For Immediate Release:
April 1, 2010
Slag Gallery is pleased to announce the opening o f “Two Way Street”, two solo shows featuring works by Hannah Cole and Nicole Stone .
April 8 - April 27, 2010
Opening Reception: Thursday April 8, 6 - 8pm
Artist Talk: April 24, 4pm
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The new exhibition at Slag Gallery, “Two Way Street” presents two artists who isolate elements of the commonplace with a poetic simplicity that rises above casual observation.
Hannah Cole
In her paintings, Hannah Cole invites the viewer to rediscover his/her own surroundings filtered through the artist's own emotional prism. Taking randomly observed fragments of the urban environment, she composes works that flirt with the history of American abstract painting. Critic Cate McQuaid describes Cole as " a painter with a sharp visual curiosity and a perfectionist’s dedication to technique."
“I compose tight abstractions from fragments of the city that normally go unnoticed.
I select traces of a human hand in the grey grids of the city; the wobble of a tag or a trowel mark, or a history of notes left for the UPS man. These moments of carelessness I translate into paint with immense care. It is a devotional act. A meditation.”
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Hannah Cole holds a MFA in painting from Boston University, Boston, MA, a Post-Baccalaureate degree in painting from Brandeis University, and a BA in Art History from Yale University.
Hannah Cole's previous solo exhibitions include “Mantle”, (2010) Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, ”I Move to Keep Things Whole”,(2010) Laconia Gallery, curated by James Hull, Boston, “Instant Sublime”, (2009) Greene Contemporary, New York, ”Wish You Were Here”, (2008) former Lebanon Pavilion, Venice, New Paintings, (2006) Alpha Gallery, Boston.
Nicole Stone
“Six Inches”
Nicole Stone creates surfaces that vibrate with energy. She materializes subtle gestures into dynamic, multi-dimensional forms that derive power from layers of meanings and elegantly suggested ramifications. With sensibility and exquisite craftsmanship, Nicole “endows” her work with various entry points inviting the viewer to create narratives for her intriguing pieces.
“Six Inches features hand painted images on large plywood sculptures and a repeating text border on the wall beyond. Apparently unrelated recognizable objects like a crashed truck, a mushroom, and a Lego ball, are painted in digitized marks in black and white gouache on plywood. A Google image search using the phrase “six inches” as the keyword provides image content and a central theme.
Focusing on what the phrase “six inches” can mean to a person (sexual jokes?) compared to what it means to a search engine (Have you ever measured something and then written that measurement on the web?). Reflecting on being alive at a time when so much information is available, I am exploring the relationship between what we know, and what we think we know. Unlikely to be reconnected easily, images with phrase, and phrase with images, Six Inches manifests the differences between the associative processes of humans and of computers.
I am inspired by misunderstandings occurring across ways of communicating, such as word vs. image, computer vs. human, and written vs. verbal language. Developed from areas of interest such as advertising, geometry, construction, art history, and science, my language is a mash up of references and materials.”
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Nicole Stone holds a MFA in painting from Massachusetts College of Art, a post baccalaureate degree from Brandeis University and a BFA from Massachussets College of Art.
Nicole Stone’s work has been included in numerous group exhibitions:
Brucennial, 350 W. Broadway (pop up), SOHO, NY 2010
BTHCBFFS, Troutman Studios, Brooklyn, NY, 2009
Quizotic. Troutman Studios, Brooklyn, NY, 2009
Johnson Works. Johnson, VT, 2009
Hurly Burly (Zine). Burlington, VT, 2009
New Work: Art from the workers at the New Museum. Stanton Chapter, NY, NY, 2008
SUM. Julian Scott Memorial Gallery, Johnson State College, Johnson, VT, 2007
Spaces, Process Revealed. Pearl Street Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2006
SLAG Gallery specializes in contemporary American and Eastern European art and is operated by owner and director Irina Protopopescu.
SLAG Gallery is located at 531 West 25 th Street, Ground Floor, suite 10. (Between 10 th and 11 th Avenues).
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm.
For press inquiries and reproductions contact Irina Protopopescu, 917 977 1848.
For general inquiries, contact the gallery at 212 967 9818.