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Brian Calvin

Past exhibition
September 9 - October 16, 2004
  • Overview
  • Installation Views
  • Works
  • Press
Overview
Brian Calvin Oh Me, 2004 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 18 inches
Brian Calvin
Oh Me, 2004
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 18 inches

Anton Kern Gallery is proud to present the first solo exhibition of artist Brian Calvin in New York. He currently lives and works in California.

 

Brian Calvin’s paintings are a continuation of the narrative of the figure in painting; weird and quietly disconcerting, the mischievously witty paintings are a meditation on that practice. Blank-faced characters are cast in frozen moments that form no narrative.

 

The perspective recalls an awkward landscape survey with flattened palate and skewed cropping. Yet as paintings, they are amazingly coherent. Calvin builds them up by using simple lines and matte color patches to transform the ordinary into something enchanted. The painted scenes are overlays of reality, detached elements that form a cerebral puzzle. Frames, smoke rings, a landscape painting and tropical vegetation act as mysterious evidence linking his work to art history.

 

The bi-dimensionality of the work lulls the viewer into a meditative state. Even as the paintings veer toward abstraction they retain instances of magically vanished moments.

 

“To me, all of my work is a contemplation of painting and it’s possibilities, so it feels natural to sometimes make works involving the act of painting. I strive to think through painting, not to paint what I think.” – Brian Calvin.

Download Press Release
List of Works
Installation Views
  • Installation view of Brian Calvin's first show at Anton Kern Gallery.
  • Installation view of Brian Calvin's first show at Anton Kern Gallery. Two works shown.
  • Installation view of Brian Calvin's first show at Anton Kern Gallery. Two works featured.
  • Installation view of Brian Calvin's first show at Anton Kern Gallery. Two additional works featured.
Works
  • Brian Calvin Oh Me, 2004
    Brian Calvin
    Oh Me, 2004
  • Brian Calvin When and Where, 2004
    Brian Calvin
    When and Where, 2004
  • Brian Calvin With You, 2004
    Brian Calvin
    With You, 2004
  • Brian Calvin Awake (for JK), 2004
    Brian Calvin
    Awake (for JK), 2004
  • Brian Calvin Fire and Ice, 2004
    Brian Calvin
    Fire and Ice, 2004
  • Brian Calvin In a Place, 2004
    Brian Calvin
    In a Place, 2004
  • Brian Calvin Broad Daylight, 2004
    Brian Calvin
    Broad Daylight, 2004
  • Brian Calvin Twin Palms, 2004
    Brian Calvin
    Twin Palms, 2004
  • Brian Calvin Crossing Over, 2004
    Brian Calvin
    Crossing Over, 2004
  • Brian Calvin Still Wind, 2004
    Brian Calvin
    Still Wind, 2004
  • Brian Calvin Beads, 2004
    Brian Calvin
    Beads, 2004
  • Brian Calvin New Moon, 2004
    Brian Calvin
    New Moon, 2004
Press
  • Brian Calvin

    Michael Wilson, Artforum, December 1, 2004
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  • Best of 2004

    ArtForum, December 1, 2004
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  • Arts & Letters

    David Cohen, The New York Sun, October 7, 2004
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  • Weekend Update

    Walter Robinson, artnet, September 20, 2004
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  • Art in Review: Brian Calvin

    Ken Johnson, The New York Times, September 17, 2004
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Related artist

  • Brian Calvin

    Brian Calvin

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ANTON KERN GALLERY

16 East 55th Street

New York, NY 10022

 

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Press Inquiries:
press@antonkerngallery.com

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