Wall Drawing / Covers

Gideon Bok worked in the gallery through November and December on a charcoal wall drawing, using SPACE as the subject. Gideon’s interior paintings and drawings highlight the passage of time, usually utilizing the space where the work is made. They feature the changing cast of characters who have stopped by, records strewn about, and other artifacts such as musical instruments, empty bottles, and semi-complete paintings. Gideon will give a slide talk about his work and we’ll celebrate the completion of this project at SPACE.

Presented with support from The Artists Resource Trust.

Artist talk and closing reception on Friday, December 16.

From the New York Times on October 6:
“Gideon Bok: ‘Record Store’ (closes on Saturday) What to do when you’re a painter with a beloved record collection that spans several decades of folk, rock, heavy metal and punk? Make quick, Expressionistic album-size paintings of album covers lying around the studio on expanses of aqua blue insulation or wood floor, or elevated on a small pedestal. A total of 120 examples, triple hung, line the walls in the inaugural downtown show of this formerly uptown gallery. Often, the painterly flourishes give the familiar designs a blurry aura commensurate with the musical memories they prompt. Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, 208 Forsyth Street, near Houston Street, Lower East Side, (917) 861-7312, shfap.com. (Roberta Smith)”

Review of the NY show on Culture Catch:
“[Bok] paints with a rough, expressive hand while listening to the album he is depicting, linking the paint handling with its musical counterpart; Kandinsky attempted this synesthetic experience also in his work. Bok notes that he has been influenced by Erwin Panofsky and Merleau-Ponty, with particular regard for their theories of phenomenology and perspective. The collection of albums also calls to mind how closely we are all linked through what we believe is personal taste yet is really assumptions made by groups of people, not mere individuals. We are joined together by sensibilities. Liking the same thing. Bok elaborates on or obscures the original cover art (in itself an art form of the past), showing how our “perspective” of the work shifts by our perceptions of it.” – Bradley Rubenstein