New digs for Joshua Liner Gallery

    From Vermont to Philadelphia to New York City at 540 W 28th Street, and now to a ground floor space in the same building. The Joshua Liner Gallery has a new home with plenty of windows and visibility.

     The premiere show at the new joint was a group show of heavy hitters. Maybe not as heavy as the three or four giant security guards (there for cred more than guarding) but plenty o' big names from the pop surreal/street (does anyone use the term "low brow" anymore? I hope not) scene. Full list of artists at end of this post.

SWOONThalassa (Pink Seahorse)
Screenprint on mylar with coffee stain and hand painting
2012, 74x65"

     From the always eye-catching, outsider-ish antics of the Clayton Bros. to the tightly rendered (Tiffany Bozic) to street paste-ups (SWOON) and plenty in between. A good show to catch for a solid look at the aforementioned genre(s).  I've raved about Kris Kuksi here a few times, and he has an amazing construction in the show as well.





 


      Something here for everyone, from the long time fan to the newbie getting a first glimpse in person of work by these artists rather than in a magazine.
Joshua Liner Gallery, 540 W. 28th St, NYC - "Direct Address: An Inaugural Group Exhibition"
March 21-April 20, 2013 
Artists in show not mentioned here: Alfred Steiner, Cleon Peterson, Dave Kinsey, David Ellis, Greg Lamarche, Jean-Pierre Roy, Oliver Vernon, Pema Rinzin, Richard Coleman, Riusuke Fukahori, Stephen Powers, Tomokazu Matsuyama and Tony Curanaj.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO VIEW LARGER

Clayton Brothers
Reality Waits for Natural Light series
Mixed media on canvas and wood panel
2013
various sizes

Clayton Brothers
Absurdity Shed's in Natural Light
Mixed media on canvas and wood panel
2013
100 x 40 in.

Kris Kuksi
Neo-Roman Opera House
Mixed media assemblage
2013
60 x 61 x 24 in.

Evan Hecox
Capitol
Acrylic and gouache on treated vintage newspaper
2013
30 x 44 in. (detail above, not full image)

Tiffany Bozic
Roots
Acrylic on maple panel
2013
32 x 22 in.

Ian Francis
Ritual
Acrylic, oil, pen, charcoal, pencil on canvas
2012
36 x 50 in.

Shawn Barber
Abstracted Self Portrait II
Oil on canvas
2013
40 x 66 in.

PS: Shawn Barber gained notoriety with his painterly portraits of tattoo'd people and body parts. Classically inspired with a street edge, these dark and moody portraits are time capsules documenting this age of tattoo frenzy like Fragonard's Rococo paintings documenting French hedonism. This particular painting marks not a departure but possibly a new step in his evolution as a painter. In this piece unlike previous ones, the abstracted figures are the stars here, not the tattoos. A layering of one figure? two? a menage a trois? If so, maybe he's been looking at Rococo work, too! Look at his earlier works, then come back and take some time with this one.