Natalie Alper Tim McFarlane Diane Simpson Larry Webb N C O R Natalie Alper U Tim McFarlane R C Diane Simpson Larry Webb N E T Edited by Dan Mills 2008 © Samek Art Gallery Bucknell University ISBN# 0-916279-25-1 Curators Robert Bridges Nancy Einreinhofer Paul Krainak Dan Mills Kristina Olson Sam Yates Project Directors Dan Mills Sam Yates EXHIBITION SCHEDULE November 7 – December 13, 2008 Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN February 2 – March 6, 2009 University Galleries William Paterson University Wayne, NJ August 17 –September 25, 2009 Heuser Art Center Gallery and the Hartmann Center Art Gallery Bradley University Peoria, IL October 15 – December 11, 2009 Mesaros Galleries West Virginia University Morgantown, WV June 14 –August 10, 2010 Lehigh University Art Galleries Bethlehem, PA August 23 –October 3, 2010 Samek Art Gallery Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Sam Yates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Natalie Alper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 –16 Natalie Alper: Form, Flux, and Paradox in Painting Dr. Nancy Einreinhofer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 –16 Plates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 12, 15, 16 Tim McFarlane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 –24 Tim McFarlane: Discover Connect Collide Dan Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 –24 Plates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 21, 22, 24 Diane Simpson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 –32 Diane Simpson: Form Over Form Paul Krainak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Plates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27, 28, 31, 32 Larry Webb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Larry Webb: Working the Margin Kristina Olson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Plates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 37, 38, 40 Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Artist Biographies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Exhibition Checklist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 6 INTRODUCTION Sam Yates Director of the Ewing Gallery of Art & Architecture, University of Tennessee and Co-Project Director, Concurrent “The adventurous state of mind is a high house. To enjoy life the adventurous state of mind must be grasped and maintained. The essential feature of adventure is that it is a going forward into unknown territory. The joy of adventure is unaccountable. This is the attractiveness of art work. It is adventurous, strenuous and joyful.” — Agnes Martin With this “adventurous state of mind,” Dan Mills proposed an exhibition of a select few artists who had devoted their careers to abstraction and who had been making strong, consistent, and highly developed bodies of work for a number of years. It was also decided to include artists from different geographic locations whose work represented distinct individualistic, yet compatible, approaches to achieving that “joy of adventure” that abstraction can provide. Finally, so that the gallery visitor can have an in-depth experience of the work on view, only four artists were invited to participate in this exhibition titled Concurrent.The artists include a sculptor from Chicago, Diane Simpson; and three painters: Larry Webb, New York City; Tim McFarlane, Philadelphia; and Natalie Alper, Boston and New York City. Upon contacting colleagues at other venues to invite their participation in the project, a novel curatorial approach was developed. A representative of four of the participating venues would arrange a studio visit with one of the artists and then write an essay and make the final selection of the works to be included in the ex- hibition (Mills and/or I had visited each studio previously). Dr. Nancy Einreinhofer, Director of the University Galleries, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ, visited Natalie Alper; Kristina Olson, Art Historian, and Robert Bridges, Curator of the Mesaros Galleries and West Virginia Art Collection, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, visited Larry Webb; Paul Krainak, Chair, Department of Art, Bradley University, Peoria, IL, visited Diane Simpson; and Dan Mills, Director of the Samek Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, vis- ited Tim McFarlane. The curators also selected several drawings by each artist that provide insight into four distinct dialogues between primary media and works on paper. Concurrentnot only showcases the work of four different accomplished artists, but also, the insightful and thoughtful essays of four distinguished writers. If there is a common link between the artists, (who have never met each other) it is the impact of the urban environment on their art, whether it is in Chicago, Boston, New York, or Philadelphia. Abstraction seems a most appropriate vehicle for capturing the essence of the urban experience — silence verses noise, horizontal verses vertical, calm verses energy, order verses chaos. “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” — Aristotle 7 8 Natalie Alper