Abstraction 2

Anna Marie Francesco, Andy Kolar, Doug Meyer, Rebecca Niederlander, Luke Whitlatch

August 11, 2007 - September 1, 2007

opening reception August 11, 2007 6-9 pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WHEN: August 11 through September 1, 2006

HOURS: TUESDAY – SATURDAY 11-6 or by appointment

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, August 11, 6-9 p.m.


ABSTRACTION 2: Anna Marie Francesco, Andy Kolar, Doug Meyer, Rebecca Niederlander, Luke Whitlatch.

Carl Berg Gallery is pleased to present “Abstraction 2” our second exhibition in a series of shows featuring abstract work. The exhibition includes a mix of recent art school graduates and mid-career artists who explore various methods in creating abstract form. The artists included are Anna Marie Francesco, recent graduate from Clarement Graduate University (CGU), Andy Kolar from Cal State Long Beach, LA-veteran Doug Meyer, sculptor and installation artist Rebecca Niederlander and a recent Otis Graduate Luke Whitlatch.

Since the first abstract paintings were created in the early 1900’s there has continued to be practitioners of this genre of art making. As with other styles of art however, the interest in abstraction has gone through its ebbs and flows. A recent resurgence of interest in abstraction has propagated many new exhibitions. In “Abstraction 2” we have featured five artists whose distinct approaches to abstraction are presented in the exploration of material, shape and various other formal considerations as well as a reconsideration of many of these factors.

Recent (CGU) graduate Anna Marie Francesco creates abstract paintings in which her gestural strokes have been exaggerated almost to the point of becoming cartoon-like. Francesco shifts scale mainly based upon the absurd size of her brush stroke, which extends right off the surface of the canvas. These “brush strokes” are actually not made of paint but rather are formed sculpturally and are then painted. Through her process however evidence of the brush is maintained creating works that are purely abstract from a two dimension perspective and become surrealistic when viewed from a sculptural (or three-dimensional) viewpoint.

Andy Kolar, a recent MFA from Cal State Long Beach, on the other hand explores flatness in abstraction. His large canvases are formed through a composition comprising a few large shapes on the canvas. Kolar's hand paints large shapes which are bold and nonetheless subtle. These large shapes dominate the canvases yet Kolar's subtle treatment of line maintains the quality of the hand that is often lost in paintings that are created by the aid of a computer or other mechanical means.

LA-veteran Doug Meyer, has explored abstraction on and off over the last 25 years. In his most recent paintings he creates simple yet complicated abstractions that are made from dozens of small rectangular shapes. His rectangular forms create an optical effect through his masterful use of color, (not dissimilar with the OP artist of the 60’s and 70’s). Each single shape is a colored rectangle that is formed in groups of vertically and horizontally arranged rectangles that are painted in various tonal ranges of the same hue. The color and shapes play in wonderful harmony with each other creating paintings that are both visually active but at the same time somehow resonate a quieting effect.

Rebecca Niederlander, another LA veteran, is continuing her exploration of the mobile. Her ongoing examination of this sculptural form has taken a turn however into more concrete shapes. Her last exhibition at the Carl Berg Gallery featured a large mobile made from cutouts of velum paper that hung from various pivot points. This sculpture’s gentle movement created by the aid of an oscillating fan furthered its already ethereal quality. On the other hand her new mobiles, made from single colors of plastic insulated copper electrical wire, form very distinctive shapes. Floating somewhere between abstraction and representation these mobiles take on an animated quality that are not unlike Anna Marie Francesco gestural canvases. Niederlander also continues the kinetic nature of her mobiles; many of which can be set into motion by a simple interactive tug on the bottom of the sculpture.

Luke Whitlatch, a recent graduate from Otis, explores gestural compositions on shaped canvases. His subtle use of line, color and form is integrated into long and narrow canvases whose depth is normally wider its width. He breaks up the landscape or portrait context of the traditional canvases with almost totem-like shapes. These paintings are, in essence, comprised of three painted surfaces whose interaction breaks from the traditional figure-ground relationship found in more traditional forms of painting. Whitlatch’s search of the sculptural possibilities in painting has created works that are neither pure paintings nor pure sculptures.

“Abstraction 2” explores five LA-based artists’ work that looks at abstraction from various different perspectives sometime overlapping, but ultimately adding to the rich history of this incredibly bountiful genre of art.

Contact information: Carl Berg
Tel: 323-931-6060