Paul Klee
press release
PAUL KLEE
Curated by Ashley Garrett and JJ Manford
October 10 – Nov 1, 2015
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 10th, 7-9pm
“…Our pounding heart drives us down, deep down to the source of it all…chosen are those artists who penetrate to the region of that secret place where primeval power nurtures all evolution.”[1]
Peter Acheson
Britta Deardorff
Jared Deery
Lori Ellison
Amy Feldman
Glenn Goldberg
Brenda Goodman
J Grabowski
Loie Hollowell
Christopher Joy
Hein Koh
Jonathan Lasker
June Leaf
Dona Nelson
Carl Ostendarp
Kim Sloane
Joyce Robins
Jason Saager
Brian Wood
Sanford Wurmfeld
UNDERDONK is pleased to present Paul Klee, a group exhibition comprised of twenty contemporary artists whose work originates in elaborate and felt thought processes, whether they be musical, mathematical, scientific, linguistic, systems-oriented, cosmic, or semiotic while still maintaining a sense of humor and humanity.
Klee incorporated many influences that were part of his cultural heritage, namely Expressionism, Jugendstil, Blaue Reiter, and Cubism, science and spirituality, yet he used this accumulated historical awareness as building blocks to construct images that cast a Romantic shadow on all of this knowledge, moving past the particulars of pictorial content and inward towards the realm of the symbolic, universal and primordial.
The artists in Paul Klee, each at varying points in their lives and careers, have very independent views of the world and their practice. They have pushed their art beyond simplified forms and easy readings into strange, mysterious places. We may detect the conscious awareness of one or more art historical modalities, but the work does not stay fixed in these regions, but rather moves us forward into hard-to-place zones of experience.
Klee saw his artistic viewpoint as part of a continuum, extending from the past and continuing indefinitely into the future. Where can Klee be located in contemporary art? It is not the intension of this exhibition to answer that question, but rather elucidate, through twenty artworks, instances of evolution unfolding in time.
-Ashley Garrett & JJ Manford, 09/27/15
[1] Klee, Paul. “On Modern Art.” Trans. Paul Findlay. Faber and Faber: London, 1948, 48.
UNDERDONK
1329 Willoughby Avenue, Suite #211
Brooklyn, NY, 11237
L train to Jefferson
Gallery Hours: Sat – Sun 1pm – 6pm
and by appointment
For more information, please contact [email protected]
