January 12 – March 28, 2012
Reception: January 12, 2012
Artist/curator talk: February 29, 2012
ERETAI – meaning “rowers” in ancient Greek – comprises the work of four New York-based contemporary artists. Originally hailing from Canada (David Rabinowitch), the United Kingdom (John Beech), Brazil (Michael Voss), as well as the United States (Lael Marshall), all four artists present work that emphasize form, space, and intuitive process. All four work in both sculptural and two-dimensional media, offering a varied perspective on both the ‘sculptural’ aspects of painting and the sometimes ‘painterly’ attributes of sculpture. The four work with a wide array of materials, including wood, aluminum, textile, soap, and even birdseed. While they maintain the inherent distinction between the two practices, the artists’ ability to address two- and three-dimensional concerns simultaneously gives indication of the breadth of each artist’s repertoire and modus operandi.
The title ‘ERETAI’ suggests a resolve to forge new paths within the ever-evolving contexts of contemporary abstract painting and sculpture. The work in ERETAI thus determines tangential relationships to Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, and Post-Modernism (among other recent artistic phenomena). The content of ERETAI ranges from Lael Marshall’s quilt paintings, dishtowel paintings, and soap sculptures, which utilize common household materials, to Michael Voss’ meditative, interchangeable grid of paintings, John Beech’s structural works made of art-studio debris and scrap metal, and David Rabinowitch’s pivotal Tool Handle sculptures (dating from the 1960s) along with several never-exhibited drawings and studies.
John Beech is a New York-based British artist, currently working out of his studio in Brooklyn. Beech studied at the University of California, Berkeley, and is represented by the Peter Blum Gallery in New York. He frequently exhibits internationally and has held recent solo exhibitions at: Haus der Kunst St. Josef (Switzerland), The Peter Blum Gallery Chelsea (New York), and the Portland Art Museum in Oregon. Beech was the recipient of the Chinati Foundation Residency in Marfa, Texas and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award, and has work in the public collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Laguna Art Museum, amongst several others.
Lael Marshall, born in Seattle, Washington, lives and works in New York City. She graduated as ‘Meisterschülerin’ from Die Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, Germany, and received her BFA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. She has shown her work at galleries and institutions nationally and internationally including: Amerika Haus, Seidlvilla, Münchener Künstlerhaus, Bayerische Staatskanzlei, in Munich, Germany; Kunstverein Gelsenkirchen, Germany; Black and White Gallery, New York City, Eugene Binder, Marfa, Texas, and most recently in a 2-person show at Mitart Gallery in Basel, Switzerland. Her work can also be seen via the Drawing Center’s Viewing Program, and the Pierogi Flatfiles, New York City.
David Rabinowitch, born in Toronto, Canada, works out of his studio in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York, and his home in Riverside, California. Rabinowitch attended the University of Western Ontario in Canada and was appointed a member of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1969. He was invited to teach at the Graduate School of Sculpture at Yale University in 1973 and was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Staatliche Kunst Academy in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1984, where he retains his Professor Emeritus status. He has exhibited in four Documenta exhibitions and has held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Chinati Foundation in Texas, the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard, and the Galerie National du Jeu de Paume in Paris, France. Rabinowitch has major works in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Canada, and the National Museum of France. He was appointed a Guggenheim Fellow in 1973 and received the National Endowment for the Arts Award in 1974.
Michael Voss is a Brazilian-born artist working out of his studio in New York City. Voss studied at Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, Germany and Hunter College in New York. He was awarded a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service in 1997 and has exhibited at Galerie Wittenbrink (Germany), Charlotte Jackson Gallery (New Mexico), and in Marfa, Texas.