FOR 7-6

STUBBORN MATERIALS AT PETER BLUM

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NEW YORK CITY — Peter Blum is presenting the exhibition “Stubborn Materials: Larry Bamburg, Jonah Freeman/Michael Phelan, Nick Herman, Rosy Keyser, Jutta Koether, Ian Pedigo and Heather Rowe,” on view through August 25.

“Stubborn Materials” features eight New York-based artists who use materials in a paradoxical manner in order to reinvigorate the interpretive possibilities of abstract art. These artists place attention  on a particular detail or an overlooked element as a means to reorient the reading of the work. Their formal decisions investigate the metaphoric and narrative potential of materials.

Bamburg’s kinetic installation combines swirling fishing lines, scraps of paper and an electric ceiling fan. Pedigo’s sculptures and two-dimensional works are made from found and reclaimed debris. Rowe probes architectural modules and fragments. Diverging components such as industrially produced materials are set into a relational structure with decorative elements like mirrors, producing an extended narrative about how individuals negotiate space.

Koether’s punk-poetic paintings play with the tension between pictorial surfaces and applied materials, and form a complex yet straightforward layering of expressive abstractions. This translation of exterior references and connotations into a gestural language can also be seen in Keyser’s large-scale paintings.

Herman’s sculptural and two-dimensional objects are studies in cultural archeology, addressing questions of geology, anthropology and sociology through formal strategies. Freeman and Phelan’s large prints are scans of crumpled aluminum foil. The precision of these images suggests an expansive landscape; this allusion, however, is contrasted by the matter-of-factness of the actual material.

The gallery, which is at 526 West 29th Street, will be closed the first three weeks in August. For information, www.peterblumgallery.com or 212-244-6055.