Union Square
07 Jul - 01 Aug 2008
UNION SQUARE
July 7th – August 1st, 2008
Opening reception: Thursday, July 10th 6-8pm
OUR SUMMER HOURS are Monday thru Friday 12 - 6
We don’t know whether this is a celebration or a lament.
But we do know we’ve found ourselves in dialogue with a strain of Modernism running from Malevich to Albers to Stella, and his former studio, (itself a former horse market) in Union Square.
It’s here that the rigor got perverted, by adding layers of complexity and chaos to the order. This is where the triumph of control starts to lose it to a shot of folk-art color, and an upgrade to the grand American scale.
In this place, there are sturdy steel pegs jutting from the unfinished brick walls, which once held aluminum monstrosities, bathed in afternoon sunlight by a soaring sky-lit roof.
Now, a new prefab glass storefront, hastily and cheaply installed seemingly for the sole purpose of adhering a blaring broker’s poster, guards a slightly pinched and sloping entryway. But like entering a cathedral, the dim introduction gives way to that glorious interior, rife with spirit. Our ideal. But for now, our faithful, slanting, townhouse in the Arts District will house an homage to our ideal. We’ve gathered seven young artists who’ve got the feeling of that place, are somehow bound to it –maybe for it.
Andrew Kuo graphs his emotional hardcore,
Josephine Halvorson takes a good long look
Macrae Semans makes sculptures of heartbreaking comedy
Daniel Lefcourt giveth and taketh away
Gianna Commito makes hard-edged rigor feel as strident as flags
Devon Costello references everything...ever
Jaya Howey knows the conflict that begat all of this
Gianna Commito lives and works in Kent, OH, and teaches painting at Kent State
University. She earned a BFA from Alfred University, New York in 1998 and an MFA from The University of Iowa in 2003. She has been included in group exhibitions such as Perfect Strangers, curated by John Lutz, Daily Operations, Brooklyn; Fall Selections: Non-Declarative Drawing, curated by Luis Camnitzer, The Drawing Center, New York; and Side by Side, curated by Ana Vejzovic, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland.
Dev on Costello is currently an artist in residence at the Städelschule, Frankfurt, Germany. He has had two solo exhibitions at Taxter & Spengemann. Costello received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2004. Recent group exhibitions include Accidental Modernism, curated by Christopher Eamon, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York; The Incomplete, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, and Beneath the Underdog, curated by Neville Wakefield and Nate Lowman, Gagosian Gallery, New York. Costello will be included in a group exhibition at Galerie Christine Mayer, Munich, in September 2008.
Josephine Halvorson has recently completed a year-long residency in Paris as a
Harriet Hale Woolley Fellow at the Fondation des États-Unis, Cité Universitaire.
Halvorson earned a BFA from The Cooper Union in 2003 and an MFA from Columbia University in 2007. She was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Vienna, Austria in 2003-04. Her work has been exhibited at the Monya Rowe Gallery in New York.
Jaya Howey has had three solo exhibitions at Taxter & Spengemann. Howey earned his BFA from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1999 and his MFA from Columbia University, New York in 2006. Since that time he has been included in several group exhibitions in New York.
Andrew Kuo earned his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence in 1999. Kuo’s most recent solo exhibition, What Me Worry, was in November 2007 at 33 Bond Gallery, New York. Recent group exhibitions include By Hand, Memphis College of Art, Memphis; Fourth Estate Editions, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, Brooklyn; Unwrapping the Wing, curated by Devon Dikeou, NinelOArts, Denver; Smoking Mirrors, China Art Objects, Los Angeles; and Yankee Doodle Flea Market, curated by James Fuentes, United Bamboo, Tokyo. Kuo’s work appears periodically in the Arts & Leisure section of the New York Times, most recently on Sunday, June 8th, 2008.
Daniel Lefcourt has had two solo exhibitions at Taxter & Spengemann. Lefcourt received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, in 1997 and his MFA from Columbia University, New York in 2007. In September 2007 he had a solo exhibition, Interim Agreement, at Sutton Lane, Paris. He will have another solo exhibition at Sutton Lane’s London location in November, 2008. Recent group exhibitions include Subject Index, curated by Gabrielle Giattino, Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, Sweden; A New High in Getting Low, John Connelly Presents, New York; Concrete works, curated by Walead Beshty, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York; and The Gold Standard, curated by Bob Nikas, PS 1 Contemporary Arts Center, Long Island City.
Macrae Semans has had two solo exhibitions at Taxter & Spengemann. He has an
upcoming solo at Anna Helwing Gallery, Los Angeles in October. Semans received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2001 and his MFA from the University of California Los Angeles in 2005. Semans currently is included in Waste Not, Want Not, at Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, on view through August 3rd, 2008. Recent group exhibitions include Past, Present, Future Perfect: Selections from the Ovitz Family Collection, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO; and Grupe, Gavin Brown Passerby, New York and Mandrake, Los Angeles.
July 7th – August 1st, 2008
Opening reception: Thursday, July 10th 6-8pm
OUR SUMMER HOURS are Monday thru Friday 12 - 6
We don’t know whether this is a celebration or a lament.
But we do know we’ve found ourselves in dialogue with a strain of Modernism running from Malevich to Albers to Stella, and his former studio, (itself a former horse market) in Union Square.
It’s here that the rigor got perverted, by adding layers of complexity and chaos to the order. This is where the triumph of control starts to lose it to a shot of folk-art color, and an upgrade to the grand American scale.
In this place, there are sturdy steel pegs jutting from the unfinished brick walls, which once held aluminum monstrosities, bathed in afternoon sunlight by a soaring sky-lit roof.
Now, a new prefab glass storefront, hastily and cheaply installed seemingly for the sole purpose of adhering a blaring broker’s poster, guards a slightly pinched and sloping entryway. But like entering a cathedral, the dim introduction gives way to that glorious interior, rife with spirit. Our ideal. But for now, our faithful, slanting, townhouse in the Arts District will house an homage to our ideal. We’ve gathered seven young artists who’ve got the feeling of that place, are somehow bound to it –maybe for it.
Andrew Kuo graphs his emotional hardcore,
Josephine Halvorson takes a good long look
Macrae Semans makes sculptures of heartbreaking comedy
Daniel Lefcourt giveth and taketh away
Gianna Commito makes hard-edged rigor feel as strident as flags
Devon Costello references everything...ever
Jaya Howey knows the conflict that begat all of this
Gianna Commito lives and works in Kent, OH, and teaches painting at Kent State
University. She earned a BFA from Alfred University, New York in 1998 and an MFA from The University of Iowa in 2003. She has been included in group exhibitions such as Perfect Strangers, curated by John Lutz, Daily Operations, Brooklyn; Fall Selections: Non-Declarative Drawing, curated by Luis Camnitzer, The Drawing Center, New York; and Side by Side, curated by Ana Vejzovic, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland.
Dev on Costello is currently an artist in residence at the Städelschule, Frankfurt, Germany. He has had two solo exhibitions at Taxter & Spengemann. Costello received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2004. Recent group exhibitions include Accidental Modernism, curated by Christopher Eamon, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York; The Incomplete, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, and Beneath the Underdog, curated by Neville Wakefield and Nate Lowman, Gagosian Gallery, New York. Costello will be included in a group exhibition at Galerie Christine Mayer, Munich, in September 2008.
Josephine Halvorson has recently completed a year-long residency in Paris as a
Harriet Hale Woolley Fellow at the Fondation des États-Unis, Cité Universitaire.
Halvorson earned a BFA from The Cooper Union in 2003 and an MFA from Columbia University in 2007. She was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Vienna, Austria in 2003-04. Her work has been exhibited at the Monya Rowe Gallery in New York.
Jaya Howey has had three solo exhibitions at Taxter & Spengemann. Howey earned his BFA from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1999 and his MFA from Columbia University, New York in 2006. Since that time he has been included in several group exhibitions in New York.
Andrew Kuo earned his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence in 1999. Kuo’s most recent solo exhibition, What Me Worry, was in November 2007 at 33 Bond Gallery, New York. Recent group exhibitions include By Hand, Memphis College of Art, Memphis; Fourth Estate Editions, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, Brooklyn; Unwrapping the Wing, curated by Devon Dikeou, NinelOArts, Denver; Smoking Mirrors, China Art Objects, Los Angeles; and Yankee Doodle Flea Market, curated by James Fuentes, United Bamboo, Tokyo. Kuo’s work appears periodically in the Arts & Leisure section of the New York Times, most recently on Sunday, June 8th, 2008.
Daniel Lefcourt has had two solo exhibitions at Taxter & Spengemann. Lefcourt received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, in 1997 and his MFA from Columbia University, New York in 2007. In September 2007 he had a solo exhibition, Interim Agreement, at Sutton Lane, Paris. He will have another solo exhibition at Sutton Lane’s London location in November, 2008. Recent group exhibitions include Subject Index, curated by Gabrielle Giattino, Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, Sweden; A New High in Getting Low, John Connelly Presents, New York; Concrete works, curated by Walead Beshty, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York; and The Gold Standard, curated by Bob Nikas, PS 1 Contemporary Arts Center, Long Island City.
Macrae Semans has had two solo exhibitions at Taxter & Spengemann. He has an
upcoming solo at Anna Helwing Gallery, Los Angeles in October. Semans received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2001 and his MFA from the University of California Los Angeles in 2005. Semans currently is included in Waste Not, Want Not, at Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, on view through August 3rd, 2008. Recent group exhibitions include Past, Present, Future Perfect: Selections from the Ovitz Family Collection, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO; and Grupe, Gavin Brown Passerby, New York and Mandrake, Los Angeles.