HIGHLIGHT: New Canaan An exhibition of emerging artists based in New York City and Los Angeles

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1 FOR RELEASE MARCH 28, 2017 Contact: Gwen North Reiss 1037 Silvermine Road New Canaan, CT HIGHLIGHT: New Canaan An exhibition of emerging artists based in New York City and Los Angeles Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, Connecticut Saturday, April 22 Sunday, May 7, 2017 Opening Reception: Saturday, April 22 nd, 6:30-8:30pm Eric Shaw, Gaining Speed, Acrylic on canvas, 25 x 25 and 8 x 54 ; Devin Troy Strother, Ohhh, That s just my Guurrrlll Palameena, Acrylic and auto-body paint on aluminum. 40 x 67 x 12 ; Elizabeth Cooper, Untitled, Oil and enamel on canvas. 36 x 52. NEW CANAAN, CT, March 28, 2017 Silvermine Arts Center is pleased to present Highlight: New Canaan. This exhibition is guest-curated by Paul Efstathiou, a secondgeneration art dealer and recent Southport resident, and organized by Eleanor Flatow, an art consultant and New Canaan resident. The show runs from April 22 nd to May 7 th with an opening reception on April 22 nd at 6:30pm. Highlight: New Canaan, the sequel to Efstathiou s successful Hollis Taggart Galleries Show, Highlight: Summer One, unites eleven professional contemporary artists based in New York City and Los Angeles. Each artist has had noteworthy exhibitions, has forthcoming shows and has been highlighted and reviewed by national and/or international art publications. Efstathiou brings them together to create a dynamic and diverse show, in accordance with Silvermine s 96-year history of showcasing such innovative artists as Elaine de Kooning, Mary Frank, Helen Frankenthaler, Sol LeWitt. Alice Neel, Louise Nevelson, Richard Pousette-Dart, and James Rosenquist connecting the community to broader discussions and explorations occurring in the art world. For many of the artists this will be their debut exhibition in Connecticut, and it is Efstathiou s first curated Connecticut show. All of the artists employ a wide and disparate range of processes using modern technologies and/or unusual materials while addressing different themes. Some rely on social commentary and personal revelations to tell a story, while others explore visual deceptions and various dichotomies. Each 1

2 challenges and gleans from historical genres including Abstract Expressionism, Color field, Comic art, Inuit art, Minimalism, Pop art, and Surrealism. The results are thoughtprovoking compositions that represent the finest examples of today s Generation X and Millennial artists. Noteworthy techniques and materials include Marcel Dzama s use of ink concocted of root beer to simulate the color of blood. He creates sinister characters in the midst of dramatic and disturbing scenes. Elizabeth Cooper pours, splashes and splatters dazzling acrylics onto a meticulously prepared monochromatic surface. She finishes the work with enamel to create a sleek and polished tour de force of abstraction. Ted Gahl s canvases thinly conceal reproduced childhood drawings; his compositions are not just a paradigm in abstraction but also powerful, meditative and personal revelations. John Knuth, the true alchemist, transforms flyspeck or lighted nautical distress flares into modern-day paintbrushes to create his abstract works. Evan Robarts uses a mop to smear plaster across linoleum floor tiles to create monochromatic paintings elevating commonplace objects and actions. Modern day da Vincis Eric Shaw and Anne Vieux use a combination of technology, smartphone applications, and traditional processes to create bold abstractions that explore the dichotomy of digital versus physical. Eric Shaw begins his works by sketching on his smartphone and then translating the designs to canvas, painted by hand with acrylics. His formalized paintings explode with color. Anne Vieux s complicated process of using technology, hand finishing and printing on suede creates fresh and colorful kaleidoscopic works. Masters of precision and illusion Matt Mignanelli and Corydon Cowansage play with depth perception and perspective. Mignanelli paints stacks of repetitive geometric shapes that appear to be produced mechanically; however, the visible drips reveal the painter s freehand style and playful deception. Distortions in the patterns encourage the viewer to toggle between two and three dimensions. Cowansage depicts an ordinary surface, grass, as mysterious and fantastic through the use of a highly magnified interpretation, color and unusual viewpoints. Lastly, experts of social commentary William Buchina and Devin Troy Strother produce works that, although very different in their techniques, address political or racial themes. Influenced by Victorian etchings and modern day comics, Buchina s paintings depicting mysterious characters are densely packed in the artist s dramatic, dystopian, and politically-charged pageants. Devin Troy Strother creates masterful and eccentric compositions that draw deeply from Black culture and identity. His titles are delivered like punch lines, and his work has a sculptural and austere beauty. Strother s exuberant collage constructions have the abstract physicality of Matisse s cutouts. This exhibition is made possible by the generosity of our sponsors. Lead Exhibition Sponsors: James and Amy Bennett Foundation, New Beauty Wellness. Exhibition Sponsors: The Boyd Law Group, PLLC, O Neill s Tree Care, Inc., Fatou Niang of William Pitt Sotheby s International Realty. Sponsors: elm restaurant, Red Grape Wine & Spirits, Jeffrey and Catharine Sturgess, Vista Beverage. 2

3 Paul Efstathiou, Guest Curator Paul Efstathiou has been working as an art dealer in New York City for over a decade. He made his curatorial debut with Highlight: Summer One at Hollis Taggart Galleries in Chelsea, NYC. Artnet News included the show in its Editors Picks: 9 Art Events to see in New York This Week. More information about Paul Efstathiou and Highlight: Summer One can be found at Eleanor Flatow, Art Consultant Most recently as Executive Co-Director of the Carriage Barn Arts Center in New Canaan, Connecticut, Eleanor Flatow organized, promoted and co-curated over 16 art exhibitions. Her background in the worlds of for-profit fine art, financial services and not-for-profit institutions informs her work as an entrepreneur in the arts. Currently, she advises artists and art collectors while also assisting not-for-profit art organizations with exhibition development and management. Silvermine Arts Center s mission is to provide experiences that expand the mind, nourish the soul and connect people through the universal language of art. A nearly 100-year-old, 501(c) (3) organization, Silvermine is comprised of a Guild of over 300 professional artists; five galleries presenting new exhibitions every six weeks and sponsoring prestigious regional and national competitions; a School of Art providing a wide range of classes for all levels of experience from ages 2 to 102; public programs; and outreach programs in the Norwalk and Stamford schools. As Fairfield County s preeminent visual arts center, Silvermine welcomes annually more than 4,500 enrollments at the School of Art and 12,000 visitors to the award-winning galleries. The center provides its artist members, faculty, students and visitors with a common location where they can share ideas, work on projects, teach, explore new areas and grow in their creativity and talents. ### 3

4 Eric Shaw, Gaining Speed, Acrylic on canvas. 25 x 25 inches and 8 x 54 inches. Elizabeth Cooper, Untitled, Oil and enamel on canvas. 36 x 52 inches. 4

5 Ted Gahl, TWAIN '89 (EXIT LEFT), Acrylic, graphite, enamel on canvas. 72 x 48 inches. 5

6 John Knuth, The Indefinite Sunset, Acrylic/flyspeck on canvas. 48 x 36 inches. Marcel Dzama, Dreamers, Dancers and Drinkers, What the Prophecy Failed to Mention, Ink and gouache on paper. 14 x 11 inches. 6

7 Matt Mignanelli, Arpeggio, Enamel and acrylic on canvas.48 x 72 inches. Corydon Cowansage, Grass #64, Acrylic on canvas. 84 x 70 inches. 7

8 Anne Vieux, Cut/Copy, Acrylic, dye sublimation print on textured polyester, artist's frame x 51.5 inches. Evan Robarts, Tenant 6B, Hydrocal on VCT tile mounted to wood panel. 48 x 36 x 2 inches. 8

9 Devin Troy Strother, Ohhh, That s just my Guurrrlll Palameena, Acrylic and autobody paint on aluminum. 40 x 67 x 12 inches. William Buchina, Assembling for Certain Reasons: Watching the Cutting of the Object on the Table, Acrylic on canvas. 44 x 44 inches. 9