Dallas, Texas - For its second exhibition, Light & Sie is pleased to present “Grit and Vigor,” a group exhibition of paintings, sculpture and photographs by artists Amy Granat, Gretchen Faust, Jay Heikes, Roger Hiorns, Evan Holloway, Hanna Schwartz, Matt Stolle, Katja Strunz, and Phil Vanderhyden.
Demonstrating a long standing interest in contemporary works that evoke and channel art world movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s, guest curator Rowley Kennerk seeks to present us with a viewpoint that drives us viscerally rather than intellectually toward a new appreciation of the current state of contemporary art.
The complimentary opening reception is Thursday, November 15 from 5pm – 8pm with guest appearances by curator Rowley Kennerk and artists Evan Holloway, Matt Stolle, and Phil Vanderhyden (more artists to be confirmed closer to the date).
Mr. Kennerk writes:
“There was an exhibition in Italy in the late Sixties that I came across while reading a few years ago that has remained important to me. I’ve only seen a few images and remember few of the details, so it’s acquired a kind of mythic status in my understanding of the 60’s and early 70’s. The exhibition centered around an indiscriminate grouping of the Arte Povera and American and European conceptual artists in a decrepit indoor/outdoor exhibition space. The range of artworks and the juxtaposition of strict conceptualists with raw formalists must have initially appeared absurd, but somehow tenable.
I understood the curatorial gesture of the Italian show as an attempt to grasp the general sea-change taking place, but in a manner that avoided reductive thematic or formal guidelines. It appeared to be an event in which the viewer was confronted with things that didn’t belong together in an immediate or determinable reason. It’s not quite anti-thematic method, but an obscured thematic. Additionally, the artists included in this exhibition share clear, but not necessarily similar, relationships to their predecessors of the 60’s and 70’s.
Hopefully, Grit and Vigor allows for the work to be understood together, rather than through an independent relation to a theme. I want the exhibition to make immediate physical (though this does not equal strictly formal) sense before it makes cerebral sense; much in the same way that a Lucio Fontana works next to a Lawrence Weiner.”
Rowley Kennerk is owner of Rowley Kennerk Gallery in Chicago. He received his MA in Modern Art History, Theory & Criticism from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. In addition, Mr. Kennerk teaches Art History at Trinity Christian College in Illinois.
Light & Sie, an exhibition space for “cutting edge” international contemporary art in all media, is located at 129 Leslie Street, Dallas, Texas, 75207. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 AM to 6 PM. For more information, call 214-745-2255 or visit http://www.lightsandsie.com/.