WATERCOLOR

NEWS RELEASE


Major exhibition
WATERCOLOR
New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture
8 West 8th Street, New York NY 10011
October 15 to November 16, 2003 - Monday-Saturday, 10-6

Al Held PARTICULAR PARADOX 26, 1999, watercolor on paper mounted on board,
49½ x 35½ inches, courtesy Robert Miller Gallery, New York

The Artists
Avigdor ARIKHA, Georg BASELITZ, Ross BLECKNER, Janet BOULTON, Bernard CHAET, Francesco CLEMENTE, Marlene DUMAS, Garth EVANS, Janet FISH, the late Andrew FORGE, Suzan FRECON, Jacqueline GOUREVITCH, Al HELD, Donald HOLDEN, Ray KASS, the late Ken KIFF, Per KIRKEBY, Markus LUPERTZ, Melissa MEYER, Malcolm MORLEY, Steven MUELLER, Graham NICKSON, Senam OKUDZETO, Philip PEARLSTEIN, Elizabeth PEYTON, Sylvia PLIMACK MANGOLD, Robert RAUSCHENBERG, Paul RESIKA, Gerhard RICHTER, Dorothea ROCKBURNE, David SALLE, Sean SCULLY, Susan SHATTER, Shahzia SIKANDER, Eve SONNEMAN, Ena SWANSEA, Patricia TABACCO FORRESTER, Fulvio TESTA, Wayne THIEBAUD, and William TILLYER.

The New York Studio School will present WATERCOLOR, an exhibition of recent works by forty contemporary artists that challenges received ideas about the nature and practice of the medium. This groundbreaking survey, international in scope and unprejudiced in terms of style, subject matter and genre, reveals the boldness, scale and strident nature of watercolor in current usage.

Monumental pieces by artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Philip Pearlstein and Al Held test the usual properties of the medium and confront any lingering perception of watercolor as a quaint or ethereal medium inherently suited to illustration or topography.

Some of the artists, like Francesco Clemente and Melissa Meyer, have made watercolor a principal medium of expression, whereas for others, like Malcolm Morley and David Salle, watercolor represents a lesser-known aspect of their artistic personality.

Watercolor is one of the most ancient mediums. It is also one of the most intrinsically experimental. In making studio visits in preparation for this show, the curators constantly encountered admissions from artists that they were never trained in watercolor, that they worked out how to use the medium on their own. The exhibition reveals the broad range of possibilities in watercolor.

WATERCOLOR celebrates diversity at all levels, artistic and personal, bringing together artists of different generations, nationalities and milieux. Europeans selected for the exhibition include Georg Baselitz, Markus Lüpertz and Gerhard Richter from Germany, Per Kirkeby from Denmark, Avigdor Arikha from France, Marlene Dumas from Holland, and Janet Boulton, the late Ken Kiff, Ghanian-born Senam Okudzeto and William Tillyer from the UK.


The curators are David Cohen, Gallery Director of the New York Studio School, Graham Nickson, the Dean, and Susan Shatter. Nickson and Shatter are also exhibitors. Susan Shatter comments: "It amazes me that watercolor with all its traditional and experimental possibilities retains a secondary status in the world of painting. This exhibition will reassert the equality of the medium."

Philip Pearlstein STUDY FOR TWO MODELS WITH FAN IN FRONT, 1999, watercolor on paper,
40¼ x 59 7/8 inches, courtesy Robert Miller Gallery, New York

Publication
The exhibition will be accompanied by an online catalogue, a major publication of over one hundred web pages, reproducing all the works in the exhibition in full color, with comparative illustrations, biographical information, and critical discussion about each artist. There will also be two feature presentations providing study aids to the history of watercolor: a dialogue between art historians Bernice Rose and David Cohen on the changing nature of watercolor in the Twentieth Century, and a "slide show" of masterpieces of American watercolor in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum of Art conducted by curator Barbara Gallati and conservator Antoinette Owen.

Panel Discussions
There will be a program of three panel discussions in consecutive weeks, as detailed below. In addition, students will offer guided tours on Fridays during the course of the exhibition at 1.15pm.

Monday October 28, at 6.30pm
Moderator: Graham Nickson
Janet Fish, Malcolm Morley, Philip Pearlstein, Paul Resika

Thursday November 7, at 6.30pm
Moderator: Susan Shatter
Donald Holden, Ray Kass, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Steven Mueller

Thursday November 14, at 6.30pm
Moderator: David Cohen
Ross Bleckner, Garth Evans, Melissa Meyer, Dorothea Rockburne

Sponsorship
The New York Studio School is very proud to announce the sponsorship of the exhibition, WATERCOLOR, by Artnet.com. Artnet's sponsorship will take the form of three spots during the four weeks of the exhibition run under the review section of Artnet magazine, and a banner announcing their support of the show. Each article will consist of a short appreciation (or critique) of a single image in the show, by a different author. These articles will accumulate into their own distinct archive. Furthermore, they will link to the artist's individual page at the Studio School's Online catalogue.

Additional support for WATERCOLOR is provided by Joan and Roger Sonnabend.

Please find enclosed the schedule of exhibitions at the New York Studio School for the 2002-03 season.


For further information and images, please contact Gallery Director David Cohen on 212 673 6466 extension 126 or dcohen@nyss.org

 

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