Art on Paper
September 8, 2022 - September 11, 2022
Massey Klein Gallery is pleased to participated in the Art on Paper fair, featuring new and recent work by Kevin Francis, Caleb Nussear, and Andrew Schwartz. This is the first fair participation for each artist. For press inquiries or questions regarding works available, please email info@masseyklein.com.
Kevin Francis works with found paper, an embodiment of discarded time. Through his abstracted landscapes, grid-like compositions and distinct form of mark-making, his creations, which are both organic and structured, illustrate the interplay between line and abstraction.The theme of duality in Francis’ work is physically evident both through his use of subtle, tonal ranges juxtaposed against vibrant bursts of color, and his compositions filled with playful and explorative abstraction, calling on the viewer to employ their reflexive instincts to read the paintings.
Francis’ process is technically unique, at once both intensely generous and introspective. After sourcing his found paper, the artist pours, soaks and submerges the material in paint. Then, through a simple drying process, he allows the paint to cure on its own. Through trickling, pooling and smearing the paint forms into patterns of an uncontrolled nature creating textured, reflective and undulating surfaces.
Caleb Nussear’s practice explores the overlap between what is physical and what is unseen. His work invites viewers to dive into complex formal geometries, physical and mathematical concepts of higher dimensionality, untouched natural landscape, and the tensile quality of line drawings. His sculptural drawings involve a blend of intuitive drawing and specific, mathematical configurations of folded paper that emphasize a relationship between two- and three-dimensional surfaces to synthesize an energized pictorial space.
Due to the three-dimensional nature of the folded paper, Nussear’s drawings contain an intentional aspect of time inherent to experiencing his works. His drawings can never be viewed in their initial form, laid flat before the folding process. Rather, the intention is that the viewer should experience portions of the drawings from various vantage points as intimate vignettes, with nuances that slowly reveal themselves over time. Pattern, shadow, and light all play an integral role in the viewing experience. These sculptural drawings are articulated in the language of formal, geometric abstraction, however they also fundamentally contain the spirit of landscapes. They are heavily inspired by nature and its untamed and untouched beauty. Nussear seeks to tap into that energy and imbue these works with a sense of mystery, a sense of power, and a sense of fragility, giving a delicate balance to each piece.
Caleb Nussear graduated with a BA in Philosophy and Religion from Bard College at Simon’s Rock and holds an MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago. He has participated in a number of artist residencies, including ChaShaMa in New York City in 2009 and Bearnstow in Mt Vernon, ME in 2018. Nussear has exhibited extensively throughout New York including solo and group exhibitions at NARS Foundation’s Sunset Park Wide Open in Brooklyn; Art Lot in Red Hook, Brooklyn; the Hudson Park Library in Manhattan; the Hewitt Gallery of Art at Marymount Manhattan College; ChaShaMA in Manhattan; the Local Project Art Space in Queens; and BAMart Contemporary Art Advisory in Larchmont, NY. His work has been exhibited as performance art at Trinity College Chapel in Hartford, CT; Judson Memorial Church in NYC; and Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, NY; to name a few. The artist lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Andrew Schwartz's work explores the possibilities of abstract visual language using a vocabulary of color, form, light, and materiality. Collaborating with chance and the alchemical properties of paint, the artist employs a range of techniques in an improvisational flow of repetition and variation to create new visual outcomes. Each painting becomes a site for impressions, residues, and subsequent excavations. By blurring the presence of the human hand and insisting on the transient image, Schwartz hopes to communicate a sense of memory and the passage of time.
Andrew Schwartz graduated with a BFA with concentrations in painting and sculpture from Cornell University in 2010, where he was awarded numerous awards including the Edith Stone & Walter King Memorial Prize, the Charles Goodwin Sands Memorial Medal and the BFA Post-Baccalaureate Award. He later graduated with an MFA in painting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 2016, where during his studies was awarded the Marlene and David Tepper Scholarship and the Roberts Watts Scholarship. Schwartz has given lectures and artists talks at Fordham University (NY) and Rutgers University (NJ) and will be participating in the NES Artist Residency program in Skagaströnd, Iceland in the summer of 2023. His work has been featured in exhibitions at Morgan Lehman Gallery (NYC), NARS (Brooklyn), Deanna Evans Projects (NYC), Equity Gallery (NYC), and Geoffrey Young Gallery (Great Barrington, MA), among many others, and the artist’s will be featured in a solo exhibition at Massey Klein Gallery in late 2022. His artwork has been featured in numerous publications including Praxis Interview Magazine, D Magazine, Dallas News, Glasstire, PICNIC and Juxtapoz. The artist lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
