG, 2021, AC RY L I C O N C A N VA S O N S H A P E D S U P P O R T, 3 4½ X 3 0 I N.
3- B O DY 4, 2019, AC RY L I C O N L I N E N, 3 0 X 3 0 I N.
3- B O DY 5, 2019, AC RY L I C O N L I N E N, 3 0 X 3 0 I N.
R A I N C H E C K, 2020, AC RY L I C O N C A N VA S O N S H A P E D S U P P O R T, 21 X 31 I N.
NOISE SIGNAL 1, 2021, ACRYLIC ON LINEN, 30 X 40 IN.
NOISE SIGNAL 2, 2021, ACRYLIC ON LINEN, 30 X 40 IN.
NOISE SIGNAL 3, 2021, ACRYLIC ON LINEN, 30 X 40 IN.
ABOUT THE GALLERY Christine Berry and Martha Campbell opened Berry Campbell Gallery in the heart of Chelsea on the ground floor in 2013. The gallery has a fine-tuned program representing artists of post-war American painting that have been over-looked or neglected, particularly women of Abstract Expressionism. Since its inception, the gallery has developed a strong emphasis in research to bring to light artists overlooked due to race, gender or geography. This unique perspective has been increasingly recognized by curators, collectors, and the press. In March of 2020, Roberta Smith reviewed Ida Kohlmeyer: Cloistered for the New York Times. This rare group of paintings from the artist’s estate had not been on view together since they were created in the late 1960s. Berry and Campbell share a curatorial vision that continues with its contemporary program. Recently the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston acquired works by abstract painter, Jill Nathanson. Harry Cooper, senior curator and head of Modern art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., chose a painting by Judith Godwin from the 1950s to hang in their Abstract Expressionist galleries. Works by Frank Wimberley were acquired by the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C. Berry Campbell has been included and reviewed in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Artforum, Art & Antiques, The Brooklyn Rail, the Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, East Hampton Star, Artcritical, the New Criterion, the New York Times, Vogue and Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art. Not only did the program expand, but in 2015, the gallery physically expanded, doubling its size to 2,000 square feet. Berry Campbell is located at 530 W 24th Street in the heart of Chelsea, New York, on the ground floor.
NOISE SIGNAL 4, 2021, ACRYLIC ON LINEN, 30 X 40 IN.
3- B O DY 7, 2021, AC RY L I C O N L I N E N, 3 0 X 4 0 I N.
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