For immediate release:
PS122 Gallery Presents Recent Drawings by Chris Fennell and Bryce Speed
Dates: May 23 – June 14, 2009
Reception: May 23, 5 – 7 pm
Location: 9th Street, just east of First Avenue
Gallery hours: Thursday through Sunday, 12 – 6 pm
New York, NY – PS122 Gallery is pleased to present a two-person show of recent drawings by Chris Fennell and Bryce Speed.
Chris Fennell’s drawings are constructed from thousands of small-scale pieces. The method is collage, the means cut or hole-punched paper, glued down in closely-ranked rows. Movement is revealed via multitudes of small changes, in the manner of a school of fish or a flock of birds. Individual units disappear as form dissolves and blurs one’s sense of scale. The drawings reference a wide variety of subjects: physics, mathematics, metaphor, the organic architectures of nature, and metaphysical questions about the boundaries between form and spirit. The labor-intensive aspect of their construction also makes them, by default, a study of the nature of time. Unlike plane geometry, where a dot represents a precise location in space, here it represents a unit of time spent. Unlike the mathematical point, these “points” do not define a precise place, but conversely elide and elude boundaries by nature of their ambiguous visual appearance in seemingly countless abundance.
The two large works that comprise “Here and There” are a radical departure from the usual small scale and delicacy of Fennell’s oeuvre, and represent a dialogue between two poles of his ongoing practice. The Dionysian, earthy psychedelia of “Manitou” and the ascetic, Apollonian minimalism of “Cataract” embody the philosophical polarities at the heart of this work—present vs. eternal, physical vs. immaterial, action vs. contemplation. In circular fashion, they find common ground as well, in their shared refusal to fully reveal themselves. They cultivate a sense of transparency and ambiguity, and exhibit a restless flow of energy that exemplifies the transitory “here and now.”
Chris Fennell was born in Burlington, Vermont and has lived in Brooklyn
since 1992. He has a B.A. in both English and Studio Art from the
University of Vermont, and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In November of 2009, his work will be featured in his first solo exhibition at Newman-Popiashvili Gallery, in New York City. He
currently lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with his wife and two children.
Through a tedious line and washed layers, Bryce Speed creates abstracted nature scenes and interior spaces that fill with fragmented drawings of spontaneous imagery. These drawings defy themselves in hypocrisy, with placid compositions, both grand and intimate, holding the boundaries of his work in a contradiction of architectural clarity and free gestural whimsy. This hypocrisy creates a hauntingly beautiful landscape, easy to get lost in. Speed’s drawings create a full character, representing a metaphorical dialog between open and shut, out and in and the struggle with identity.
Bryce Speed was born in 1978 in Hattiesburg, MS. In 1999, he earned a BFA in painting and drawing at the University of Mississippi. In 2005 he graduated with an MFA in painting from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He then taught at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska. He currently teaches at the Central Community College in Columbus, NE. Bryce’s work has been included in over 40 exhibitions in several states. In 2006 his work was selected for publication in volume 64 of New American Paintings. Also, in 2006, he exhibited at Space 301 in Mobile, Alabama and at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City, Nebraska, where he completed a six-week artist in residency program. In 2007 the London International Creative Competition selected his work Double Beds in their yearly international publication. In May 2009, Bryce will have a solo exhibition at PS 122 in Brooklyn, New York. Bryce’s work is represented by Modern Arts Midwest in Lincoln, NE.
The hallway project is by Abby Goodman. This site specific installation is based on her latest series, “Wildfires”. Set in various locations around the city, found objects and salvaged wood are collected and assembled into burning pyres. Consumed by flames, these constructions provide renewed vitality to the previously discarded objects, emblematic of the duality of life.
Abby Goodman lives in Brooklyn. She received her B.F.A . from Tyler School of Art. She continued training in the French Alps and The Johnson Atelier Technical Institute for Sculpture before completing her M.F.A. at Syracuse University.
For further information and reproductions please contact:
Susan Schreiber, Gallery Director
Tel. (212) 228 4249
This exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of the New York State Council on the Arts, Painting Space 122, Inc. and the Friends of PS122 Gallery.
Transportation:
M15 bus to St Marks Place
- train to Astor Place
