SLAUGHTERHOUSESPACE
280 CHIQUITA RD
HEALDSBURG, CA 95448
707.431.1514
www.slaughterhousespace.com
SHERMAN NOBLEMAN
PAINTINGS IN SLAUGHTERHOUSESPACE
"Beauty has as many meanings as man has moods. Beauty is the symbol of symbols. Beauty reveals everything, because it expresses nothing. When it shows itself, it shows us the whole fiery-colored world."
Oscar Wilde, 1890
SlaughterhouseSpace is pleased to present an exhibition of large-scale paintings by Sherman Nobleman May 5 to June 24, 2012. This is Nobleman's first exhibition with the gallery and the gallery's first one-man show of paintings. After five years exhibiting performance-based work, conceptual art, multimedia, and installations it feels like the right moment for SlaughterhouseSpace to devote its first show of the 2012 season to beauty and to an artist whose long career has been devoted to its creation.
SlaughterhouseSpace, a vast concrete industrial site is the perfect environment to show a broad survey of my work including many large scale paintings. There are several bodies of work represented in this show.
The 15th Night of the Moon,mixed media on canvas,67" x 69"
The "Inside Series" consisting of works of acrylic on canvas, stems from interior feelings and meditations. The highly gestural brushwork and sequential markings combined with the design elements of color and composition creates a visual experience akin to music, often symphonic in feeling, through active surface interplay.
Studio Series 64, mixed media on canvas 64" X 64"
The "Studio Series", at first appearing minimalistic, upon closer observation reflects a complex study of contrasts: freedom and structure, light and shadow, elegance and primitivism, intention and spontaneity, intellect and emotion. This further exploration of surface is achieved with the technique of painting below and above a vellum scrim applied to the canvas to create dimensionality and to incorporate chance and immediacy as well as an air of mystery.
Rain Series 40,mixed media on panel, 48" x 48"
The "Rain Series" involves the use of the drip technique to create a dimensionality and tension between surface and ground. Using a variety of approaches, I explore the way paint flows like rain over the surface of a window The moods created range from soft to vigorous, from subtle to contrasting, from monochromatic to colorful, but always highly sensual and evocative.
Burnished Series 102, mixed media on canvas, 81 1/2" x 75"
The "Burnished series" extends the study of surface with the use of gold, bronze and silver metallic powders suspended in solutions that reflect and shimmer on the canvas. There is a hint here of something lost and emerging, almost archeological in nature. Scale, unconventional technique, imperfections and the randomness of chance contrast with careful composition and layering to convey a world of mystery and emotion.
Sherman Nobleman
April 2012
www.shermannobleman.com