Brand New Gallery is delighted to present the first Italian solo-show by the American artist Joshua Abelow.

Abelow’s work is a disciplined exploration of the meaning of existence. Vacillating between abstraction and representation, his works become an autobiographical, critical and self-referential exercise filtrated through irony. His production conjugates painting and drawing, two distinct, yet interrelated disciplines. Through the use of color and  rigorous geometric compositions, the artist develops a process of self-constriction. His small and apparently spontaneous canvases conceal a methodic construction, which follows schematic rules on the possible combinations of colors, that Abelow marks on a notebook before reporting them on the back of the canvas. 

The mentioned structure becomes the unavoidable starting point of his works, carried out gradually, in multiple phases.

In antithesis to this rigorous practice, the author unleashes himself through his drawings, characterized by simplicity and immediacy. Diminishing the role of the artist-genius, Abelow jots down  crazy scribbles all in one go. The sense of freedom released by his sketches is revealed through the caustic representations that present a mocking autobiographical figure.

Fascinated by the paradox and influenced by the philosophical concept of the absurdity of existence, the artist denies logical communication and abandons himself to nonsense, repetitive and limited dialogues.

 

 

Joshua Abelow was born in 1976 in Frederick, Maryland. After having obtained a bachelor in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, in 2008 Abelow achieved an MFA at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where he won the Merit Scholarship Award. In 2007 he was invited to participate to the Actual Size Biennial of Detroit as well as having been included in artist residencies such as the Berlin Takt Kunstprojektraum in 2008. His work has been exhibited in internationally renowned galleries and museums including All in the Family, a group show at the Islip Art Museum of New York. James Fuentes devoted him the entire stand at the last edition of Frieze New York.

Not to be overlooked is Abelow's activity as writer and blogger. Art Blog Art Blog, updated on an almost daily basis, offers a meticulously curated selection of artwork and images, links and texts, which reflect today’s contemporary art scenario.