Rohrer Fine Art is pleased to announce the exhibition New York School with an artist's reception and opening on July 12, 2008 from 6-8 PM. The show will feature artists Samuel T. Adams, Peter Gerakaris, Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline, Jessica Mein and Alyssa Pheobus—all recent graduates of New York City MFA programs. The show will run through September 6th.
Beginning in the 1950s, the New York School represented a multi-discipline movement that shifted the focus of the art world from France to America. Influenced by surrealism and the Russian Avant Garde, poets, jazz musicians, Action Painters (such as Willem de Kooning) and Abstract Expressionists painters (such as Jackson Pollock) constituted the core of this group. While exploring different themes, materials and techniques, the New York School's manifesto was one of freedom of individual expression.
Co-curated by Chip Tom and John Friedman, the art works of these five young artists weave a similar tale showcasing the works of a new generation which is experimenting with bold media combinations while investigating poignant emotional and universal terrain.
Samuel T. Adams' use of acrylic and acetate to lay distorted traditional grounds, pop in surprising colorful contrast with the inks he uses to fine-line adorn and denote familiar yet unknown abstract, illustrative shapes.. Dreamlike art forms emerge vibrantly upon a familiar base.
Peter Gerakaris' work explores themes of nature and culture through his pictorial approach to painting, printmaking, drawing and installation—seamlessly combined to present new perspectives in media and technique through a cumulative effort.
Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline's focus is the production of figurative oil paintings through a process of psychic auditing in which imagery is generated through a process of intuitive exploration. The finished pieces express a variety of content and technique informing an intimate look into the fantastical spectacles from the artist's mind.
Jessica Mein's collages contain strips and strata of everyday life, cut and woven together in simple color schemes, with photographs of people in routine action that create a sense of robotic humanity sped up and discombobulated as they go through the motions of existence. Her use of paper, video and photographs create jarring compositions within a space of altered time.
Alyssa Pheobus' drawings draw inspiration from the feminist tool box of traditional embroidery in their text and letter fragments, barbed lines, scar-like seams and jagged edges, presenting intense looks at the artistic labors tethered to the connotations of the female voice.
