Gallery shows

Sharon Butler, Joy Curtis, Cathy Nan Quinlan at STOREFRONT

Sharon Butler, “Brightly Colored Separates 6,” (detail) 2010, oil on canvas, 30″ x 40″

This month my paintings will be in “On Display,” an exhibition curated by Hrag Vartanian, with work by Cathy Nan Quinlan and Joy Curtis at STOREFRONT. Stop by the opening on Friday, August 6, 6 – 9 pm and say hello. A full-color catalogue with essays by the artists and Vartanian accompanies the exhibition.
Press Release
“On Display” offers three challenging new perspectives on abstraction. Each artist employs familiar forms, but in different and idiosyncratic ways. Their work thus embodies an inventive and wide-ranging exploration of crucial elements of visual language: framing, illusion, and ultimately imperfection.
Sharon Butler’s paintings embrace the slightly off-kilter, the not-quite-right, the un-straight line, discordant color, and awkwardly placed shapes. “Uncertainty and doubt are central to my painting practice. I’ve learned to respect the tentative and contingent.” Butler blogs at Two Coats of Paint, writes for The Brooklyn Rail, and is a professor in the art department at Eastern Connecticut State University. She divides her time between New York City and Mystic–her hometown in Connecticut.
Joy Curtis’s sculptures explore bad form and anxious psychological space. The familiar, the irrational, the discarded, and the imperfect particularly intrigue her. Her recent solo shows include exhibitions at Klaus Von Nichtsaggend, and Amphibological Displays at HQ, both in Brooklyn, NY. Curtis’s work has been in many group exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles, including shows at CRG, Lehmann Maupin, Triple Candie, and Workspace.
Cathy Nan Quinlan’s paintings crosshatch, separate and reintroduce pictorial space. “Every so often, standing at the easel, I say to myself, about myself, ‘She paints like an angel.’ Slightly more frequently, I think the painting is shit and say, like Faust, ‘I am a wretched fool and still no wiser than before.’ Quinlan is a passionate cook, founder of The ‘temporary Museum, author of  The Platonic Solids, sometime art critic (The Brooklyn Rail and Artcritical) and co-writer with Su Friedrich of the film Hide and Seek (1996). Quinlan lives in Brooklyn.
Hrag Vartanian is a Brooklyn-based writer, blogger, and cultural worker. He edits the art blogazine Hyperallergic.
“On Display: Sharon Butler, Joy Curtis, Cathy Nan Quinlan” curated by Hrag Vartanian. STOREFRONT, 16 Wilson Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY. August 6-22, 2010.


Joy Curtis, “AMPHIBOLOGY F,”  2006, plexiglas, acrylic mirror, silicone, 36  x 18  x 30.7

Cathy Nan Quinlan, “The Morandi Series: The Glass Bowl,” 2010, oil on canvas, 24  x 20

UPDATE (September 9): The electronic version of the catalogue for “On Display” is now available. Click here for details.
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UPDATE (September 7): Thanks to everyone who made the exhibition a success:

Thanks Time Out New York for selecting “On Display” as the weekly “Critics’ Picks: Painting” exhibition.
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Thanks Loren Munk for covering the opening on the James Kalm Report.

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Thanks Paper Mag for selecting “Brightly Colored Separates 8” as the Work of the Day
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Thanks Emmy Thelander for a thoughtful review at Brooklyn Exposed.
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Steven Truax “smells a blogger conspiracy” in BushwickBK.
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We’re honored that the show is an ArtCat PICK.
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Thanks Gallerina @ WNYC for including “On Display” in the weekly datebook.
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Thanks Art Fag City both for flagging the show and then doing some shots with us at the opening.
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Thanks editors at Artlog, BushwickBK, and Artcards for recommending the show.
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Thanks NY Art Beat, Brooklyn The Borough and Soho Journal for the shouts.
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For coverage of the opening reception, check out Hrag Vartanian and A Brooklyn Art Critic’s Notebook.
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Thanks Heart as Arena for writing about the show and describing my work as overdrive minimalism.
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At Instress of Art, Kianga Ellis writes about the show from the heart.
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“Great show! Uncannily satisfying…” —Stephanie Theodore @ Theodore:Art

3 Comments

  1. Martin
    July 31, 2010 at 12:59 am

    gonna see it for sure, and might be able to make the opening. have fun!

  2. Sharon
    July 31, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    Yes! Anaba paparazzi!

  3. Joanne Mattera
    August 9, 2010 at 7:31 pm

    Congrats on this show, Sharon, Hrag and all!

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