 Black Flag, 2007 Oil and enamel on linen, 94 x 148 inches John Bauer Bellwether is pleased to present an exhibition of new abstract paintings by John Bauer. This will be Bauer's first solo show in Bellwether's Chelsea space and will feature a selection of new large-scale works. Bauer executes each of his works with a limited palette of gloss and matte blacks, silver and chrome. He begins each painting with a simple computer schematic and develops the work through a process that incorporates the artist's brushwork as well as "hands-off" painting techniques such as stenciling, silk-screening and spray painting, turning digitized graphic imagery into fields of abstract dystopia. Through Bauer's repetitive and serial forms, emotive narrative distance and his detached processes of working, he gains a subjectivity that expands the definition of what makes a painting formally successful while walking a line between beauty and disjuncture which stems from the communication of an overwhelming urban experience. Encouraging a friction between additive and subtractive elements, each painting focuses upon his deft ability to intersect modes of painting to create powerfully expressive images. Bauer decentralizes the picture plane with grid-like modular units, denying the accessibility of spatial illusion; he furthers this with his limited palette, encouraging a hierarchical breakdown between positive and negative space where compositions both dissolve and rematerialize simultaneously. It is these inherent contradictions of meaning and authorship that Bauer exploits within his work and working methods. That said, Bauer is extremely concerned with both the autonomous quality and anonymous nature of each painting - their ability to stand both independently and invisibly before the viewer. Born in San Diego, CA, Bauer studied studio art at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He now lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Later this year his work will be included in The Saatchi Gallery's exhibition, "Abstract America". Exhibition: April 19 - May 19 2007 Gallery hours: Tues-Sat 10 am - 6 pm Bellwether Gallery 134 Tenth Avenue (between 18th and 19th Streets) USA-New York, NY 10011 Telephone +1 212 929 5959 Fax +1 212 929 5912 Email info@bellwethergallery.com www.bellwethergallery.com |
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