These works on paper represent my last two years in the studio, a time during which I’ve felt like an inventor disassembling and reassembling a prototype. A long ongoing debate about painting verses drawing is embedded in the fabric of these works. The ever simpler and blunter work I’m presenting here probably results from the unavoidable self-criticism inherent in middle age. Primacy counts more than anything right now. I want to get down to the barest essence: discarding the object for a trace or glimpse of it residing in the weight of each mark or shape. Hands on, hands off – it is a workmanlike approach to an existential problem.
For me, these works are as basic as first steps. I make reams of casual, unrehearsed drawings, letting my hand guide me. With a brush, I make marks with gouache or acrylic sometimes with colours that happen to be handy or already mixed. Most of these drawings are scrapped, but some are pinned up for future consideration. The next step is tricky. A kind of marriage takes place, leaving almost every finished work to consist of two or three fused drawings. In this context, a torn-out detail could become central; any fugitive mark or smudge or spill could find it’s vital place. It is a dance between surrender and intention, in which grace is possible. The joining is a little different in each instance. Two or three sheets of paper brought together create a jolt where they meet. Sometimes the separateness of the images is emphasized at this edge or intersection. Sometimes it appears more fluid. In any case, it’s the edge of the paper that determines how the final image coheres. In these drawings, the visual gently claims victory over the conceptual. No boundless ambition to tackle the entire universe — just passion and attention to a form in space. It’s really something when it happens before my eyes, as if it were simply meant to be: unequivocally real.
Born: 1953 New York, NY
Education & Teaching:
2002-present, President, The Drawing Center
1999-2001, Visual Arts Lecturer, Princeton University
1997-2002, Co-Chairman, Drawing Center
1996-1999, Instructor, Parsons School of Design
1991-2002, Board of Directors, The Drawing Center
1990-1999, Instructor, The New York Studio School, New York
1989-1994, Appeals Panel, The New York State Council on the Arts
1989-1992, Board of Directors, The New York Experimental Glass Workshop
1985-1988, Visual Arts Panel, The New York State Council on the Arts, New York, NY
1982-1984, Consultant to Exhibitions, The Drawing Center, New York
1973, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan ME
1971-1975, BA. Yale University, New Haven, CT
Group Exhibitions (Selection):
2005
The Vinoly Studio, Benefit for the Design Trust, New York, NY
RKL Gallery, In Spiritus, curated by Christina Chow, Brooklyn, NY
Betty Cunningham Gallery, Benefit for The Brooklyn Rail, New York, NY
2004
J. Johnson Gallery, Contemporary New York, curated by Nabil Nahas, Jacksonville, FL
The Vinoly Studio, Benefit for the Design Trust, New York
2003
Eyebeam Atelier, Artist’s Choice. Benefit show for BOMB Magazine, New York, NY
National Arts Club, 2003 Women of Discovery Art Show, benefit show for Wings Trust, NY
2002
The Drawing Center, 25th Anniversary Exhibition, NYC.
Henry Street Settlement, Painting Lately, NYC.
The Studio School, Benefit for the NY Studio School, NYC.
2001
Nicole Klagsbrun, I Love NY: Art Benefit for the Victims of the World Trade Center
I-Beam, Benefit for Bomb Magazine
Dieu-Donne Paper Mill, Benefit for Dieu Donne
2000
The State Museum of Contemporary Art, Modern Odysseys: Greek American Artists of the Twentieth Century. Thessaloniki, Greece.
The New York Studio School, Benefit Show New York, NY
Coalition for the Homeless, Artwalk New York, NY
Matthew Marks Gallery, Benefit for the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts Inc., New York, NY
1999
The Queens Museum of Art, Modern Odysseys: Greek American Artists of the Twentieth Century. Queens, NY
Alexander and Bonin, Rita McBride. Sylvia Plimack Mangold, and To be Announced. New York, NY
Hellenic Foundation, Greek American Painters. New York, NY
1998
450 Broadway Gallery, Blind Date, New York, NY
The New York Studio School, Benefit Show. New York, NY
David McKee Gallery, Absolute Secret. New York, NY
1997
Coalition for the Homeless, Artwalk New York, NY
Atelier 14, New York, NY;
White Box Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, Three Generations: Semi Annual Exhibition
1996
Jason McCoy Inc., Works on Paper. New York, NY
1995
Brooke Alexander Inc., Benefit for the Contemporary Performing Arts
1994
Edobori Gallery, Contemporary Artists in New York. Osaka, Japan
Dracos Contemporary Art, in collaboration with Citibank, N.A., Bridge, Greece
1993
The Drawing Center, The Return of the Cadavre Exguis. New York, NY
Yale University Art Gallery, Yale College, New Haven, CT
Jason McCoy Inc., Summer Group Show. New York, NY
Jaffe Baker Gallery, Three from New York. Boca Raton, FL
1992
Robert Morrison Gallery, Group Show to Benefit N.Y. Metropolitan Committee for UNICEF, New York, NY.
Brooke Alexander Inc., Recent Prints, New York, NY
The Studio School, Venetian Connections, New York, NY
1991
Jason McCoy Inc., Summer Group Show. New York, NY
Museum of Modern Art, Recent Acquisitions. Andros, Greece
1990
Germans van Eck, Artists for Amnesty. New York, NY
Christies, The Coalition for the Homeless Auction. New York, NY
1989
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Recent Acquisitions. New York, NY
Real Art, Geometric Abstraction. The Private Side. New York, NY
1988
Leo Castelli Gallery, Benefit for the Contemporary Performing Arts, New York, NY
John Good Gallery, Real Abstract, New York, NY
1987
John Good Gallery, Stimulation. New York, NY
John Good Gallery, Art Against AIDS. New York, NY
55 Mercer Street, Color Now, New York, NY
Metropolitan Life Gallery, Master & Pupils: The Education of the Black Artists in New York 1900-1980. New York, NY
1986
Jamaica Arts Center, Master & Pupils: The Education of the Black Artists in New York 1900-1980. New York, NY
John Good Gallery, William Baziotes. George Negroponte & David Row. New York, NY John Good Gallery, Recent Abstract Painting. New York, NY
Yale School of Art, Gallery, Twelve from New York. New Haven, CT
1985
Sotheby Park Bernet, GMHC Art Auction. New York, NY
New Art, Modernism, San Francisco, CA
Brooke Alexander Inc., Maior Paintings. New York, NY
1984
BankAmerica, Highlights: Selections from the BankAmerica Art Collection. San Francisco, CA
Museum of Modern Art, An International Survey of Recent Painting & Sculpture.New York,NY
1983
Museum of Modern Art, New Drawing in America. Venice, Italy
1982
The Drawing Center, New Drawing in America. New York, NY. Traveled to Sutton Place, Guilford-Surrey, England
1981
Brooke Alexander Inc., Paintings by: Richard Bosman, Stephen Buckley, Marthe Diamond, Sondra Freckleton, Richard Hass, Yvonne Jacquette, Ann McCoy, George Negroponte, Judy Rifka & Alan Turner. New York, NY
1977
The Drawing Center, Summer 77, New York, NY
1997
Bernard Chaet. Recent Paintings. The New York Studio School, New York, NY
1989
Geometric Abstraction: The Private Side. Real Art, New York, NY
1986
Twelve from New York. Yale Art School Gallery, New Haven, CT
Public Collections:
New York Public Library
Davis, Polk and Wardell
Weil, Gosthal and Manges
Vorres Museum of Contemporary Greek Art, Attica, Greece
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, Andros, Greece
Reader s Digest, New York, NY
Chemical Bank, New York, NY
Hospital Corporation of America, Nashville, TN
General Mills, Minneapolis, MN
Estee Lauder & Co., New York, NY
BankAmerica, San Francisco, CA
Aon Corporation, Chicago, IL
General Motors Corporation, Detroit, MI
Standard Oil of Ohio, Houston, TX
Baxer Tavenol, Chicago, IL
