Charlie Hewitt: New Paintings, Sculpture & Ceramics

CHARLIE HEWITT N E W PA I N T I N G S , S C U L P T U R E & C E R A M I C S

Charlie Hewitt New Paintings, Sculpture & Ceramics

Jim Kempner Fine Art is pleased to announce Charlie Hewitt: New Paintings, Sculpture & Ceramics, the artist’s ninth solo show with the gallery. The exhibition spanning two floors will open Thursday, September 15th and continue through Saturday, October 29th, 2016. An opening reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, September 15th from 6-8 pm. A digital catalog will accompany the exhibition.

Charlie Hewitt does not limit his art making, choosing to work with a variety of media to encourage new discoveries and fuel the production of ideas. In this exhibition, Hewitt explores five artistic mediums: painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, and ceramics. The new paintings focus less on brushwork and are made using an array of tools, such as sponges, paint scrapers, china bristle brushes and extruders. Hewitt begins by collaging prints and paper to the canvas.

From this groundwork, he continues to develop his imagery with the inclusion of automatic drawing. The subtext of drawing and its ability to facilitate feeling in painting is Hewitt’s most salient intention. Drawing inspiration from the simplest sketches and doodles his newest imagery flows from automatic processes. The vigor and intensity of Sparrow’s Point exemplifies his process-based technique, where drawing and line dominate the kinetically nuanced surface.

Hewitt’s proclivity for lineation is present also in his sculpture. He views the creation of these lyrical structures as a form of dimensional drawing.

Having a background in painting, Hewitt later taught himself to sculpt after working as a contractor and seeing the experimental potential of industrial materials. Normally freestanding, Hewitt’s recent sculptures are wall-mounted. The nature of relief lends itself to the exploitation of the beauty of shadow. This treatment of space can be seen in Irish Gardener, a wall relief whose shapes and contours lean away from the wall and contort into the viewer’s space.

Hewitt’s interest in sculpture led him to explore ceramics, which he views as a bridge between painting and sculpture. Hewitt enjoys the challenge of having to surrender control to the constraints of a new medium. After taking a five-year hiatus from ceramics, he threw himself into this new body of work with a determination to embrace and expand upon an ancient practice. Hewitt views the rough surface and texture of these plates as another challenge to facilitate his drawing and painting methods.

Charlie Hewitt’s recent solo exhibitions include a retrospective of his paintings, sculpture and works on paper at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine and a retrospective of his prints at the Bates College Museum in Lewiston, Maine. Hewitt’s work is in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; New York Public Library, NY; Brooklyn Museum, NY; Library of Congress, D.C.; Portland Museum of Art, ME; and many others.

The artist lives and works in Portland, Maine and Jersey City, New Jersey.

BORN

GRANTS AND AWARDS

August 21, 1946, Lewiston, ME

1998 New York Foundation for the Arts, Painting 1997 New York Foundation for the Arts, Drawings, Prints 1974 New York State Council of the Arts, CAPS Grant

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2016 New Paintings, Sculpture & Ceramics, Jim Kempner Fine Art, NYC 2014 White Light, Jim Kempner Fine Art, NYC 2012 Woodcuts, Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT 2012 Greenwich Art Council, Greenwich, CT 2010 Jim Kempner Fine Art, NYC 2010 Icon Gallery, Portland, ME 2008 Jim Kempner Fine Art, NYC 2007 Hot Off The Press, NYC

The Whitney Art Works, Portland, ME 2006 Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, ME

Bates College Museum, Lewiston, ME 2005 Jim Kempner Fine Art, NYC 2002 The Station, Group Show, Houston, TX 2001 Jim Kempner Fine Art, NYC

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND INSTALLATIONS 1999

1998 1997 1996

Group Show, Jim Kempner Fine Art, NYC Lasting Impressions, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME Woodcuts, Jim Kempner Fine Art, NYC Vinalhaven Press, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME Dead Space Gallery, Portland, ME Fletcher Priest Gallery, Worchester, MA The Art Exchange, NYC Vinalhaven Between the Muse Gallery, Rockland, ME Arden Gallery, Boston, ME

PERMANENT SCULPTURE INSTALLATIONS 2015 2015 2013 2013

Portland Rattle, 511 Congress Street, Portland ME L/A Rattle, L/A Arts, Lewiston, ME Brooklyn Swing: Primera Companies, Dallas, TX Urban Rattle: Equity Builders for Ten23 Apartments (Highline Park adjacent), New York, NY

SELECTED PERMANENT COLLECTIONS Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC Museum of Modern Art, NYC New York Public Library, NYC Chase Manhattan Bank, NYC Prudential Insurance, NYC Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY Library of Congress, Washington, DC State University of New York, Binghamton, NY MIT, List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH The Fogg Museum, Boston, MA Farnsworth Museum of Art, Rockland, ME Colby College Museum of Art, Lewiston, ME SELECTED PUBLICATIONS 2010

2009 2007

um 2001 2000

1997

Charlie Hewitt: Sculpture Charlie Hewitt: Drawings for Illuminations Charlie Hewitt: Woodcuts Cut, Scrape, Gouge, Cut: The Graphic Work of Charlie Hewitt, Essay by David Becker, Bates College Charlie Hewitt at Work, Essay by E.A. Beem, Farnsworth MuseArt on Paper, “Working Proof,” page 73.

Lasting Impressions, Portland Museum, catalogue by Bruce Brown Vinalhaven Press, Portland Museum, catalogue by April Galant

Ruby’s Gold, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

58 x 36”.

Dark Harbor, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

48 x 34 1/2�.

Blue Drift, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

53 x 35�.

Pepper Club, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

48 x 34 1/2�.

Titian’s Sleeve, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

35 x 53”.

Heart of Gold I, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

60 x 48�.

Casco Rain, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

40 x 30�.

Red Buoy, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

30 x 40�.

Sparrow’s Point, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

40 x 60”.

Harpswell, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

30 x 40”.

Acadian Stream, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

40 x 30”.

Ocean Gate, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

53 x 35�.

Blue Angel, 2016.

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas.

40 x 30�.

Irish Gardener, 2016.

Painted aluminum with silver and bronze leaf.

51 x 72 x 6�.

Hartley, 2016.

Painted aluminum with silver and bronze leaf.

68 x 48 x 9�.

Blue Spoon, 2016.

Painted aluminum with silver and bronze leaf.

21 x 17 x 2�.

Medallion 1, 2016.

Painted aluminum with silver and bronze leaf.

26 x 23 x 2 1/2�.

Medallion 2, 2016.

Painted aluminum with silver and bronze leaf.

26 x 14 1/2 x 2�.

Untitled #31, 2016.

Ceramic plate.

20 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 3�.

Untitled #30. 2016.

Ceramic plate.

20 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 2�.

Untitled #36, 2016.

Ceramic plate.

20 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 3�.

Untitled #18. 2016.

Ceramic Plate.

20 1/2 x 20 5/8 x 3�.

Untitled #26, 2016.

Ceramic plate.

20 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 2 1/2�.

Untitled #20. 2016.

Ceramic plate.

20 7/8 x 20 7/8 x 3�.

JIM KEMPNER FINE ART Jim Kempner Fine Art specializes in contemporary paintings, sculpture, photography, and works on paper, with a special emphasis on contemporary master prints and outdoor sculpture. Our inventory appeals to the established as well as beginning collector. We work closely with art advisors, designers, corporations and museums to expand and enrich their varied collections.

Located in the heart of Chelsea, the gallery’s three story modernist-inspired structure designed by architects Smith & Thompson boasts one of the few outdoor sculpture gardens in New York City, and is included in a number of books about contemporary architecture.

Our inventory includes work by Donald Baechler, John Baldessari, Louise Bourgeois, Christo, Chuck Close, Richard Diebenkorn, Jim Dine, Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Spencer Finch, Jane Hammond, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Jasper Johns, Deborah Kass, Alex Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, William Kentridge, Jeff Koons, Robert Mangold, Robert Motherwell (Jim Kempner Fine Art represents the Dedalus Foundation, Robert Motherwell’s print archive, in New York), Sol Lewitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Longo, Elizabeth Peyton, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, Paula Scher, Sean Scully, Frank Stella, Donald Sultan, Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol and others.

Among the contemporary artists whose work we represent are Robert Attanasio, Christopher Beane, Stanley Casselman, Long Bin Chen, Eduardo del Valle and Mirta Gómez, Rinaldo Frattolillo, Gianfranco Gorgoni, John Grande, John Henry, Charlie Hewitt, Jay Kelly, Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese, Jerry Mischak, David Mitchell, Craig Norton, Greg Parker, Robert Petersen, Randy Regier, Tom Slaughter, Pal Svensson and Boaz Vaadia.

Formerly a private dealer, Jim Kempner opened his gallery, Jim Kempner Fine Art, at its present location in the fall of 1997. Dru Arstark has been the gallery director since 1998 and Sarah Bielicky has been the associate director since 2011. Jim Kempner has published prints by Rinaldo Frattolillo, Charlie Hewitt, Robert Indiana, Paula Scher, Bernar Venet, in addition to Gianfranco Gorgoni’s photographs of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. Other publications include Ligorano/Reese’s Line Up portfolio, Untitled 2001 silkscreen, and the DEMOCRACY lightbox, made in collaboration with gallery director Dru Arstark, under the name Madness of Art Editions. Additionally, he has published his first editioned print, Apocryphal Now, in 2014.

501 West 23rd Street New York, NY 10011 212-206-6872 info@jimkempner.com jimkempnerfineart.com Jim Kempner Fine Art

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