Opening: November 21, 2 – 4 p
November 21 – Dececember 20, 2015
Stout Projects 55 Meadow Street #310, Brooklyn, NY 11206
http://www.stoutprojects.net/
*An artists talk is scheduled on December 19 at 2p*
The Violent Study Club features work by artists based in New York and Philadelphia that share concerns or processes that touch upon materiality, nature, ideas of the sublime and, in some cases, notions of the mystic and spirituality as these themes relate to and reflect contemporary art and life.
Karen Baumeister (Philadelphia)
Vincent Como (NewYork)
Jonathan Cowan (New York)
Debra Ramsay (New York)
Earlier this year a group of artists began to meet and discuss books, essays and interviews that relate to and explore the ideas of spiritualism and the mystic as they influenced Modern and Contemporary artists and the works they made.
Soon it became apparent that four members of this group (The Violent Study Club) produced work that not only explored the afore mentioned themes to varying degrees but also shared similar aesthetic interests that would form the basis of a formidable exhibition; an exhibition based less on the group’s chosen subject of study and more along common formal relationships that forge striking bridges from work to work and artist to artist.
Karen Baumeister was born in Philadelphia, PA and received her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She has exhibited widely in Philadelphia and New York and has served as a mentor, guest critic, and juror at venues including Bucks County Community College and The Woodmere Art Museum.
Vincent Como (b. 1975, Kittanning, PA; lives in Brookyn, NY) works in a broad array of media, including installation, painting, printmaking, and artist books. The subject of his artistic practice is the color black, which he describes as “the pure and unrepentant mark of information…both the origin of recording thoughts and the fully saturated realization of all pigment as one”. His work draws on ideas from art history, color theory, philosophy, physics, alchemy, heavy metal, religion, and mythology. Como has exhibited his work throughout the United States, including in New York, New Jersey, Kansas City, Chicago, Boston, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco among others. He holds a BFA in Drawing from the Cleveland Institute of Art, is represented by MINUS SPACE in Brooklyn, and is one of the co-directors of TSA New York, an artist run exhibition space.
Jonathan Cowan was born in Temple, Texas. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing in 2006 from The University of Texas at San Antonio. His work has been exhibited in solo shows in New York and San Antonio and in group shows in New York, Newark, and Houston, Texas.
Debra Ramsay is an abstract artist working in the disciplines of painting, drawing and installation. She maintains a full time studio practice in New York City. Ramsay was awarded a 2016 residency at the Albers Foundation, a 2013 residency at the Golden Foundation in New Berlin, NY and in 2012 a fellowship at BAU Institute in Otranto, Italy. Ramsay’s 2015 exhibitions include a two-person show at TSA NY Gallery in Brooklyn and a group exhibition at Pentimenti Gallery in Philadelphia, PA. Her 2014 exhibitions included Hansel and Gretel Picture Garden Pocket Utopia in Chelsea, NYC and The Visual Arts Center of NJ, Summit, NJ. In 2013 she had a solo show titled MAT/tam, curated by Lucio Pozzi at Palazzo Costa, in Mantova, Italy.
Image Credit:
Jonathan Cowen
Color Being Sucked Into a Void
2015
solvent transfer and cotton thread on aida cloth
50 x 40 in.
