ANTONIETTA GRASSI CHRISTIAN NGUYEN ANN WALSH January 14 – February 25, 2017
K E N I S E BAR N E S F I N E AR T
ANTONIETTA GRASSI My work is about memory and space. Perhaps no memory being stronger than that associated with one's childhood home, my paintings reflect an emotional space that has been shaped by these memories and the passage of time. Having lost both of my parents within a short time frame, I was confronted with the task of emptying my childhood home of its possessions. The psychological and physical impact of facing this process led me to explore fragments of deconstructed and nonsensical space through hollowed cubes and skewed geometric shapes. What was once a home was transformed into a disembodied shell filled with a flurry of emotions, symbolizing acts of removing, dismantling, discarding, detaching, remembering, and forgetting. My work reflects how these memories of the past produce fleeting blueprints for structuring the present, and how a delicate stability is attained through the solidity of color, shape and light.
Antonietta Grassi Back Up, 2015 acrylic on canvas 54 x 44 inches $6700.
Antonietta Grassi House Float no. 2, 2014 mixed media on paper 46 x 57 inches (framed) $4600. (framed)
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ANN WALSH Working within the traditions of Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism and Color Field Painting, Ann Walsh continues to push the conventions of painting through her exploration of materials, formats and dimensionality. The legacy of Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock and the first-generation painters of the New York School as well as her friendships with Clement Greenberg, Kenneth Noland, Anthony Caro, Jules Olitski, and Walter Darby Bannard have helped her continuing contribution to the legacy of abstraction. Walsh is dedicated to the exploration of materials, color theory and to the advancement of painting as pictorial art. In the 1980s, Ann Walsh innovated a technique by pouring paint in reverse. Since that time, Walsh’s focus has been on creating freestanding and three-dimensional paintings consisting of simple, nested bands of saturated, high key color. Initially, Walsh poured acrylic paint to create sheets of color for her two- and three-dimensional pictures. In 2003, the artist started using industrial pre-colored vinyl as a more direct way to explore color relationships. In the vinyl, she discovered a more readily available source of color than her own labor-intensive poured sheets. In the studio, three or four colors are arranged in very simple, focused compositions. Beginning with drawing, Walsh determines the layout and proportions of the color through trial and error. Avoiding perfect ratios, the artist adjusts proportions, color and line until they “work.” The compositions’ smooth surfaces and geometric appearance naturally compel us to seek order. The viewer becomes aware that the widths of color are not precisely ordered and that their subtle interactions and considered placements have emotive and spatial power. Walsh strives for clarity and completeness in her work, a kind of rigorous color logic. Walsh is driven to do something in each work that she hasn’t done previously. Innovation is essential. “It’s about the chance to play with visual directness, experiment with form as pure expression – you’ve got to feel it working,” she says, echoing her friend, the critic Clement Greenberg, who stated, “Feeling is all.” (1952) Ann Walsh lives and works in New York City.
Ann Walsh PUNCH, 2009 vinyl on Plexiglas 36 x 48 x 2 inches $9500.
Ann Walsh BOX, 2014 enamel and vinyl on Plexiglas 24 x 21 x 1 inches $7500.
Ann Walsh SUIT, 2015 vinyl on Plexiglas 22 x 24 inches $7500.
Ann Walsh WINK, 2015 vinyl on Plexiglas 13 x 15 x 3.5 inches $5000.
CHRISTIAN NGUYEN The space and imagery in my current paintings are inspired by mosaic and tile patterns. The paintings continue my interest in the relationship between the study of architecture and graphic imagery to create unique visual experiences. These patterns decorate the edge of frescoes and define pavement sections on the floor of palaces and churches from the Byzantine and Islamic traditions. The tradition of using decorative patterns create rich and lively articulations of framing elements within the architectural space either to frame frescoes or to divide physical spaces from one another. The vast repertoire of these patterns is rooted in the grid and unit systems that are intrinsic to many of the worlds architectural traditions. However, sometimes the figurative image is dominant, and the decorative patterns become support structures to the primary experience of viewing the frescoes or architectural space. The paintings are composed using the grid to frame these mosaic patterns using the diagonal lines of the canvas to create the grid. This method creates cells that have the same proportion as the painted area. I begin by selecting a portion of the canvas, cropping the selected areas with masking tape and forming a grid. The selected areas do not always correlate with the edge of the canvas; I do this to create awareness of the ‘edge’ of the painting. The mosaic patterns are based on the variation of the diagonal of the rectangular cell. Combinations of these units create the various motifs that are used together to create the image. I use these motifs literally as building blocks to the paintings the way an artisan would use tiles to lay out a section of the floor. I think of architectural concepts of stacking, balance, open and confine spaces etc. to find the forms and imagery in the painting.
Christian Nguyen Via Paradiso, 2016 acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 inches $3800.
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Christian Nguyen Totem, 2016 acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 inches $3800.
K E N I S E B A R N E S F I N E A R 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 a n d s o u r c e a r t w o r k f o r p r o j e c t s o f a l l s i z e s . O u r c l i e n t l i s t i n c l u d e s N e w Yor k University/Langone Medical Center, Montefiore Medical Center, Bank of America Art Pr ogr am , Pf iz er Cor por at ion, Citibank Ar t Advisor y, Vicent e Wolf Associat es, and numerous museums and private collectors. Kenise Barnes, director Kenise@kbfa.Com Lani Holloway, galler y manager Lani@kbfa.Com B. Avery Syrig, sales and administrative assistance Avery@kbfa.Com 1947 Palmer Avenue, Larchmont, New York 10538
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