Underdonk
1329 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11237
PAUL KLEE
Curated by Ashley Garrett and JJ Manford
October 10 – November 1, 2015
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 10, 7-9pm
“…Our pounding heart drives us down, deep down to the source of it all…chosen are those artists who penetrate to the region of that secret place where primeval power nurtures all evolution.”[1]
UNDERDONK is pleased to present Paul Klee, a group exhibition comprised of twenty contemporary artists whose work originates in elaborate and felt thought processes, whether they be musical, mathematical, scientific, linguistic, systems-oriented, cosmic, or semiotic while still maintaining a sense of humor and humanity.
Klee incorporated many influences that were part of his cultural heritage, namely Expressionism, Jugendstil, Blaue Reiter, and Cubism, science and spirituality, yet he used this accumulated historical awareness as building blocks to construct images that cast a Romantic shadow on all of this knowledge, moving past the particulars of pictorial content and inward towards the realm of the symbolic, universal and primordial.
The artists in Paul Klee, each at varying points in their lives and careers, have very independent views of the world and their practice. They have pushed their art beyond simplified forms and easy readings into strange, mysterious places. We may detect the conscious awareness of one or more art historical modalities, but the work does not stay fixed in these regions, but rather moves us forward into hard-to-place zones of experience.
Klee saw his artistic viewpoint as part of a continuum, extending from the past and continuing indefinitely into the future. Where can Klee be located in contemporary art? It is not the intention of this exhibition to answer that question, but rather to elucidate, through twenty artworks, instances of evolution unfolding in time.
-Ashley Garrett & JJ Manford, 09/27/15
[1] Klee, Paul. “On Modern Art.” Trans. Paul Findlay. Faber and Faber: London, 1948, 48.Underdonk is an artist-run project space in Bushwick.
Address: 1329 Willoughby Ave, #211, Brooklyn, NY 11237
(L train to Jefferson)
Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 1PM – 6PM,
and by appointment
