A collaborative exhibition of works by UK, London artists exhibiting in New York: Nazir Tanbouli, Martin Edwards, Rebecca Fontaine-Wolf, Gail Sagman, Harald Winter & Ireneo Frizzarin

Private View at Æ Studios LIC, New York: Saturday 7th of November 2009 - 19:00 - 23:00
Exhibition runs from: Saturday 7th to 14th of November 2009
Gallery Opening Hours:11:00 - 17:00

London versus New York: A competitive race that has been increasingly happening since the 1960.
Both places have made known emerging talent over the decades, yet each different in approach, style and trend-setting have shown to the world that contemporary art is alive and kicking. p style=”text-align: justify;”>From Andy Warhole to David Hockney many have shown in the UK and across the Atlantic. This forthcoming exhibition brings to the fore the most cutting edge of talent from the UK, challenging as well as complementing trends in the US and especially New York. Even if the death of ‘Brit-Art’ has been heralded for a while, it does not mean that British contemporary art is dead. On the contrary, it has survived well and beyond this short yet intense period of movement. London as well as New York is a melting pot of diverse, contemporary art forms where the artists even though originating from various ethnic backgrounds have found enduring and creative homes. This show is a culmination of the latter indicating where the art world is going. London artists want to show NY where they are heading, trying to find common ground as well as stimulation and a challenge.

Well, NY you better be aware; there is a new storm brewing from across the pond! (Jack Hutchinson, critic & artist, 2009)

Exhibiting Artists’ statements:

Nazir Tanbouli: His art is critical and social. He uses his imagery highlighting contemporary issues as well as inviting debate. Over the past five years he has continually explored the idea of mythology and narrative through a number of series of drawings and paintings. His work addresses the mythological experience of transformation: From reconfiguring ancient sources such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, or Ovid’s Metamorphoses to observation of modern life, he regurgitates a world that is deeply personal, yet tinged with elements of the mythic, domestic disquiet and the strangeness of present day living. His paintings express vivid dreams that on closer inspection turn into nightmares. They reflect of a blurred reality between myth and a diffused, yet excessive media consumption that is devoured by fast and isolated life styles. Tanbouli has widely exhibited in the UK and has several times been issued grants by the Arts Council for site specific work and installations in the Midlands.

Martin David Edwards: A London based photographer, he draws his inspiration from modern abstract art to explore form, colour and scale in his work. His most recent collection of photographs is a premiere of his series “Carnivale.” These draw inspiration from the Venetian Carnival, which takes place every year in February in Venice. Edwards worked with a team of dancers and a makeup artist to create works of fluidity and movement, using authentic carnival masks.
The series “Carnivale” follows two exhibitions, “Colours” in March 2009 and “Made-up” in July 2009. Further details on Martin’s work are available at www.formcolourandscale.com. He can be contacted at martin@formcolourandscale.com

Rebecca Fontaine-Wolf: Image, beauty and identity are her key interests, which she works with by exploring the human figure. Especially focused on the female form as images of feminine beauty, she is both captivated and terrorized by it. These images have shaped and determined not only the person she is today, but also the subject matter of her practice. They are like points of departure that jettison into zones of feeling; by applying colour, texture and layering to surface and canvas, she works with oils and other media, exploring through paint, form, texture and application a way of working through her own notions of the self and the other. Fontaine-Wolf has exhibited UK-wide as well as in Hungary and has had several of her works commissioned by private individuals.
Gail Sagman: Her vast body of work spanning 30 years introduces the viewer to the artist’s life-long passion for the innumerable possibilities within the abstract in 2 dimensions. At first glance, the spectator is confronted with a geometrically analytical approach to the picture plane. On closer inspection Sagman’s work reveals a very methodical, yet poetic and lyrical reconstruction of objects into intricately made assembled paintings. Instead of an image of the external world the viewer is given a world of its own, analogous to nature but built along different principles. Sagman has had a long successful carrier with a London based Cork street gallery until becoming an independently exhibiting artist in the West Country as well as the Czech Republic.
Harald Winter: Layered in both their physical style and the subject matter they address, Harald Winter’s works are amalgamations of fragmented ideas and free thoughts, overlapping each other, building layers of meaning. At first glace they may seem playful, yet on closer inspection of the individual works, they are witty and incisive, somewhat reflecting the darker undercurrents of the times, even touching upon current affairs and politics, and definitely pieces that will engage and inspire. Winter has been exhibiting in Germany, the UK and Italy for a number of years. His most recent project will be exhibited in the UN building in Geneva, CH, in January 2010.

Ireneo Frizzarin: His most recent work is a melange of abstract and figurative painting and photography. He isolates images of close family members in their youth from old photo albums and uses them as though they were strangers, to simulate detachment. This form of emotional alienation and disconnection is used to reflect the frequent use of religious similes which echo his Catholic upbringing in the Italian countryside. But no matter what base image or subject matter Frizzarin uses, the technique is always similar: First a very thick layer of varnish is applied, and then this layer is drawn over with a very chaotic movement of marks in different media. This technique is pivotal to his practice as it evokes and questions powerful yet central parameters of human existence, such as the cycle of life and death. Varnish symbolises cohesion between the latter as it momentarily dispels the fear of velocity of time. Confusion often disturbs his practice, as he tries to catch a moment in time to imprint it onto a painting or image to keep that moment alive forever, full well knowing that at the same time the painting is not alive; yet only the viewer will give it new life, creating a new cycle of memory and, ultimately death. Frizzarin has been commissioned by DKNY and private clients since he left college last year.

Red Gate Gallery & Æ Studios LIC - www.aestudioslic.com
Æ Studios LIC
39-06 Crescent Street
NY 11101 New York - USA