Like Chocolate and Peanut Butter
Mindy Solomon is pleased to present gallery artist John Gill and newcomer Russell Tyler in their first artistic collaboration Like Chocolate and Peanut Butter. Gill brings his vibrant sculptural “three dimensional paintings” to play with the works of abstractionist Russell Tyler. The sympatico of their artistry is reminiscent of the delicious combination of chocolate and peanut butter.
Gill states: “The plasticity of the art-form. Throbbing resonance. Invite the bell to sing. The knowledge of clay that’s moved through my hands, the history of ceramics, the interaction of lyrics and stories. World traveling through the portal of the moment. I used to tell my students applying for grad school- ‘if the only thing you pack is your socks you’re not going very far.”
“My suitcase is very well packed. In the studio with my favorite traveling companions, listening to stories and musicals, sharing dreams. My work is like the mesh fluff in the drier after it’s done its job. Scraps stitched together to become a quilt. Color on the beach. Shadow of the hand railing on the stairs. Fire on the mountain. Pots love to hold ideas. Could you do it this way? How about right now?!”.
Russell Tyler’s recent work methodically explores distinct formal variations in his paintings, from gestural abstractions to spacey landscapes. He has been developing these styles alongside of the geometric abstractions he was originally known for. The exhibition will consist of varying sizes exemplifying his different approaches. Russell’s work refers to how experiencing these paintings as a total group reveals their unique characteristics and catalyzes a deeper visual experience of the paintings in relation to one another. Tyler’s sensuous, expressive painting style belies the fact that his work is highly structured and unfolds with deliberate shifts in color and form. While Tyler’s work shows the influence of iconic abstract artists of the twentieth century such as Josef Albers and Philip Guston, his work is also unmistakably of its time, formed in an age when daily visual experience takes place in digital space and painting has to assert its immediacy.
Placing Gill and Tyler in proximity to one another showcases the importance of color on surface highlighting the interplay of pigmented vibrations and how one color informs the next. Tyler fluctuates between the square and rectangular motif, as well as other paintings that appear to float and jump with gestural brush marks through space. Gill’s work also reflects these transitions in mark making; solid shapes segued into looser forms embracing sculptural undulations on the clay surface. In both cases, each artist respects the boundaries of the objects, forcing the viewer to examine all of the surfaces within. The visual interplay of these masters of their medium creates a dynamic and exciting exhibition.
About John Gill And Russell Tyler
John Gill is a ceramic artist and educator. Gill is a professor of Ceramic Art at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. A member of the Council of the International Academy of Ceramics, he has travelled and lectured throughout the US, Canada and China. His work has been shown at the L.A.County Museum of Art; Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York City; Harvey Meadows Gallery, Aspen; Kraushaar Gallery, New York City; Revolution Gallery, Detroit, Michigan; Yossi Milo Gallery, New York City and Hadler Rodriquez Gallery in New York.
Gill’s work is held in the permanent collections of numerous art museums including the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Newark Museum, New Jersey, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gill’s work will be included in the upcoming exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, Shapes From Out of Nowhere. His work is featured on the cover of the catalog.
Russell Tyler (b. 1981, Summertown, TN) received his MFA from Pratt Institute (Brooklyn) and his BFA from Concordia University (Montreal). Previous solo exhibitions include The Hole (New York), Andersen’s Contemporary (Copenhagen), Richard Heller (Los Angeles), Ribordy Contemporary (Geneva), Galerie Bernard Ceysson (Paris), among others. Tyler has been included in group exhibitions at institutions and galleries including Savannah College of Art and Design, the Torrance Art Museum, New Britain Museum of American Art, Anonymous Gallery, Retrospective Gallery, among others. Reviews and features on his work have been written in Artforum, Hyperallergic, Modern Painters, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, NY Arts Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail and Le Monde.