Exhibition: Breakdown, DISTANCE GALLERY

BREAKDOWN
June 15 – July 15, 2020 | Curator: Andrea Burgay

Helen O’Leary
Adam Brierley
Todd Bartel
China Marks
John Hundt
Judy Hoffman
Max-o-matic

Breaking things down is catalytic. Once the components of something can be investigated, they can be understood, and reworked. It is a very human compulsion, the desire to take things apart to understand them and clearly see what they are made of. This impulse to poke, prod, scratch and tear, to pull things apart, may uncover faulty workings and unstable structures. Or it may create elements now unrecognizable, holding the potential to become something utterly transformed. The artists in Breakdown physically destroy, deconstruct and disassemble. They break down books, images, raw materials and their own artwork. The fragments that remain are resurrected and integrated, revealing the limitless possibilities of their source materials. New narratives are created, poking holes in outmoded ways of seeing the world. Reassembled, the broken pieces reveal meaning and visions, showing us ways to rebuild.

Helen O’Leary, "Home is a foreign country", 2017, Egg tempera and linen on constructed wood, 22" X 17" x 6". Courtesy of the artist.

Helen O’Leary, "Home is a foreign country", 2017, Egg tempera on linen on constructed wood, 15" x 18" x 6". Courtesy of the artist.

Helen O’ Leary, "From the series: Home is a foreign country", 2017, Linen on constructed wood, egg tempera, chalk, wooden armature, 18" x 24" x 6'. Courtesy of the artist.

Helen O’Leary, "From the series: The problem with adjectives", 2014-16, Egg tempera, linen on constructed wood, 13" x 16". Courtesy of the artist.

Adam Brierley, "Everything I Know", 2020, Layers of vintage paper scrap, found antique postcards, oil pastel, acrylic paint, marker, pencil, stickers, 18" x 24". Courtesy of the artist.

Adam Brierley, "Evening Hours", 2020, Layers of vintage paper scrap, found antique postcards, oil pastel, acrylic paint, marker, 9" x 12". Courtesy of the artist.

Adam Brierley, "In Between", 2019, Layers of vintage paper scrap, oil pastel, acrylic paint, on a found 60's road map, 3’ x 4’. Courtesy of the artist.

Todd Bartel, "Gateway to the American Sublime—The Crawford Notch 1826 (recto and verso)", 2018, Burnished puzzle-piece collage, recto: W. H. Bartlet’s 1838 engraving (The Willey House), Xerographic transfers, digitally interpreted reproduction of Caspar David Friedrich’s "Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog," 19th & 20th-century endpapers, weathered construction paper with staple-rust, map graticules, pencil, 22" x 21.875". Courtesy of the artist.

Todd Bartel, "Proportions and Table Manners (recto and verso)", 2014, Burnished, puzzle-piece fit collage, 19th century papers, end pages, marbled papers, Xerographic prints on antique end pages, toner transfers on rain eroded bulletin board papers, cancelled stamp and envelope remnant, pencil, antique cellophane tape, archival document repair tape, yes glue and dictionary definitions, 24.5" x 19.125". Courtesy of the artist.

Todd Bartel, "Real Landscape No. 2 (Tools of Both Trades)", 2006, Burnished, puzzle-piece collage, using auction house catalogs, with archival tape, in artist-designed Plexiglass frame 4 15/16" x 7", Framed 7" x 9.5". Courtesy of the artist.

Todd Bartel, "Real Landscape No. 3 (View from the Mouth of the Cave)", 2008, 2018, Burnished puzzle-piece collage, watercolor, auction house catalog page cuttings, document repair tape, 10" x 7". Courtesy of the artist.

China Marks, "A Junkyard in the Jungle", 2019, Fabric, thread, colored stones, lace, tin ex voto, fusible adhesive, 41.5" x 53". Courtesy of Owen James Gallery.

China Marks, "Coming Up Roses", 2019, Fabric, thread, lace, screen-printing ink, Jade glue, colored stones, fusible adhesive on a contemporary tapestry copy of John William Waterhouse’s painting, The Soul of the Rose. 36" x 27". Courtesy of Owen James Gallery.

China Marks, "Ghost Rider", 2019, Fabric, thread, screen-printing ink, fusible adhesive on a contemporary tapestry copy of a Jack Sorenson painting, A Sound in the Timber. 32.5" x 35". Courtesy of Owen James Gallery.

China Marks, "Starting Over", 2019, Fabric, thread, screen-printing ink, lace, fusible adhesive, 26.75" x 26.25". Courtesy of Owen James Gallery.

John Hundt, "Oasis In Tunisia", 2019, Collage, colored pencil, 14" x 17". Courtesy of the artist.

John Hundt, "Tomb of the Forgotten", 2019, Collage, colored pencil, watercolor, 30" x 22". Courtesy of the artist.

John Hundt, "Isolated Forest", 2020, Collage, colored pencil, watercolor, 17" x 14". Courtesy of the artist.

John Hundt, "Tide Pool", 2019, Collage, acrylic, 30" x 22". Courtesy of the artist.

Judy Hoffman, "Pieces", 2017, Ceramic, oxides, slip, 16" x 11.5" x 14". Courtesy of the artist.

Judy Hoffman, "Toxic Landscape", 2014, Ceramic, glaze, oxides, 7" x 13.5" x 11.5". Courtesy of the artist.

Judy Hoffman, "Red Topper", 2017, Ceramic, oxides, underglazes, 11" x 7" x 6". Courtesy of the artist.

Judy Hoffman, "Untitled," 2017, Ceramic, oxides, glaze, 10" x 14.5" x 10". Courtesy of the artist.

Judy Hoffman, "Gowanatopia", 2009, Site specific installation at Central Booking, Brooklyn, NY, Scavenged metal/plastic, broccoli stubble, grapevine, sugar cane and other natural debris, 10' x 7'5" x 7’8". Courtesy of the artist.

Max-o-matic, "Velazquez Hacked (2)", 2020, Paper collage, 7.3" x 10.25", 2020. Courtesy of the artist.

Max-o-matic, "Velazquez Hacked (9)", 2020, Paper collage, 8" x 10.3". Courtesy of the artist.

Max-o-matic, "Velazquez Hacked (4)", 2020, Paper collage, 7.4" x 10.2". Courtesy of the artist.

EXHIBITION ARTISTS

Helen O’LearyIreland and Jersey City, New Jersey/Pennsylvania USA
http://www.helenoleary.com
Subverting our notion of painting into an unconventional organization of formal and organic relationships, Helen O’Leary assembles elegant formulations of broken wood and stretched fiber into the gestural lyricism of reimagined sculptural paintings. O’Leary describes herself as a painter who tells stories from the archeology and ruins of deconstructed materials within her studio. Growing up in Ireland and relocating to the United States, her sculptural paintings become the memoir of two countries, an idiosyncratic aggregate of fragile gridded fragments. She is the recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation award, The Rome Prize, Joan Mitchell Award for painting and the Pollock Krasner Award.

Adam BrierleyOrange, California USA
https://www.instagram.com/aadambrierley/
Adam Brierley is a mixed-media collage artist based in Orange, CA, exploring different elements of layers and texture by ripping, breaking down and reworking vintage paper scrap to create something new.

Todd BartelWatertown, Massachusetts USA
https://toddbartel.com
Todd Bartel received his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 1985 and his MFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 1993. His work is in the collections of the Ontological Museum, the Kanyer Collection, Carnegie Mellon University, Pfizer, and numerous private collections. He is the inaugural recipient of RISD’s Art and Design Educator Award, and is the founder and Gallery Director of the Thompson Gallery at the Cambridge School of Weston (MA). His work investigates the interconnected histories of collage and landscape and the roles of nature and
natural resources in Western culture.

China Marks Long Island City, New York USA
https://chinamarks.net
China Marks lives and works in Long Island City. She hacks machines in order to draw with them, making eccentric figures that do whatever they like, people as well as gods, ghosts, angels, devils, witches, and beasts, dancing to the music of time. She also writes the dialogue and commentary. She received NYFA fellowships in 2005, 2011, and 2017, as well as Pollock- Krasner Foundation grants in 2013 and 2020.

John Hundt Seattle, Washington USA
https://www.facebook.com/john.hundt.10
Seattle artist John Hundt has worked in collage extensively for over 35 years and has shown throughout the US and parts of Europe. John’ work is a narrative of society and world events, past and present, though the juxtaposition of elements. Often times in landscape and still life compositions, these take on a subtlety which allows the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

Judy Hoffman New York City, New York USA
https://judyhoffman.info/home.html
Hoffman’s ceramic sculpture, installations, and artist books explore themes of birth, decay, and regeneration. She shapes a visual language through a practice of observing and collecting specimens of nature and leftovers of industrial waste. Her work has been exhibited in New York City venues including Lesley Heller Gallery, Wave Hill, Jane Hartsook Gallery, BRIC House, Ceres Gallery, Nurtureart, Proteus Gowanus; Mary Grove College, Detroit; and the Bienalle Bonn/Frauen Museum and Kunstler Forum in Bonn, Germany. Hoffman’s artist books are in public collections including the Brooklyn Museum, Rhode Island School of Design and Yale University Art Gallery. Hoffman lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. .

Max-o-matic Barcelona, Spain
https://maxomatic.net
Max-o-matic is an artist and illustrator based in Barcelona working with collage and appropriation art. He directs The Weird Show, a platform dedicated to showcase and explore contemporary collage. Max’ approach to collage is to create meaning through the act of breaking down images. In his work, cutting is more important than composing or selecting images. The cuts do not seek to separate some elements of the image in order to combine them with others, but rather aim to create a complex pattern that, combined with a high degree of randomness, creates impossible, abstract and meaningful images.

EXHIBITION CURATOR

Andrea Burgay Brooklyn, New York, USA
www.andreaburgay.com
Andrea Burgay explores collage processes as psychological metaphors through her work and collaborative projects. By adding and removing layers of handmade and collected materials, her collage works present a physical manifestation of the passage of time through cycles of destruction and renewal. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally. Andrea is also the founder and editor of Cut Me Up, a participatory collage magazine and curatorial project. Each issue presents a curated selection of artworks, intended for readers to deconstruct and transform into new artworks in response to curatorial calls.