John Tallman at the Cheekwood Museum

Coming up:
Tennesee Abstract Painters
at the Courtside Gallery
of the Cheekwood Museum
in Nashville, TN
March 14- September 20
Opening Reception: March 12, 6 pm

Click here for details.

Hamlett Dobbins on John Tallman

The following was written by Hamlett Dobbins, the director of the Clough Hanson Gallery of Rhodes College, for the catalog of the current exhibition, "Contingent Engagement"...

Several years before the exhibition at Rhodes College, John Tallman made a rubber mold of a painting he’d completed in 2005. This untitled, fluorescent red, acrylic on wood painting wasn’t one of Tallman’s favorites, nor did he consider it a throwaway piece. In the artist’s words, it was “right in the middle, average.” But there was something about this slightly off-square surface with its rounded edges that just felt right. The casual decision to use this painting for a mold started Tallman on a years-long investigation that makes up the body of work for this exhibition. Here we find him beginning at a not-so-simple point of departure and traveling at nearly an infinite number of directions at once. Using the mold of this particular painting, he creates a series of resin, plastic, or plaster casts. These are then used as singular objects, surfaces for painting as well as sites for investigations of a visual language. Over time the original painting becomes a prototype or sorts. The artist is taking the original form of this painting (as well as the notion of what a painting is or isn’t) and “twisting it, subverting it, playing with it, duplicating it, respecting it, disrespecting it, losing it, getting it back, possessing it, repossessing it” all at the same time. More than simply variations on a theme, Tallman uses his unconventional studio practice to explore the almost endless possibilities inherent to the practice of painting (and sculpture). Along the way we begin to gain insight to the minutia of his particular, peculiar decision making process.

Not at all unlike the androids in the film Blade Runner, these copies sometimes become more real than the originals. The accuracy and personality of Tallman’s replicants vary depending on the process and materials chosen. Urethane plastic resin mixed with toilet paper is, by its nature, unruly and lumpy whereas pigmented resin tends to seamlessly capture every nook and cranny of the original mold. Often the pieces are casts from casts (that may or may not be casts from casts themselves). These second or third generation copies take on subtle nuances that naturally arise from the artist’s unpredictable duplication process. Like ongoing Xerox copies, little specks or bumps become amplified the more you move away from the original copy. Leaving these imperfections, Tallman embraces the element of chance inherent to such a process. The very act of producing these multiples gives them a built-in history the moment they are made.

The exhibition’s nontraditional installation is an extension of Tallman’s exceptionally fluid studio practice. His configurations usually feature paintings on the floor, stacked, leaning against walls as well as a painting’s traditional location: hung flat on the wall. These installation methods provide yet another avenue for the artist to explore the relationships among the paintings themselves, as well as the connections between paintings and the spaces they inhabit. This intentional shift away from comfortable notions of what a painting exhibition looks like provides a space where the viewers have to renegotiate their physical and emotional relationships to the work.

While the pieces that make up the exhibition share a common point of origin, they are extremely varied in their execution and completion. A number of the paintings in the exhibition exist simply as they were originally cast, while others are altered greatly: painted, broken, reformed and repainted again. Additionally, the materials used vary from piece to piece. Many are made from a seductive, translucent, pigmented resin. Their gentle, luminous shapes are juxtaposed with their heavier looking counterparts that are cast using a bumpier, more opaque resin or the dense, rounded plaster casts. Additionally the crisp, even edges of many paintings contrast with the jagged uneven lines of those that have been broken and reformed. While the paintings share a playful, pop-culture influenced sensibility in terms of color, each piece is informed by its own thoughtfully considered and keenly nuanced palette. When employing a pared down visual vocabulary in the way Tallman does, every step must be carefully weighed. Subtlety is always more complicated than it appears. A close inspection brings one to admire the artist’s uncanny ability to deftly combine the simplicity of form with these complex, occasionally unruly, often caustic colors.

The title of the exhibition, Contingent Engagement: A Recent Painting, offers additional clues to understanding the artist’s intention. As evident by the works in the exhibition and as the title implies, the artist is deeply engaged in the rigors of creating and exploring this territory where chance and repetition play such an important and influential role. The title also refers to the exhibition as A Recent Painting. As he works at this model again and again, he is not trying to find a right answer. Rather, he is striving to establish a better understanding of the forms and materials as well as their place in the world. These are the workings of an artist who revels in the notion that his studio practice is a vast continuum. Tallman has established a process that not only allows one thing to lead to the next, but operates with the idea that all previous and subsequent activities are connected.

In Memphis

midtown, memphis.

Yesterday I got back from the install, lecture and opening of Contingent Engagement: A Recent Painting. I met a bunch of really great Memphis artists and saw the sites. A great time.

Here's from ArtsMemphis: ArtsMemphis

Here's from Dwayne Butcher's blog: artbutcher

ParisCONCRET: 1/16/09

from parisCONCRET...

"...the Pour faire simple opening was a great success- the place was packed and there seems to be quite a buzz about what is happening..." --- Richard.

"It has been a lovely weekend out." --- Guido.

Contingent Engagement: A Recent Painting

click on image for enlargement

Pour faire simple: Keep it simple

parisCONCRET

'Pour faire simple' is set to open at ParisCONCRET on 1/17.

See details below...

"Contingent Engagement: A Recent Painting"

I'm very pleased to be having this solo exhibition and getting

a chance to work with the incredibly cool Hamlett Dobbins.

If you're in Memphis please check it out. The show is called

"Contigent Engagement-- A Recent Painting". All the work

in the show is based on one painting, which I cast and re-

painted in various materials.

The Clough-Hanson Gallery of Rhodes College
Dates: January 23 - February 23
Artists′ Lecture: Thursday, January 22, 7pm, Blount Auditorium
Opening Reception: Friday, January 23, 6-8pm

The Clough Hanson Gallery

2000 N. Parkway
Memphis TN 38112-1690
901-843-3000

Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-5 pm
(Closed Sundays and Mondays)

Pour Faire simple: 1/17/09- 2/7/09

This is new project space opening called ParisConcret. I'm very happy to be a part of this. From the website:

The ParisCONCRET space is taking shape and the first exhibition as well! "Pour faire simple" will open on Saturday 17 January. We have had a very positive response to our invitation and the following artists are already confirmed to be participating. More to come...Pam Aitken(au), Daniel Argyle (au) Sanne Bruggink (nl) Carola Bark (de) Christoph Dahlhausen (de) Julian Dashper(nz), Rene Eicke(nl), Billy Gruner(au), Tony Harding(fr), José Heerkens(nl), Sarah Keighery(au), Vaclav Krucek(cz), Arjan Janssen(nl), Kate Mackay(au), Simon Morris(nz), Roland Orépük(fr), Jacek Przybyszewski(fr), Alexandra Roozen(nl), Marlene Sarroff(au), Clary Stolte(nl), Bogumila Strojna(fr), John Tallman(us), Richard van der Aa(fr), Iemke van Dijk(nl), Jacques Weyer(fr), Guido Winkler(nl).

BIN BY SEED AT AVA

SEED, an art collective in Chattanooga, TN is producing BIN. The motivation for BIN comes through a need to address the historical marginalization of artists and methods for overcoming this scenario. Each collective involved in this project is a vital model for alternative pathways, invention, action, and interdisciplinary approaches to making. This project is not predetermined. Instead of formulas, conventions, expectations, and objects - SEED is working with online relationships, and local negotiations.

SEED is pleased to announce the participation and/or contribution by some fantastic collectives including Basekamp (Philadelphia), BLW, Common Places Project (Tampa), DeadTech (Chicago), Fugitive Projects (Nashville), Graffiti Research Lab (New York), Guerrilla Girls, InCUBATE-Chicago (Chicago), Mess Hall (Chicago), Paintallica (Washington), RTmark, TEAM LUMP (Raleigh), 6+ , and The Yes Men.

Contact: info[at]SEED-2005.com

Assemblage #3 and SNO

Rennaissance Art Investment Consultancy from Potts Point Australia had some nice words about Assemblage #3 and Sydney Non Objective:

Finally out in Marrickville, an assembly of three little shows at SNO (on until 7 December)was the only show which made us smile with optimism this month and gave us the urge to make SNO the first art space to be featured in In Focus (see below). On offer, in room 1, Assemblage No. 3 curated by Billy Gruner, brings together object based works from an international array of artists, Cathy Blanchflower (Melbourne), Christopher Dean(Sydney), Iemke van Dijk (Leiden), Anthony Farrell (Toowoomba), Emma Langridge(Melbourne), Ben Raynor (Melbourne), John Tallman (Tennessee), Ken Villa (Sydney),Guido Winkler (Leiden) united successfully by a monochrome wallwork by John Adair(Sydney).
See the full text at 'newsletter':
Rennaissance Art Investment Consultancy

Thanks to Billy Gruner for making it all happen.

On Visual Discrepancies With Brent Hallard

Brent Hallard and I recently had a conversation about some recent pieces.

He's posted it here on Visual Discrepencies:

Lost and Found

Contemporary Two-Dimensional Art Objects For the Home or Office

Contemporary Two-Dimensional Art Objects For Home or Office by John Tallman is a new set of colored cast resin objects created specifically for this exhibition.

Tallman's idiosyncratic art exists somewhere in between painting and sculpture, however they all explore vibrant color riding the vehicle of a wide range of materiality. All the work in this show are untitled, though the artist casually calls them “sponges, washcloths, and cotton balls.” This underscores the way Tallman simultaneously embraces and pokes serious fun at the high-minded ideals of late modern “purist” approaches to art making.

His work was last exhibited in Philadelphia in 2006 at the Abington Art Center. Since then his work has been included in exhibitions at The Drawing Center (NYC), IS Projects (The Netherlands), and Sydney Non-Objective (Australia).

A native of the Philadelphia area, Tallman now lives and works near Chattanooga, TN.

text by D. Witmer

At the Greenline: Philadelphia, PA

Opening Reception For:
'Contemporary Art Objects
For the Home or Office By John Tallman'
Saturday, November 8, 4-6pm

Green Line Art Projects
3649 Lancaster Avenue
Philadelphia PA 19104
215-222-3431

Details can be found here.

November Exhibitions: Sydney and Philly

There are two exhibitions coming up for November.

'Assemblage No. 3' is a group exhibition at Sydney Non-Objective. Curation by Billy Gruner.

Sydney, Australia

See it here.

'Contemporary Two-Dimensional Art Objects For Home and Office' is a solo exhibition at Green Line Art Projects, which is run by Douglas Witmer.

mummers

See it here.

Details to come...

Installation Shot: UND @ Croxhapox

UND @ Croxhapox 8/31/08

See more >>

UND @ Croxhapox Gent (BE)

The notes below by Billy Gruner relate to the upcoming exhibition at Croxhapox. See previous posts for further details.

UND is a simple yet questioning title used for an annual show on Contemporary Non-Objective Art. This year in September it is held at Croxhapox, Gent, Belgium. Looking closely, it is an unusual international program. First, it has been curated since 2006 by a small group of artists without any budget. Secondly, the use of a somewhat blunt title remains intentional and functional. As in the previous group shows, a punk attitude aims to present a certain flavor to a complex art-historical discourse.

Croxhapox is not a typical gallery either way. Because of its non-selective design, it is seen as a place of art critical focus, and an appropriately chosen space on the contemporary route that this particular set of artists seeks to engage. They are able to do this from many entry angles because travel is easier and faster than ever. But most importantly, because physically meeting is a necessary process to go through in order to find inspiration from others interested in a development of relational critical concerns.

In short, UND 2008, like UND 2006 held at Chiellerie in Amsterdam in 2006 and, UND Jetzt held at IS in Leiden in 2007, is the latest of a series shows that are, in a sense, homogenate - an evolving event providing a unique yearly convergence. If restated, UND 2008 is the latest opportunity for various artists to continue their participation or, selective viewing of new works from out of a greater array of activities. These may fall under the banner of Presentational Art (US), Super Formalism or Minimal Pop (EU) or, as it is sometimes defined in Australia, Post Formalism - as just three examples of fresher terminology in use. The list of artists participating in this particular gathering is by no means comprehensive or, representational. Nor is it a surveying event – that is not possible. Nevertheless, they form one group that has come together from other spaces and sets of associated connections. Curiously, this is an established network that has no name or structure per se or, any managerial style or directorship to speak of. Yet, it is a self-regulating identity regardless. In my opinion, the symbolism is very interesting as artists connect out of recommendation - through working with each other.

This process is in certain ways uncommon to witness within global or localised contemporary art productions. And perhaps for these reasons it may remain something that others consider difficult. I am unsure how I became involved but I am glad I did as I continue to find the unique social aspect a rewarding and demanding aspect of practice. In this manner, it is the social that determines. Just as that integral process of clarification assists in how new language may be fittingly used. That is an important metering process, and an activity I now personally respect. For instance, questions of style or modes or practice are understood or rejected collectively within an internationally based milieu growing more aware of its language patterns each year.

Actually, I find this a stunning attribute of cosmopolitanism rarely experienced, and the UND program in my opinion is a significant opportunity in the contemporary art world were regionalism, factionalism, and an incomprehensible system of social stratifications that may appear utterly unjustified, remain trenchant – even after the modernist and post-modern eras have seemingly elapsed. Probably what is more interesting overall about this unsolicited network is a stringent ability to develop, expand, and engage traction with other interested artists, gallerists, collectors, outside of more conventional systems.

The influence of artists such as Tilman and director Petra Bungert from CCNOA, Jan and Karen van der Ploeg from PS in Amsterdam, Daniel Gottin and Gerda Maise from Hebel 121 in Basel, like that of the long standing support provided by John Nixon from AC4CA and SNO in Australia, and Matthew Deleget and Rossana Martinez from Minus Space in New York, are just a few examples that come to mind whose collective import should not be underestimated in those terms. It is their efforts amongst many others running back decades that have led to the greater development of credibility for what remains today, a vastly misunderstood genre. Perhaps little has changed concerning perceptions on the purely abstract since Delauney and Van Doesburg first questioned Mondriaan’s rather static relations or reliance on a fundamentally figurative imaging in an classic abstract modality – and in view of the vastly greater currency that the De Stijl movement continues to offer – it matters to redress.

Importantly, the growing acceptance of concrete artistic concerns worldwide for example, directs our attention to the possible appearance of the significance of generics for instance. Certainly it is illustrative of one area of ongoing artistic and optimistic investigation after the 20thcentury and, the specific places where many artists are seeking to engage ideas via newly presented realities. But that revolutionary topical matter currently being opened out in the Sydney Biennale is of less concern here. The discourse un-coverable through the UND program is more generally about a kind of alternate movement, and its overall consistency, historically speaking. It is one zone of contact that in general terms has remained relatively unconcerned by overt critiques, furphy, and the like. Just as it is driven by newer groups of artists and fans who continue finding currencies worth defining.

Crox 269: Gent

The exhibition Crox 269 is set to open August 31 in Gent, Belgium. There will be 22 artists from 9 countries participating. See the Croxhapox Agenda and more information here. The exhibition was curated by Billy Gruner, Tilman and Jan van Der Ploeg.

Text from the IS Box

Written by Marijke Uittenbroek

Translation by Auke van den Berg

For John Tallman (1969, York, Pa., U.S.A.), not the object/painting itself is the primary goal, but the artist’s mental process. His works are not paintings or sculptures in a traditional sense, and then again they are. His working method entails the construction of moulds in the shape of a painting, into which he pours pigments and various resins, such as polyurethane. The end result is simultaneously two- and three-dimensional. To emphasize this ambiguity, Tallman does not hang his works straight onto the wall; as a result, they become more of objects than ‘paintings’ that offer a glance into a different world through the creation of illusions. His formal language is deliberately limited: there are square works and round ones; limiting himself to an autonomous abstract vocabulary, the artist feels free; any personal emotion is thus banned from his work and he deliberately refrains from making any political statements. It is the mental processes of the artist during the creation of his work that count, nothing else. Through reduction he aims to give the viewer access to this mental process, focusing particularly on the questioning of the principles of the notion of a ‘painting’. He is fascinated, for instance, by how objects (paintings) influence their environment, the effect of gravity in painting, the area behind the painting. In brief, he is basically concerned with the essence of painting, or rather, the painting. In his artist’s statement he states that he is fascinated by the theoretical possibility of making a composition that repeats itself endlessly, the substance (the skin of the painting), but also the position of abstraction. Tallman poses questions, and the work resulting form these questions raises new questions, resulting in new works that are in part repetitions yet subtly different within his restricted formal language, as if it were a kind of modernist Droste effect*.

"crox 269" to open august 30

John will be participating in a group exhibition at croxhapox, gent, belgium.

22 artists, 9 countries.

curated by bill gruner, tilman and jan van der ploeg.

more info to come...