Dossier

Av. Hidalgo 1228,
Col. Americana — C.P. 44160
Guadalajara, Jalisco, México
T. +52 (33) 3825 0921
[email protected]
www.paramogaleria.com
PaintersNYC
Joshua Abelow, Kristin Baker, Trudy Benson, Todd Bienvenu, Maureen Cavanaugh, Holly Coulis, Inka Essenhigh, Clare Grill, Halsey Hathaway, Loie Hollowell, Eamon Ore-Giron, Veronika
Pausova, Ezra Tessler and Anke Weyer.
Páramo is pleased to present the group exhibition PaintersNYC. The premise of PaintersNYC
is to look at the general shifts and styles currently found in New York based paintings while
also referencing and examining its historical roots. The painters in this exhibition are a newer
generation of established and emerging artists and in many ways are part of a larger community of artists based in New York that often relate with issues of space, politics and culture.
Simultaneously, in the projection room at the gallery, we will show a series of films and videos
of New York based painters.
Afterwards, the exhibition will travel to El Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños (MUPO) in Oaxaca, from March 11 to May 15, 2016.
The exhibition was organized by Páramo Director, Meaghan Kent, and artist Maureen Cavanaugh. Maureen Cavanaugh, a Nebraska native and Brooklyn based artist, studied painting
in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Exhibitions include: Sister Garage Project, Los Angeles, California;
“Dead in August on the LILAC” Site95; “Everything Must Go,” Casey Kaplan, New York;
“Talk Show”, Edward Thorp and “Contemporary Painting,” Colby College Museum of Art,
Waterville, Maine (curated by Alex Katz). Her work is part of the permanent collections at
the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska and Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La
Jolla, California.
Our great thanks to the James Fuentes LLC, Life on Mars Gallery, Zieher Smith and Horton,
Rawson Projects, Canada Gallery, Lisa Cooley Gallery and all team members in each of the
artists’ studios, for their collaboration and assistance in this exhibition.
EXHIBITION VIEWS
Photos by Samantha Cendejas
JOSHUA ABELOW
Joshua Abelow (Maryland, 1976) makes paintings and drawings that, in his own words, “mock
the idea of the artistic genius” and look satirically at his own career and practice. Abelow is
known for using simple-though-loaded imagery: his two most common motifs are geometric
forms and stick figures, which are references to Modernist abstraction. His paintings, characteristically executed on stretched burlap, also demonstrate Abelow’s deft understanding of color.
In fact, while Abelow does not plan his compositions, he always selects his colors in advance,
though he tries to limit himself to two layers of paint per work.
Among his recent solo exhibitions are Good Morning, BFA Boatos Fine Arts, São Paulo, Brazil
(upcoming); Running Witches, Freddy, Harris, NY; and RELAX, Arts+Leisure, New York, NY.
Recent group shows: Joshua Abelow & Bjorn Copeland, Cooper Cole, Toronto, Canada; Second Show, EDDYSROOM, Brooklyn, NY; Intimacy in Discourse: Reasonable-Sized Paintings,
curated by Phong Bui, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ; Anxiously Attached, Essex Flowers, New York, NY (reading performed by Brian Belott, Billy Grant, and Jamian JulianoVillani);
and 826NYC Exhibition & Auction, David Zwirner, New York, NY. He lives and works in New
York.
Joshua Abelow
Running Witch, 2014
Oil on linen
137.2 x 182.9 cm.
54 x 72 in.
KRISTIN BAKER
Kristin Baker (Stamford, Connecticut, 1975) is a painter based in New York. Her work combines Pop art, Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism. She often uses stencil and sign painting
techniques on PVC panels. Baker holds a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts
(which is in partnership with Tufts University), Boston (1998), and graduated from Yale’s MA
Painting programme (2002). Her work has been exhibited in many prominent international galleries and museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and PS1 Contemporary
Art Centre in New York, the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and The Royal Academy in London. Her
work is featured in the Saatchi Collection, and she is represented by Deitch Projects, New York.
Kristin Baker’s father is an amateur racing driver. Her paintings stem from her avid enthusiasm
for, and personal involvement with, motor sport. She lives and works in New York City.
Kristin Baker
Coronet Horizon, 2014
Acrylic on PVC
50.8 x 61 cm.
20 x 24 in.
Kristin Baker
Teary Relief, 2014
Acrylic on PVC
50.8 x 61 cm.
20 x 24 in.
TRUDY BENSON
Trudy Benson (Richmond, Virginia, 1985) holds a MFA in Painting from Yale University, New
Haven, CT and a BFA from School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University, Boston,
MA. Her paintings are inspired by the graphic imagery of vintage image software such as MS
Paint, and challenge the formal qualities of image-making upon a screen. Her active images
consider formal elements of the painted surface—abstract imagery is balanced by her skillful
compositions, while thick and thin lines confront the differences between the flat ground and
fictional depth in her works. She uses paint in all its forms—an airbrushed line relieves the shallow relief of extruded paint upon the surface, while traditional liquid paint is rolled or brushed
onto the surface fluidly. Reminiscent of the all-over paintings of the Abstract Expressionists,
her paintings have no beginning or end—the viewer must maintain optic flexibility while sifting
through these complicated compositions.
Benson has exhibited at Saatchi Gallery, London, Torrance Art Museum, California, and Pratt
Manhattan Gallery, among others.She participated in The Last Brucennial in 2014. Her work
is part of Aishti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon; Saatchi Gallery, London, UK and Hudson Valley
Center for Contemporary Arts, Peekskill, NY. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New
York.
Trudy Benson
Wowso, 2015
Acrylic, enamel and oil on canvas
195.6 x 203.2 cm.
77 x 80 in.
TODD BIENVENU
Todd Bienvenu (Little Rock, Arkansas, 1980) received his MFA from New York Studio School
(2007) and his BFA from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (2003). Bienvenu’s
paintings are filled with a kind of manic, rock ‘n’ roll frenzy and street-smart urgency mixed
with a generous humor. His painterly technique flourishes from his expressionist predecessors,
ranging from Max Beckmann, to Philip Guston and Georg Baselitz.
He has shown in numerous New York galleries including Life on Mars, Centotto, Valentine,
Novella, Outlet, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Sideshow and Ethan Pettit. He is an associate professor
for teaching painting and drawing at Louisiana State University since 2014. He lives and works
in Brooklyn, New York.
Todd Bienvenu
Shake the sheets, 2014
Oil on canvas
132.1 x 114.3 cm.
52 x 45 in.
Todd Bienvenu
Constellations, 2013
Oil on canvas
177.8 x 243.84 cm.
70 x 96 in.
MAUREEN CAVANAUGH
Maureen Cavanaugh (Omaha, Nebraska, 1976) studied painting in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Cavanaugh is a painter that creates mixes of liquid oil paint that are poured on the surface of
a canvas and then painted with washes to build up light layers of oil paint. She creates various
settings of figures in both abstract landscapes and interior environments. Exhibitions include:
Sister Garage Project, Los Angeles, California; “Dead in August on the LILAC” Site95; “Everything Must Go,” Casey Kaplan, New York; “Talk Show”, Edward Thorp and “Contemporary
Painting,” Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine (curated by Alex Katz). Her work
is part of the permanent collections at the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska and Museum
of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, California. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Maureen Cavanaugh
The Sun Bathers, 2015
Oil on canvas
122 x 122 cm.
48 x 48 in.
HOLLY COULIS
Holly Coulis (Toronto, Canada, 1968) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY where she moved
after receiving her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She went to
undergraduate school at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto where she studied
sculpture and installation. She shows her paintings with Cherry and Martin Gallery in Los Angeles and Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery in New York City. Her work has also been shown at
Susanne Hilberry Gallery in Detroit, Sardine in Brooklyn, Rare Gallery in New York, Greener
Pastures in Toronto amongst others.
Holly Coulis
Tin Cans, Leaf, Grapfruit, 2015
Oil on linen
43.2 x 50.8 cm.
17 x 20 in.
INKA ESSENHIGH
Inka Essenhigh (Belfonte, Pennsylvania, 1969) studied at the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio (1991) and the School of Visual Arts in New York (1992-1994). Inka Essenhigh’s
work evokes a mysterious world of subjective and often lyrical fantasy. The lush natural world
she creates, loosely inspired by the landscape around her summer studio in rural Maine, transforms into an inner world through abstraction, at once earthly yet eternal. Allowing tangible to
serve the intangible, Essenhigh’s richly painted creatures morph from spirit into nature, blurring
lines between real and imaginary, exploring the ghosts of the collective unconscious. In her
work, Essenhigh gives nod to the decorative themes of the French symbolists, like Redon and
Moreau, but also embraces elements typically seen in Japanese anime.
Essenhigh’s work is in a number of public collections, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery,
Buffalo, NY; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; P.S.1 Center for Contemporary Art/ MoMA,
New York, NY; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Tate Gallery, London, England; Museum
of Fine Art, Richmond, VA; the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, DC; and the Whitney
Museum of American Art, New York, NY. The artist currently lives and works in New York City.
Inka Essenhigh
Dance Party, 2015
Oil on panel
127 x 116.84 cm.
50 x 46 in.
CLARE GRILL
Clare Grill (Chicago, 1979) has an MFA from Pratt Institute. In paintings ranging from entirely
abstract to loosely representational, Clare Grill draws on a range of references—from her memories and emotions, the surrounding world, and even to medium of painting itself—to create
richly layered compositions. As she describes: “My paintings come from a reverence for and
curiosity about what’s past—mine and everyone’s. I like to uncover what’s below the surface,
figuratively and literally, even if it’s complicated or sad.” Though she always begins with a
source image, drawn from memory or from direct observation, her compositions are shaped
by the size and texture of the canvas, the color and materiality of the paint, and the marks that
develop from a continual process of sanding down and building up areas of color. For Grill,
each painting has its own internal logic, and the act of painting itself is a process of discovery.
Grill has shown her work at the Bronx Museum, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Sloan Fine
Art, Caren Golden Fine Art and Real Art Ways. Her work has been reviewed in The New York
Times, The New Jersey Star-Ledger, The San Francisco Chronicle and was on the back cover
of New American Paintings Vol. 68. Clare has participated in the Drawing Center’s Viewing
Program, Aljira’s Emerge program, Vermont Studio Center’s residency program and the Bronx
Museum’s Artist in the Marketplace program. She lives and works in Queens, New York.
Claire Grill
Flag, 2015
Oil on linen
71.12 x 89 cm.
28 x 35 in.
HALSEY HATHAWAY
Halsey Hathaway (Buffalo, 1980) lives and works in Brooklyn. The artist has been included in
many notable recent exhibitions including Future Perfect at Philip Bloom Gallery, Nantucket,
MA (2015); Site/Displace at Kristen Lorello, New York (2014); Drawings at Denny Gallery,
New York (2013); Cathedral: Artchitecture and Atmosphere at Silas Marder Gallery, Brdigehampton (2013); New Paintings at Storefront Bushwick, Brooklyn (2012) and Line and Plane
at McKenzie Fine Art, New York (2012).
Halsey Hathaway
Untitled, 2015
Acrylic on canvas
76.2 x 152.4 cm.
30 x 60 in.
LOIE HOLLOWELL
Loie Hollowell (Woodland, California, 1983) currently lives and works in Queens, NY. She
received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Master of
Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has had solo exhibitions at the Virginia
Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with Richmond International Airport and and The National Gallery of Saskatchewan, Canora, Canada. She had a recent exhibition at 106 Green that
was reviewed in the The New York Times.
Loie Hallowell
Lick lick in orange and blue, 2015
Oil on linen and panel
121.92 x 162.56 x 3.5 cm.
48 x 64 x 1 3/8 in.
EAMON ORE-GIRON
Eamon Ore­-Giron (Tuczon, Arizona,1973) received a BFA from San Francisco Art Institute
(1996) and an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles (2006). Ore-­Giron’s paintings, works on paper, and installations blend ideas of art concrete with personal language,
creating a unique vocabulary rooted in deceptively simple shapes, designs and colors; as well
as thematics. He has had solo exhibitions at LAX ART, Los Angeles (2015); Nicelle Beauchene
Gallery, New York City (2014); MUCA ROMA, Mexico City (2006); Queen’s Nails Annex,
San Francisco (2005) and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia (2005). His work
has been included in group shows at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City; Prospect 3, New
Orleans; the Perez Art Museum, Miami, and Deitch Projects, New York. Ore­Giron has lived
in Peru, Mexico and the Southwest of the United States, which has informed his visual vocabulary. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Eamon Ore-Giron
Cut the Sun, 2014
Flasch on linen
142.24 x 167.64 cm.
56 x 66 in.
Eamon Ore-Giron
Roman Blues Study no.1, 2015
Flasch on linen
30.48 x 40.64 cm.
12 x 16 in.
Eamon Ore-Giron
Manhattan Mask, 2015
Flasch on linen
40.64 x 55.88 cm.
16 x 22 in.
VERONIKA PAUSOVA
Veronika Pausova (Prague, Czech Republic, 1987) received her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has shown with Era VI VII VI, 106 Green, Lovey Town, 1708 Gallery
and most recently with Sardine at NADA. She lives and works in Toronto, Canada.
Veronika Pausova
Grab, 2014
Oil on canvas
91.44 x 76.2 cm.
36 x 30 in.
EZRA TESSLER
Ezra Tessler (Philadelphia, 1980) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He is a recent MFA
graduate in painting at Bard College and has completed residencies at SOMA in Mexico City
and Ox-Bow in Michigan. He has been the recipient of a Jacob Javits Fellowship, a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, and a Pforzheimer Foundation Fellowship. His work has been included in
group exhibitions at The Hole (NY, NY), Junior Projects (NY, NY), Silvershed (NY, NY), Culture
Room (Brooklyn, NY), and Fjord (Philadelphia).
Ezra Tessler
Heather and Lore, 2015
Oil and clay on linen
76.2 x 137.16 x 35.56 cm.
30 x 54 x 14 in.
ANKE WEYER
Anke Weyer (Karlsruhe, Germany, 1974) studied at The Cooper Union and at Hochschule fuer
bildende Kuenste Staedelschule in Frankfurt. Weyer’s recent paintings reference the body,
both in scale and in their mostly vertical compositions, as well as occasional hints at imagery.
The paintings are vivid and gestural, using energetic brushmarks, drips, wipes and scrubbing
to develop allusive forms and lines. Weyer layers acrylic and oil paints freely, creating surfaces
that gleam and sometimes crumble. She has exhibited in Stockholm, Toronto, London, Copenhagen, at Leo Koenig in NY, at Mary Goodman in Los Angelos and been written about in The
New York Times. She lives and works in Brooklyn.
Anke Weyer
Fly to b, 2015
Oil on canvas
167.64 x 223.52 cm.
66 x 88 in.