Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Amy Casey, January 16th - February 23rd



Michael Rosenthal is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Amy Casey.

“The idea that life keeps going on no matter what happens is sort of the most simultaneously horrifying and hopeful thing I can think of.” says Casey, “Whether or not the new communities will make it is still sort of up for grabs for me though, its more interesting to me the idea of problems and solutions and mistakes and resolutions, if that makes any sense at all.” Amongst the social and economic peaks and falls of our past decade, Casey has always found a glimmer of hope through her paintings. The structures of support and balance in her work are conditions of an aftermath; what remains of the popularized apocalypses must work together to construct a new community from otherwise disparate social territories.

In Casey’s new body of work made for her solo exhibition at Michael Rosenthal, she’s incorporated imagery of brick walls and chain-linked fences reminiscent of barricades, fortresses and safety nets. Every disaster is followed by a rebirth, and what new life doesn’t need to be nurtured and protected. Her teetering houses and buildings are either given space to bloom, or huddled together in an attempt to gain strength in numbers. Her delicate lines and strokes speak of the uneasiness of the days and result in an unsettled optimism for the future.

Amy Casey (Erie, Pennsylvania 1976) lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio. She was recently featured on the cover of New American Paintings as well as awarded the 2009 Cleveland Arts Prize. Casey was also awarded the Creative Workforce Fellowship from the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture in Cleveland. She graduated with a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1999.

See more of Amy's work here

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

'Mutant Anxiety': Angst, woes in colorful veins


The cast of characters in the current exhibition at the Michael Rosenthal Gallery looks as if they came from the Island of Misfit Toys.


Megan Whitmarsh, "Flying Vision Crystal", 2009, embroidery thread on fabric

There are abominable snowmen dancing in knee-high socks, a buffalo surrounded by psychedelic droplets of stars, men in khaki pants holding wooden logs and what looks like a trippy Rorschach-esque pattern adorned with floating lips and snakes. "Mutant Anxiety," works by nine different artists from around the country, pops with playful color, bridges a street art sensibility with a contemporary gallery finesse and welcomes anyone who has ever felt like an eccentric oddball to explore.

When asked what anxiety or mutants might have to do with the collection, gallery owner and director Michael Rosenthal looks around the space and says with a smile, "Honestly, I still really have no idea. People will look for threads of meaning and some have a heightened academic approach to what art is and I respect that, but I want people to come see the work and find their own story."

He laughs and adds, "I suppose the one thing I did keep in mind was that this was a spirited show for the season, so I just tried to avoid paintings of people with knives in their heads or something."

Speaking by phone from Denver International Airport, Brooklyn artist James Benjamin Franklin contemplates modern-day nervousness and makes his way through crowded holiday lines. He says, "I don't think it is a new type of anxiety, but given the pace of life, we seem like we are all on a stage of high alert."

James Benjamin Franklin, "Even Approach", 2007, acrylic and resin on MDF


The sound of a woman's voice is heard in the background, informing people over a loudspeaker, that the U.S. threat level is orange.

"That was trippy," he says. "It's stuff like that that kind of mutates our lives these days I suppose. Maybe the work in the show is a response to that."

He adds with a laugh, "Then again, we are artists after all so maybe it just comes a bit more naturally to us."

San Francisco artist Matt Furie agrees. "I feel like this is an anxious mutated world we are living in right now," he says. "But then again, I also happen to draw mutated creatures that are worried about things. So while I didn't know about the title until later, it works just fine for me."

In the beginning of a year that saw a heightened economic strain throughout the art world, both collectors and artists alike are finally starting to see positive signs of change around the corner. In this context, the idea of having an unnatural fear is a fitting bookend to a decade with extreme highs and lows. While interpretations of the title will certainly vary, the success of "Mutant Anxiety" might indicate the fact that even though they were put through the ringer, the misfits of contemporary pop surrealism are here to stay.


-Patrick Knowles, San Francisco Chronicle


Friday, December 18, 2009

Mutant Anxiety

Opening: Saturday, December 19th, 5 - 9pm
On View: December 19th - January 9th

James Benjamin Franklin, Flood
Flashe and resin on canvas, 2009

This Winter Michael Rosenthal will be exhibiting a group of ten artists whose work concerns the abnormal and anxiety driven dilemmas of a world teetering on the edge of reality. Mutant Anxiety features the work of Megan Whitmarsh, James Benjamin Franklin, Matt Furie, Clara Fialho, Jane Fine, Kelly Allen, R Nicholas Kuszyk, Veronica de Jesus, Anna Fidler and Derek Weisberg.

Megan Whitmarsh, Crystal Expanse
Embroidery thread on fabric, 2009

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Aqua Art Miami

Michael Rosenthal Gallery is pleased to announce that we will participate in Aqua Art Miami, 2009 for the second year. Exhibiting in booth 39, the fair will be held in a warehouse in the heart of Miami's gallery district located at 42 NE 25th St. Miami FL 33137.



The Gen Art Vanguard Gala Party is on Thursday evening, December 3.

Public show hours are:
Thursday, December 3: 1pm - 7pm
Friday and Saturday, December 4 - 5: 11am - 7pm
Sunday, December 6: 11am - 4pm.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Lisa Adams @ Riverside Art Museum

"Edenistic Divergence"
Exhibition Dates: Nov. 21, 2009 - Feb. 20, 2010


Edenistic Divergence, a new exhibit at RAM, opens Saturday, November 21, 2009 7:00-9:00 PM. As always, opening receptions are FREE and open to the Public.

Landscape is a timeless motif first made popular by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Today, landscape painting is a means for artists to express their fears and concerns about our increasingly stressed environment. The painting, sculpture and installation work in Edenistic Divergence addresses the anticipated changes in our landscape as a result of pollution, global warming and genetic tinkering. The artists of Edenistic Divergence have used the contemporary language of color and material to voice their thinking. Within the context of this exhibit, the landscape has become both subject and background for a symbolic re-creation of Eden.

This exhibition is guest curated by Andi Campognone of Andi Campognone Projects

Riverside Art Museum
Interview with Lisa Adams

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Mary Conrad @ Twitter Offices

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Mary Conrad, “Tell Your Stories Here”, 2009, neon

Installed at the new Twitter offices in San Francisco. Conrad is currently exhibiting at Michael Rosenthal with her show "Lapidary Terrarium" through December 12th.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Megan Whitmarsh Exhibtiion at The Wolfsonian, Art Basel Miami

Recursive Objects
Megan Whitmarsh

A series of sculptures made in response to the Wolfsonian’s collection will be covertly interspersed throughout the museum. The Wolfsonian has a vast and earnest collection of high design and humble utilitarian items. While the varied backgrounds lend democracy, each piece also resonates with a sense of character. The meaning transferred into these objects by the act of collecting them creates an appealing sense of self-made worth which serves as metaphor for the act of making art. I have made facsimiles of some of these objects (to replace the originals in the exhibition) and also added my own inventions with similarly invented backgrounds.


Recursive Objects will be on display during Art Basel in Miami Florida, December 3rd - 6th.
The Wolfsonian
1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139