Fundamental Abstraction III
Haines Gallery is pleased to present Fundamental Abstraction III, a group exhibition featuring an international selection of artists concerned with the formal aspects of line, color, shape and composition as an alternative to descriptive representation. The exhibition covers a wide range of artistic production — including paintings, drawings, sculptures and chemigrams — to demonstrate a cross-media portrait of contemporary abstraction. Connecting these distinctive practices is the ambiguity intrinsic to abstraction in all its forms, challenging the viewer to embrace discovery and the excitement of the unknown.
Though varied in their approaches, both Patsy Krebs and David Simpson are emblematic of the gallery’s longstanding tradition of presenting reductive painting, working deliberately to produce refined and highly meditative works. Ai Weiwei, David Nash and Zhan Wang transform porcelain, wood and stainless steel into elegant sculptural works that celebrate the potency of form, working alchemically with simple materials. Best known for her exquisite wall-based panels, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian also works on paper which intricately employing ink, mirror and reverse painted glass to consider the interaction between surface texture, light and color. Also working in a variety of media, Kota Ezawa uses animation to deal with abstraction and mediated perceptions of reality through reconstructions of existing films and photographs.
Combining the physics of painting and the chemistry of photography, the chemigrams of Pierre Cordier & Gundi Falk are cameraless images of a hybrid, inaccessible world, formed through the reaction of carefully placed substances such as varnish, wax or honey with traditional photographic chemicals. Zheng Chongbin draws from both Western abstract art and Chinese literati paintings in his large-scale, gestural works, his compositions oscillating between the seemingly familiar and complete abstraction. While Leslie Shows’ multifaceted works are photorealistically-constructed from images of pyrite rocks, her varied materials – including plexiglass, ink and crushed glass – detach the resulting works from her initial references.
Artists in the exhibition include: Ai Weiwei, Pierre Cordier & Gundi Falk, Kota Ezawa, Monir Farmanfarmaian, Mike Henderson, Patsy Krebs, David Maisel, David Nash, Leslie Shows, David Simpson, Zhan Wang and Zheng Chongbin.
