Aaron Elvis Jupin, Adam Green, Alexis Ross, Alphachanneling, Andrew Ho, Ana Kraš, Anna Park, Anne Vieux, Anthony Iacono, Aurel Schmidt, Ben Jones, Botond Kerestezi, Brian Chippendale, Charlie Roberts, Chris Johanson, Claire Milbrath, Coady Brown, Craig Calderwood, Cristina BanBan, Dan Attoe, Dean Dempsey, Donald Baechler, Eddie Martinez, Emma Kohlman, Enno Tianen, Eric Shaw, Eric Yahnker, Evan Gruzis, Frank Magnotta, Frank Selby, Geoff McFetridge, Grace Weaver, Jeff Ladouceur, Joakim Ojanen, John Tsombikos, Jonathan Chapline, Jonathan Key, Jonny Negron, Karl Wirsum, Keegan McHargue, Koichi Sato, Kunle Martins, Lena Gustafson, Matthew F Fisher, Mat Brinkman, Misaki Kawai, Molly Greene, Monica Kim Garza, Morgan Blair, Natalie Frank, Nicole Eisenmann, Palma Blank, Paul Wackers, Pedro Pedro, Prinston Nnanna, Ryan Travis Christian, Samual Weinberg, Suntaro Takeuchi, Stephen Somple, Susumu Kamijo, Taylor McKimens, Terence Koh, Theo Rosenblum and Chelsea Seltzer, Tomoo Gokita, Todd James, Xylor Jane
The Hole is proud to present a proliferating paper show for the summer with over sixty artists and over 100 artworks! All free for you to come see at your leisure before August 18. We shipped tubes from as far as Tokyo and exhausted all of our framer friends to beat the bushes for the best of what is happening on tree pulp; one can only assume that we are truly passionate about paper.
We are! Back in 2006 I curated a giant works on paper show with my then-boss Jeffrey Deitch for the Deste Foundation in Athens, Greece called Panic Room. Thirteen years later almost to the day we check in with many of the Deste artists and also add a whole decade of new relationships and emerging talent. In the previous decade there were many museum exhibitions focusing on paper starting perhaps with Laura Hoptman’s Drawing Now show at MoMA, at least for me as this was nearly the first show I saw after moving to New York. My collegiate impression from studying exhibition catalogues was that the paintings are primary and drawings are demoted, a centuries-old holdover from the hierarchies of classical art. It was great to release all those anachronisms in front of a giant wall of Barry McGee works.
I wanted to call this show PAPER RODEO after the free comics zine from Providence, RI from the early 2000s by Leif Goldberg and a rotating group of amazing Fort Thunder-era artists but learned the name is sacred, tho defunct, to protect the project; a community artwork and curatorial piece in and of itself. I can’t emphasize enough how awesome Paper Rodeo was for like the history of drawing in America this century and many of those artists are included in this show. Thankfully one of the practitioners of Paper Rodeo, Brian Chippendale, supplied the pun PAPER VIEW free of charge.
This show is jam-packed so please grab a guide at the front; loosely it begins with some amazing abstract works like the prime palindrome-driven drawings of Xylor Jane, starts to take shape with the collaged works of Coady Brown and Chris Johanson, then kinda explodes in the main room in full comic figurative form. A Karl Wirsum drawing is in the mix there to show where a lot of the young artists are finding inspiration, Donald Baechler to further elaborate on the influence. In the big back gallery the show continues from comic to more realist works, some beautiful portraiture from Prinston Nnanna and skills-to-burn Eric Yahnker pictured above. Fine linework features here with graphite masters Ryan Travis Christian and Aurel Schmidt, Frank Selby and ink champ Evan Gruzis.
If I wrote one sentence about each artist this email would be endless; I have whole essays to share for each one, many of these my very old friends and some of the first artists I ever showed in my very first curatorial projects. Exhibiting works on paper is a bit of a luxury as the cost of framing an emerging artwork can often eat up the profit in selling it, but we just couldn’t resist. If you leave feeling psyched about the medium of works on paper, with a bit more respect for pen and pencil, collage and charcoal, pastel and pulp that will be payment enough.
The Hole would like to thank Marinaro Gallery, Galleri Golsa, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, James Cohan Gallery, 1969 Gallery, Donald Baechler Studio, Jack Hanley, Fisher Parrish, Rubber Factory, Bonny Poon, Derek Eller Gallery, Salon 94, Bright Lyons, Topp Yard, and Canada Gallery for helping make this show possible.
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