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    NOW-ISM: Abstraction Today at Pizzuti Collection

    Before we get too far into 2015, I’ve got some unfinished business from 2014 that I need to attend to; namely a review of NOW-ISM: Abstraction Today currently on view at the Pizzuti Collection. The exhibition opened in mid-2014 and remains up through June 20th of 2015. So while I might be a little tardy in my review, you, Dear Viewer, still have plenty of time to see this terrific show.

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    "White carpet treatment" by Alejandro Almanza Pereda.
    “White carpet treatment” by Alejandro Almanza Pereda.

    First though, in the interest of making sure we’re all on the same page, let’s recap the hows and whens and whys of the Pizzuti Collection. Ron Pizzuti (of Pizzuti construction) began collecting art over thirty years ago. His passion for art has resulted in a highly-regarded collection of contemporary art that includes not only some of the art world’s biggest names, but also many up-and-coming artists. In an effort to make the work in his collection accessible (and promote the sort of cultural dialogue that art inspires), Mr. Pizzuti established the Pizzuti Collection. The gallery space/museum/kunsthalle opened in September of 2013 and has succeeded in adding yet another dimension to an already robust Central Ohio art’s scene.

    As for NOW-ISM: Abstraction Today, the title promises both non-representational art and currency. It delivers on both fronts. NOW-ISM is an exhibition that features over 100 works of abstract art by over 50 different artists. The currency comes from the fact that all the works on display were created in the 21st century. This is no small feat, and points again to the Pizzuti Collection’s determination to present viewers with the new, the fresh, and the unexpected.

    "The People’s Republic" by Ann Hamilton.
    “The People’s Republic” by Ann Hamilton.

    That’s not to say there aren’t big names here. Local star Ann Hamilton, MacArthur Genius Teresita Fernández, and up-and-comer Sarah Cain are just a few of the luminaries present in this celebrated and multinational group of artists. Not surprisingly, the works are just as diverse as the artists who created them. They run the gamut of abstraction as well; from the geometric to the gestural, from the angular to the amorphous. If there’s a unifying sense, it’s this: neither founder Ron Pizzuti nor Director/Curator Rebecca Ibel are inclined to shy away from bold strokes. This is a show that is nothing if not flamboyant; an absolute kaleidoscope of colors, textures and shapes.

    To put it another way, this is not Mark Rothko’s brand of abstraction. If you want to sit quietly in the presence of shimmering fields of complementary colors, you might look elsewhere. Oh, there are nods to the Color Field masters, Post-Painterly abstraction, and some of their more sedate precursors, but those restive moments come few and far between. They’re also strategically placed in the context of some of the most unapologetically brash and ambitious works you’ll likely see assembled anywhere. There is, as they say, a riot going on. Don’t take that the wrong way though. NOW-ISM isn’t all splash and eye candy. There’s serious work here; work that is both reverent and referential.

    "From the series: Continental breakfast-overmorrow at noon" by Florian Meisenberg.
    “From the series: Continental breakfast-overmorrow at noon” by Florian Meisenberg.

    Alejandro Almanza Pereda’s White Carpet Treatment and Untilted are frail and unsettling. Florian Meisenberg’s paintings from the Continental breakfast-ovrmorrow at noon series offer sophisticated clues that challenge their slapdash execution (Is this what they mean when they talk about the New Casualists?). In Meisenberg’s work we see hints of the stained canvases of Frankenthaler, the African masks of the early modernists, the fragile compositions of Klee, and even the theatrical sense of Charles Wilson Peale (This might be stretching it, but I can’t be the only one who see’s Duchamp’s Fountain in their too can I?).

    Taken in total, the works in NOW-ISM serve to push the boundaries of abstraction itself. They offer light as abstraction, words as abstraction, shapes as abstraction, and shadows as abstraction. The truth is we’ve become so acclimated to abstract art being something that painters do that we forget there’s a whole other dimension (literally) to the form. The light reflected off of Lee Bul’s transcendent Sternbau #8 and the delicate shadows cast by Teresita Fernández’ Vertigo (Sotto in su) are as much a part of the language of abstraction as the gestural paint marks in Tomory Dodge’s The Future.

    "Sternbau #8" by Lee Bul.
    “Sternbau #8” by Lee Bul.

    See, abstraction is unwieldy like that. In the end it can be just about anything we see. And even after one-hundred plus years of bearing witness to non-representational art, our sense-making brains still struggle with it. We still want it to tell a story. We want it to create a narrative; to inform us, rarely considering that it’s perfectly ok for things to be enigmatic, to be ambiguous, to be unknowable. We don’t insist a melody offer “meaning” so why do we ask it of abstract art?

    I suspect it’s because the point at which a work becomes abstract is the point at which it becomes an object unto itself. At that point it takes on a life of its own. It exists in its own right and no longer has to conform to our existing reality. That’s a confounding thing and a demanding thing. It’s also a good thing. Abstraction pushes our brains just a little harder. We have more to resolve and less to go on. I’ve often contended that one of the hallmarks of art is that it gives us the chance to think about (and see) the world in new ways. NOW-ISM does that and it does it very well. Take advantage of the opportunity and go see it.

    NOW-ISM is on view through June 20, 2015 at Pizzuti Collection. For more information, visit www.pizzuticollection.org.

    Lee Bul
    Sternbau #8
    2008
    Crystal, glass and acrylic beads on nickel-chrome wire, stainless steel and aluminum armature
    60 x 29 x 31 in.

    Ann Hamilton
    The People’s Republic
    2013
    Paperback book slices, wood, bookbinder’s glue
    9 3/4 x 12 x 4 3/4 in.

    Florian Meisenberg
    From the series: Continental breakfast-overmorrow at noon
    2012
    Oil on canvas
    96 1/8 x 78 1/4 in

    Alejandro Almanza Pereda
    White carpet treatment
    2009
    Light bulbs, burnt light bulb, porcelain sockets, electric wire; unique series
    20 x 36 in.

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    Jeff Regensburger
    Jeff Regensburger
    Jeff Regensburger is a painter, librarian, and drummer in the rock combo The Christopher Rendition. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts (Painting and Drawing) from The Ohio State University in 1990 and an Master’s Degree in Library Science from Kent State University in 1997. Jeff blogs sporadically (OnSummit.blogspot.com), tweets occasionally (@jeffrey_r), and paints as time allows.
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