Moonmilk

Ryan McGinley
Blood Falls, 2008/2009
C-print
66 x 101.6 cms / 26 x 40 ins

Alison Jacques Gallery announces the first UK solo show of acclaimed American artist Ryan McGinley with an exhibition of 24 new colour photographs shot in caves across North America. Over the last year, McGinley and his crew explored huge caves underground, venturing into unknown territory, seeking out spectacular natural spaces, some previously undocumented. The title of the show “Moonmilk” alludes to the crystalline deposits found on the walls of many caves; it was once believed that this substance was formed by light from celestial bodies passing through rock into darkened worlds below.

Excerpt from the Alison Jacques Gallery Press Release September 11 - October 8, 2009

Albert Oehlen

Albert Oehlen

Del ahorro, 2008
Oil and paper on canvas
106 1/4 x 122 inches

In this new group of works, Oehlen paints over, under and around Spanish advertisement posters. The original commercial content of the posters is undermined by Oehlen's reworking of those images as well as his juxtaposition of unrelated advertisements. His interest lies not in the manipulation of pop iconography, but rather in the unnerving emotional effects generated by its obtrusive presence. In contrast with previous work, the use of paint has been reduced, giving focus to the center of the composition and emphasizing the subtle interactions between the paint and the posters. These highly charged paintings eschew formal convention and ultimately advance the medium's function through the artist's continued practice of the deliberate negation of imagery.

Excerpt from the Luhring Augustine Exhibition, APR 25 - MAY 30, 2009

Albert Oehlen
Untitled, 2008
mixed media on paper
11.75" x 8.25"

Albert Oehlen is also exhibiting with Corbett vs. Dempsey in Chicago, May 14 - June 27, 2009

The Rose

Cy Twombly

Installation view

Each painting comprises four wood panels on which three roses in full bloom are depicted in pulsating colours, ranging from deepest burgundy to tangerine, gold, violet and crimson, set against a background of vibrant turquoise. Inscribed on the last panel of each painting are fragments from Rilke's poem cycle "The Roses." Stanzas scrawled in a gestural mode reflect Twombly's characteristic conflation of painting and poetry, image and word...Some aspects of Twombly's new works recall his earlier cycle of paintings, Analysis of the Rose as Sentimental Despair (1985), now in The Menil Collection, Houston, which also referred to quotations by Rilke, as well as Rumi and Giacomo Leopardi, embracing conceptions of nature dominated by its inevitable demise....

Excerpt from the Gagosian Gallery London exhibition, February 12 - May 9, 2009

German Enlightenment

Anton Henning
Interieur No. 384, 2007
Oil on linen
74.21 x 86.5 inches

Zach Feuer Gallery's second exhibition of work by German artist Anton Henning includes paintings from 2000 - 2008 and offers an insightful overview of Henning's painterly preoccupations. The titles (Interior, Portrait or Still life) announce rather traditional themes. Henning's headstrong definition of these paint motifs, however, challenges our way to categorize art by blurring the borders between genres. The show title "German Enlightenment" is a reference to both the artist's cultural background and to the tangible fact that the paintings are illuminated only from the light within the frames. The gallery space is transformed into a room-filling self-illuminating installation; the paintings stand out from the wall and capture the exhibition space.

Excerpt from the Zach Feuer Gallery exhibition, October 15 - November 26, 2008

Ivin Ballen

Ivin Ballen
"Poodle"
2007
Fiberglass, aquaresin, acrylic, absorbant ground, gouache, oil
69 x 65 x 5 "

I love this work on every level. Learn more below:

Excerpt from The Brooklyn Rail Review in February 2008 - "Ivin Balllen 50/50" by Lynn Crawford

I first saw Ballen's work in his graduate studio at Cranbrook in 2006. I, like other visitors, thought I was looking at a two-and-three-dimensional assemblage (a la Robert Rauschenberg) made from packaging materials we frequently use, even rely on, but rarely consider (shipping boxes, duct tape, to-go containers, coffee cups, plastic water bottles), and was astonished to learn that the art works were not made with physical objects, but were actually trompe-l'oeil paintings of them. Ballen constructed maquettes from the previously mentioned items, cast them in aqua resin and fibergalss, painted them to look uncannily just like the original things, and used them to build fantastically shaped pieces.

Ballen is currently exhibiting in a group show ISN'T IT at Tony Wight Gallery, June 13 - August 16, 2008.

Ivin Ballen website

Urbanology

Mary Livoni
"Elston"
Charcoal, chalk on paper
40 x 48"
Collection of Wesley Kimler, Chicago

"I felt that this world, despite it's massiveness, was somehow dangerously fragile.........."

Richard Wright, American Hunger

A poignant lead in to Mary's amazing charcoal and chalk drawings. Please check out her website to view more.

Mary Livoni website

Bonsai

Jared Pankin
"Half "
2008
Wood, fake fur, foam
68 x 25 1/2 x 47"

The exhibition title “Bonsai” aptly describes Pankin’s continued search of man’s investigation of and attempts to conquer nature...Chinese Bonsai is said to be the landscape of imagination and often conjures up the idea of the miniature. “To appreciate and find pleasure in curiously curved potted trees is to love deformity,” Pankin states. For the Japanese, on the other hand, Bonsai represents a fusion of ancient beliefs with Eastern Philosophies of the harmony between man, the soul and nature.

The materials Pankin uses are seemingly random mostly synthetic materials ranging from carpet remnants, to expandable foam and tinted latex grafted with taxidermied parts and selected discarded wood acting as armatures and that have been cut, nailed, and glued to suite the artist’s aesthetics....It is this process that has enabled the artist to create sculptures of enormous power and subtle humor that tears down and reconfigures what is natural or man-made.

Excerpt from the Carl Berg Gallery exhibition, April - May 2008