Rhombus Space Presents "Elusive Abstraction" featuring work by Peter Demos, Katherine Keltner, Alexandra Posen, and Albert Weaver

Alexandra Posen, Chutes de Khone, Silk chiffon, thread, lead, and wood, 36 x 66”, 2012

Rhombus Space is pleased to present Elusive Abstraction, an exhibition featuring artwork by Peter Demos, Katherine Keltner, Alexandra Posen, and Albert Weaver. 

Curated by Katerina Lanfranco

Exhibition Dates: May 2 – May 25, 2014.  Reception: Friday, May 2, 6-9 PM. 

Elusive Abstraction is an exhibition of artwork that uses spare visual languages and encourages a visual experience that is fluid and rests on the periphery of rigid formal abstraction. Each artist in the show creates their unique visual language that evolves from a deep commitment to their artistic process, as well as an investigation into the subtle formal relations between mark, paint, and surface in their work. Peter Demos’ hard-edge black on black paintings wrestle with a spatial illusion that fluctuates between images and objects. Katherine Keltner explores repetition and universality, oscillating between using digital and analog tools to construct abstract images. Her works involve the ritual of tracing and embrace blurred distinctions of subject and other. Alexandra Posen’s use of luscious materials like wax and chiffon silk evoke a sensual corporeality. She employs signature couture fashion techniques to form elegant lines and gestures in her translucent silk works creating presence and absence. Albert Sunjoon Weaver’s paintings and drawings are a meditation on water, waves, surfing, and satellite imaging of ocean tide patterns. His surfaces are woven together in repeated gestures in a quest to extrapolate the essence of a distilled mark within these layers of oceanic contemplation.

The four artists presented in Elusive Abstraction suggest new and exciting territory for contemporary abstraction. The overriding compositional approaches of these works make their description slippery and harder to grasp. While the prevailing tone of this show is both subdued and understated, there is a distinct boldness in how inventive and pioneering the formal logic and compositional rules that these four artists work with. As a result, a visual ambience is created by all of the works in this show as they move between an analytical logical construct and the viewer’s aesthetic experience. 

Peter Demos lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He earned his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, and MFA (Tony Smith Award) from Hunter College. In 2011, Demos was awarded a Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation residency. His work has been exhibited at Mixed Greens, Nathan Bernstein and Co. Ltd., Leo Koenig Inc., Deitch Projects, Cirrus Gallery, Dorsch Gallery, The Hole and The Journal Gallery. Upcoming: solo exhibitions at David Richard Gallery and Restoration Hardware Contemporary Art; and group exhibitions at Charles Banks Gallery in NY, and Martin Asbæk Gallery in Copenhagen. His work has been reviewed in The Last Magazine, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, & Refinery 29.

Peter Demos, Untitled. Acrylic on dyed canvas 60 x 30", 2014.

Katherine Keltner is a New York based artist. Keltner earned her MFA (Distinction) from American University and AB (High Honors) from Dartmouth College. Her work has been exhibited at The American University Museum / Katzen Arts Center, Muriel Guepin Gallery, Arts@Renaissance, Jamaica Center for the Arts, Max Protetch Gallery, and Creative Time. Keltner is the recipient of the Arteles Center Fellowship, the Vermont Studio Center Grant and was a finalist for the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Prize. Her work has been reviewed in L Magazine, ARTINFO, and the Village Voice. Recently, Keltner presented her paper “Multiplicities from Motherhood” at the 2013 NWSA Conference.

Katherine Keltner, First it was Her. Archival inkjet print on canvas with mixed media, 40 x 40", 2012.

Alexandra Posen is a graduate of Brown University and L’Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. She studied physical & visual theater with an emphasis on mask making and puppetry, which lead to her performance works in the late 90’s. In 2000 she began her wax drawing series FIELDS, and soon after co-founded Zac Posen, where as Creative Director she worked for nearly a decade to establish the label as a global brand.  Alexandra Posen’s extensive knowledge of couture fabric and technique has translated into a unique formal language in her abstract paintings. Posen’s work has been exhibited at Lynch Tham, NYCAMS, The Watermill Center, and reviewed in Bullett Magazine. 

Alexandra Posen, Mad Vallis. Chiffon silk, ink, pins and wood, 12 x 12”, 2014.

Albert Sunjoon Weaver was born in Southern California. He received a BA in studio art from the University of California, Santa Cruz and earned his Masters of Fine Arts in painting from American University in Washington DC. He has exhibited nationally and internationally at Zg Gallery in Chicago, Herrett Center for the Visual Arts in Twin Falls, Jamaica Center for the Arts in New York, Trebisonda Gallery in Perugia, Italy and Hiromart Gallery in Japan. He is the recipient of the Stanley G. Wolpoff Drawing Award. Weaver’s work has been reviewed in Times-News and The Chicago Sun Times. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. 

Albert Weaver, Untitled. Oil on panel, 16 x 16", 2013.