NEW YORK
PAPEL PAPEL
works on paper
November 10 - December 23, 2023
At Zürcher Gallery, New York
Alice Adams
Regina Bogat
Agnes Denes
Ted Joans and Laura Corsiglia
Harriet Korman
Al Loving
Alix Le Méléder
Kazuko Miyamoto
Harvey Quaytman
Lynn Umlauf
Merrill Wagner
Read the full press release here
Zürcher Gallery is pleased to reunite 11 artists who work with paper as a fundamental element in their practice. Some works are actual drawings, others are more like paintings or collages on paper or plexiglas. One could say that all artists are involved with process in some way and with the choice of materials. Harvey Quaytman is not afraid of collaging samples of color in one of his 1973 works on paper. He is using Kremer pigments to obtain rare colors which he would mix with acrylic-based mediums such as Rhoplex. In the 70's, Regina Bogat, an indefatigable explorer, was working with threads and cords to activate the surface of her works on canvas or paper. Merrill Wagner was using strips of masking tape or plastic tape on board, paper or plexiglas, memorializing a blandly colored, throw-away aid speaking to our vulnerability and our fear of being forgotten. Al Loving was collaging on paper in a free and irregular way, thus reflecting his torn canvases from the early 70's. A little later in time, Lynn Umlauf works across the entire sheet of paper in a gestural way and pastes a torn circle shaped piece of canvas. Harriet Korman, Agnes Denes, Kazuko Miyamoto and Alice Adams work in a more conceptual way, their work is based on the process of thinking. Harriet Korman 's main focus is to treat the surface as a two-dimensional or flat plane. The Pyramids as They Were, 1994, by Agnes Denes is a philosophically rooted lithograph whereas Kazuko Miyamoto's colored pencil drawings allow her to sketch ideas for her "String Constructions". Alice Adams 's "chicken-wire drawings" show the presence of her hand. Alix Le Meleder's small oils on paper translate an experience of shifting consciousness.
Ted Joans and Laura Corsiglia's collaborative work, an exquisite corpse, follows the rules of the surrealist game " select any paper you wish. Anything goes: from a large sheet of paper to a small paper napkin ....players should not see each other's drawings before they begin, conceal their drawing either by slipping it under another piece of paper or folding it back and out of sight."
Working with paper is an experience both in its making and its viewing. They hold your attention with the economy of means at work. They offer the eye, the intellect, the sensitivity, vibrant surfaces which invite closer examination.