Please join Hollis Taggart for a panel discussion with contemporary artists William Buchina, Elizabeth Cooper, Hiroya Kurata, Matt Mignanelli, and Matt Phillips, developed in conjunction with the gallery’s current exhibition Highlight: Chelsea. Moderated by exhibition curator Paul Efstathiou and gallery founder Hollis Taggart, the discussion will explore the development of each artist’s practice and the formal and conceptual inquiries that guide their work.

Tuesday, October 23, 2018
6:30 PM
Hollis Taggart
521 W. 26th Street, 1st Fl

The panel discussion will be followed by a reception at the gallery, providing additional opportunity to engage with the artists, curator, and gallery leadership one-on-one. The event is part of Hollis Taggart’s expansion of its contemporary program, in line with its vision to provide a platform for emerging and under-recognized artists. Additional information about the participating artists and Highlight: Chelsea follow below.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP at 212.628.4000 or rsvp@hollistaggart.com. SEATS ARE LIMITED

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William Buchina’s acrylic and ink paintings incorporate images and symbols from a wide and disparate range of sources. Together, they form absurd and eerie dreamscapes that concurrently suggest and obscure social and political commentaries. Characterized by a graphic quality and rich use of color, the paintings draw the viewer into Buchina’s strange and compelling worlds.
 
Elizabeth Cooper’s paintings draw on the language of Abstract Expressionism, as she pours, splashes, and splatters her multi-colored oil paints atop swaths of flat monochromatic color fields. Although referential to the past, Cooper’s keen eye for color contrasts and use of neons and pastels make her canvases appear more like contemporary advertisements, with an engaging freshness and vibrancy.

Hiroya Kurata’s paintings combine representations of found imagery with those of personal remembrances, creating scenes that feel at once familiar and strangely disconcerting. Referencing the visual language of cartoons and landscape paintings, Kurata explores the conception and emotion of nostalgia.

Matt Mignanelli’s paintings explore the tension between expressionistic, painterly brushstrokes and the geometric precision of urban plans and architectural forms. Appearing almost as duos, with one side capturing a strict repetition of line and the other freedom of gesture, the works suggest an untenable divide, as the two aspects begin to meld at the center and are connected by the use of deep, saturated color.

Matt Phillips’s softly-colored abstract compositions draw inspiration from a range of sources, including maps, quilts, and architectural forms, and develop organically as he moves across the canvas. Using his self-created water-based paint, Phillips melds the boundaries between color and canvas, as the paint absorbs deeply into the canvas uniting them.

Highlight: Chelsea
Highlight: Chelsea features new and recent work by thirteen emerging and mid-career artists that together underscore the formal and conceptual diversity of contemporary practice. Highlight: Chelsea is guest curated by Paul Efstathiou and marks the gallery’s second collaboration with the independent curator, as it expands its contemporary program. The exhibition includes new work by William Buchina, Elizabeth Cooper, Corydon Cowansage, André Hemer, Hiroya Kurata, John Knuth, Matt Mignanelli, Matt Phillips, Esther Ruiz, Eric Shaw, and Devin Troy Strother, as well as recent works by Marcel Dzama and Brenda Goodman. Highlight: Chelsea emphasizes the featured artists’ distinct styles and approaches, while also creating dynamic aesthetic juxtapositions and parallels between them. Highlight: Chelsea is on view through October 27, 2018.