Jacob Kassay
July 21 - September 2, 2011
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L&M Arts, Los Angeles is proud to present a new body of work by Jacob Kassay. This is the artists’ first solo show on the West Coast. In this exhibition, Kassay continues his dialogue with color field and minimal painting, while additionally considering and creating a unique environment for these works to inhabit.
Kassay’s previous silver paintings used depth, light and relief to activate the spaces they were presented in. These shimmering surfaces have a surprising yet deliberate absence of reflection as well as hints of deposit where the silver oxidized to reveal brown, reminiscent of Yves Klein’s fire paintings. Here the new work also surprises with groupings of canvases in blush tones and pure silver deposit, using similar minimal restraint yet differing in scale, shape and tonal variation. New to the work is that its purpose and placement is meant to suggest dancers in a ballet studio or a choreographed performance. A large silver work on paper with a ballet barre placed in front of it operates as a visual anchor with the smaller works dancing around it.
This installation conceit engages Kassay’s interest in artist collaborations such as Rauschenberg and Johns designing sets for Merce Cunningham performances and an abundant history of multi media collaborations. It evokes these ideas, but also takes into consideration the gallery as a place for practice, repetition and the natural gradients provided by the light, the white walls and the work itself.
Jacob Kassay was born in 1984 and raised in Buffalo, NY. He received his BFA from the State University of New York, Buffalo. Solo shows include Art:Concept, Paris; Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy; Eleven Rivington, New York; and Kitchen Distribution, Buffalo, New York. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
This exhibition is in cooperation with Eleven Rivington, New York.
