Fragments of Time and Space
Dai Ban, Anthony Finta, Ginny Fox, Carl Grauer, and Joseph Maresca
September 29, 2021 through November 21, 2021
Carrie Haddad Gallery is pleased to present “Fragments of Time and Space” an exhibit of paintings by Anthony Finta, Ginny Fox, Carl Grauer, Joseph Maresca, and abstract wall sculpture by Dai Ban. The artists in this show react to constantly changing elements such as light and shadow, nature’s seasons, or height and depth perceptions. Using abstracted observations, as well as more literal depictions, the works on view challenge our relationships to time and space. “Fragments of Time and Space” will be on view September 29th – November 21st with a reception for the artists on Saturday, October 2nd from 5-7pm.
Carl Grauer explores spatio-temporal themes in a new body of work started in the autumn of 2020. Like so many of us on lock down riding out the surges of the pandemic, Grauer retreated to nature near his home and studio in Poughkeepsie, NY. He used this time to slow down and mindfully observe the “minutia of leaves, moving clouds, and the time of day giving up its fight for the night”. Describing a new series of landscapes organized by a grid structure, the artist explains “I paint a perspective that tracks change, point of view, and these fourth-dimensional observations on a two-dimensional surface with oils.” Among the featured paintings is “Coniferous Sky”, a 5-foot painting detailing a dramatic representation of a pine tree documented in time over 35 days between November 2020 to March 2021. The trunk and its branches stand unchanged, dominating a sky that has been cleverly segmented to track shifting clouds and the rise and fall of daylight. Originally from rural Kansas, Grauer received his MFA in medical illustration from the University of Michigan. He was shortlisted for the 2015 Wells Art Contemporary Award in the UK and exhibiting with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in London. In 2019, he was awarded an artist residency at Blue Mountain Center and this year alone has been featured in celebrated groups shows at The Samuel Dorsky Museum and the Albany International Airport Gallery.
After many years of living in the Bronx, Ginny Fox recently moved back to the Upper West Side of Manhattan very close to the Hudson River. The confluence of these tidal waters, its rocky environs and various architectural structures have become a renewed source of inspiration for her work. Fox’s subtle paintings on wooden panel merge textures and colors of organic and fabricated materials. Through a process of layering and removing paint with rags instead of brushes, her work references random markings on stone, light raking across water and sky, or the open weave of moss-covered earth. A native New Yorker, Ginny Fox graduated from NYU and has primarily exhibited her work in galleries in Chelsea and Bushwick. She has been represented by Carrie Haddad Gallery since 2016.
Joseph Maresca references the pioneers of modernist architecture when it comes to representing extreme clarity and simplicity in art and design. As a student of Industrial Design in his formative years, Maresca has long admired the aesthetics associated with the Dutch Neoplasticism movement started in the Netherlands in the early 20th century. The defining characteristics of this period, such as a limited palette and strict use of straight horizontal and vertical lines, are central to Maresca’s approach. This exhibit presents a series of small paintings of iconic buildings with titles like Mies, Corbusier and Breur, named after the architects themselves. Painted in black, white, and primary colors, Maresca embraces the minimal framework of structural order balanced against unobstructed, free flowing space. Joseph Maresca was born in Brooklyn, NY and received his BFA from Pratt Institute and an MFA in Painting from NYU. He currently lives in Rhinecliff, NY and has been showing with Carrie Haddad since the early 2000s.
Berkshire, MA based artist, Dai Ban, will present a new series of wall sculpture built from geometric planes of foam board, Venetian plaster, pigments, and beeswax. The artist takes a more fluid approach to minimalist design by avoiding intentional thought and allowing the form to freely come into being from a “deep subconscious reservoir”. Beginning with a maquette, Ban experiments with angled foam board, constructing it into countless iterations until it appropriately captures ephemeral moments or feelings. After being distilled into something purely abstract, the sculptures’ sentimental nature is hinted at with titles like “Waiting for the Storm to Pass”, “Shy Little Brother”, or “Please Leave Us Alone”. Dai Ban received his education from Musashino Art University in Tokyo and currently lives in the Berkshires. The artist has been represented by the gallery since 2016.
For Anthony Finta’s inaugural exhibit with the gallery, the Clermont, NY based artist will exhibit a recent series of abstract paintings on canvas that rework familiar views like aerial landscapes, fields, or architectural facades. Freeing these points of reference from literal interpretation, the artist breaks down forms into grids of color that range from complementary pastel tones to vivid, nearly raw pigments - plotting each composition with pencil or charcoal lines and drawing that is often altered and reworked over months or even years with layered applications of oil and enamel until the final juxtaposition is just right. Born in Neptune, NJ, Finta attended The School of Visual Arts in the early 90’s, spending his final year in the sculpture studio after initially concentrating on painting. He moved to the Hudson Valley in 2013 from Florence, Italy and now paints full-time.
