K E N I S E B A R N E S F I N E A R T
David Collins Back Home November 4 – December 22, 2017
on the cover: Dismantling the Day
Dismantling the Day, 2017 oil on linen 50 x 46 inches $6500.
DAVID COLLINS – BACK HOME Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to present Back Home, a solo exhibition featuring new paintings by David Collins. Back Home features nine large-scale oil paintings from the artist’s Cutchogue (Long Island) studio. The gallery has been honored to represent Collins since 2001. In a sense, everything one does is autobiographical and painting is no exception. In 2016, Collins transitioned from a painting studio in the bustling center of the New York Garment District to working and living full-time on the East End of Long Island. The artist’s “country studio” is a remarkable contrast to the 15 years he spent working in a high-rise city studio. This body of work is partly in response to a new space and rhythms outside of the city. Assimilating to working in a studio, surrounded by nature, has influenced the artist in terms of perceived time, light and color. In Back Home, Collins is painting directly onto sealed but unprimed linen, saturating the absorptive surface with pigment and activating it with mark making. The artist continues to employ his personal language of shapes and structures that suggest folded paper, fragments of wings, domestic dwellings or industrial buildings. These images are drawn from childhood recollections of homes, construction sites in 1970s Dallas and from time spent in airplane hangars while visiting his father’s workplace. Geometric planes of color create a kaleidoscope of shapes that evoke floors, walls, eaves and overhangs; silhouettes conjure up cranes, cables and overpasses. Ultimately, these architectural notions do not remain whole; they fracture and fall away to reveal other chambers or the outside world. A simultaneity of interior and exterior space describes the liminal inbetween. Amidst the shifting and multitudinous spaces, Collins’ paintings find order and resolution ultimately achieving precise balance and perfect stillness. Among his many distinctions, Collins has been honored with fellowships at Yaddo Artist Colony, Saratoga Springs, NY and Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York, NY. His work is in the collections of United States Department of State, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C, The Container Store Corporate Headquarters, Dallas, TX, General Electric, Hyatt Corporation, InSight Capital Ventures, New York, NY, Jesuit Dallas Museum, Dallas, TX, Meridian Teterboro, Teterboro Airport, Teterboro, NJ, and Pfizer Corporation, New York, NY, to name a few. David Collins is a graduate from Rhode Island School of Design. He lives and works on the North Fork of Long Island. Please contact the gallery for the digital exhibition catalogue, additional images and information, or to arrange a preview of the exhibition.
detail: Back Home
Back Home, 2017 oil on linen, 46 x 70 inches $8500.
detail: Here Comes the Night
Here Comes the Night, 2017 oil and acrylic on linen 46 x 70 inches $8500.
DAVID COLLINS
STATEMENT
By layering geometric planes and simple patterns on fields of rich color, I strive to convey depth, movement, and a shifting sense of place using the formal elements of painting. In the paintings, structures develop suggesting folded paper, fragments of wings, domestic dwellings or industrial buildings. I draw from childhood recollections of homes, construction sites in 1970s Dallas and time spent in hangars visiting my father’s workplace. Planes of color crop up to create floors, wall-like surfaces, eaves and overhangs. Silhouettes evoke cranes, cables, and overpasses. However, these architectural notions do not remain whole, they fracture and fall away to reveal other chambers or the outside world. A simultaneity of interior and exterior space puts the depicted in the in-between, the liminal. This falling away opens up the paintings to a dynamic landscape with a sense of forces moving in many directions at once. Like the environs of my Midtown Manhattan studio, with its demolition and construction of buildings in the midst of mammoth skyscrapers, my paintings also reveal internal structure and order amidst the chaos. Despite the shifting and multitudinous spaces, the paintings ultimately resolve achieving balance and stillness.
opposite page: studio image
Proving Ground, 2017 oil on linen 60 x 60 inches $8500.
detail: Proving Ground
Hitting Home, 2017 oil on linen, 46 x 70 inches $8500.
detail: Hitting Home
Untitled, 2017 oil and acrylic on paper mounted on linen 44 x 32 inches $4800.
detail: Untitled
installation view: David Collins – Back Home, November – December 2017, Kenise Barnes Fine Art
detail: Behind the Night
Behind the Night, 2017 oil on linen 42 x 42 inches $5300.
detail: Day’s End
Day's End, 2017 oil on linen 46 x 46 inches $6400.
Dark Window, 2017 oil, acrylic and silk on linen 46 x 50 inches $6500.
detail: Dark Window
K E N I S E BAR N E S F I N E AR T Was founded in 1994 on the belief that art is essential We are a gallery and art consulting firm representing emerging and mid-career, investment-quality artists. Our program includes over fifty artists working in a variety of mediums. The gallery mounts more than a dozen exhibitions annually in our exhibition space in Larchmont, NY as well as curating exhibitions for outside venues. Kenise Barnes Fine Art is an experienced art consulting firm. We guide both residential and corporate collectors and work collaboratively with designers and architects to provide and source artwork for projects of all sizes. Our client list includes New York University Langone Medical Center, Montefiore Medical Center, Bank of America Art Program, Pfizer Corporation, Citibank Art Advisory, Vicente Wolf Associates, and numerous museums and private collectors. Kenise Barnes, director Kenise@kbfa.com Lani Holloway, gallery manager Lani@kbfa.com B. Avery Syrig, sales and administrative assistance Avery@kbfa.com 1947 Palmer Avenue, Larchmont, New York 10538
914 834 8077
www.KBFA.com
Photo credit: Susan Fisher Photography