Bard College Alumni/ae Association Presents
Chelsea, NY - Nina Bovasso '00 in exhibition
Josée Bienvenu is pleased to present the sixth installment of “Present” a series of guest-curated exhibitions in the Project Space.
Nina Bovasso's new collage paintings are simultaneously raucous and understated. When considering the tradition of white paintings, the simplicity of Malevich and the nuance of Ryman come to mind. Bovasso represents the next generation and presents her own take on this unforgiving challenge. Bovasso tracked visual culture from an early age. Her father was an abstract painter and her mother a textile designer. A lifelong New Yorker, she came of age when Guston’s late works were causing an earthquake in the late seventies and eighties. As one of the progenitors of cosmic-comic abstract painting in the ‘90s, Bovasso is known for dense compositions of swirling vortexes and of irregularly stacked units that coalesce into humorously flattened mounds. The mounds have a totemic presence reminiscent of landscape devices from the earthly pagan delights of Piero di Cosimo to Spielberg's Close Encounters.
Bovasso’s new work is a sharp departure from her signature high-keyed color palette. The white works are comprised of interwoven shapes, both biomorphic and near-rectilinear, cut from common cardboard and affixed to gessoed canvas. The works are arranged and interwoven into boisterous tense grids, in which each shape seems to elbow the next for dominance on stage. They perform for the viewer, but more importantly test their mettle against one another. Though these compositions can appear to be quickly and aggressively hashed out, the construction is subtle and deft. Behind Bovasso’s incisive manipulation of space is a blend of historical consideration and impatient bravado. Bovasso’s act of bold, fitful cancellation can’t dampen the compositional acuity or intensity. Her move is direct, tough as nails, and hilarious. Bovasso is a badass and we are smitten.
- Virgil de Voldere, January 2016
For more information, call 212-206-7990, e-mail [email protected],
or visit http://www.joseebienvenugallery.com/exhibitions/present-6-virgil-de-voldere-presents-nina-bovasso.
Location: New York, NY