NEW YORK, NY.- Almine Rech Gallery New York announces a solo exhibition燽y renowned multi-disciplinary artist John M Armleder (of American and燬wiss origin, born in 1948 in Geneva, lives and works in Geneva and New燳ork), organized with Nicolas Trembley. Marking his first exhibition in爐he gallery’s New York space, Armleder will present a historic ensemble爋f drawings produced in the 1960s as well as his first wall paintings, a selection of notable Furniture燬culpture works from the 1980s, and a series of new paintings created爄n Brooklyn specifically for this exhibition.
Armleder has always maintained a close relationship with New York燙ity. By the end of the 1960s, he had taken particular interest in the燿evelopment of the international Fluxus movement, which inspired him爐o co-found the Ecart Group in Geneva in 1969, an influential collective燿oubling as a publishing house and exhibition space, which came to爃ost leading figures of the day such as Andy Warhol. In the 1980s,燗rmleder began to exhibit in New York and established a dialogue燽etween the artists associated with the local ‘Neo-Geo’ scene,爄ncluding Haim Steinbach and Peter Halley, in addition to Olivier燤osset and Helmut Federle, both linked to Geneva—Armleder’s home燾ity. Most recently in New York, Armleder exhibited at Wade Guyton’s爁ormer Brooklyn studio space, Burning Bridges, in 2014.
This survey exhibition of John M Armleder’s diverse practice from the爈ate 1960s until the present day will include examples of painting and爏culpture, as well as a series of historic drawings and conceptual wall paintings. Using simple brush爏trokes, applied without visible effort, some works draw on爏everal of Armleder’s major influences: Zen Buddhism, the music of燡ohn Cage, and the work of Marcel Duchamp. Other drawings use爂eometric shapes in stark primary colors, celebrating the motifs爋f the Constructivists or Suprematists—movements that remain爀ssential to the artist’s practice.
In 1979, John M Armleder developed a series of works entitled燜urniture Sculpture, which brought him international recognition. These爓orks, composed of a domestic piece of furniture, such as a table or燾hair, are associated with an abstract canvas. Directly referencing the燚uchampian ready-made, they endeavour to question the status of爐he work of art, the ideas of style and decoration, while freeing those爁rom artistic categories and hierarchies. One of his first Furniture燬culpture works (FS18), originally presented in 1980 at C Space in燦ew York, will be reassembled for this exhibition. The piece is燾omprised of a coffee table nailed to the ceiling. Another piece from爐his series, FS 230, is made up of three faux Louis XV style chairs,爌laced on a painted pedestal, while Blind Venetian Piece (FS)爅uxtaposes a Venetian blind with a black and white painting. The爀xhibition will also include a new Furniture Sculpture produced in2016, in reference to the stalls of flowers in New York’s delis.
A series of new paintings produced in New York last summer will round爋ut the exhibition. These new diptychs blend the artist’s modernist燿istinctive stripe and polka-dot paintings, with a fluorescent, pop爄nfluenced aesthetic. These works are also associated with the爊ow famous Puddle and Pour Paintings, which were created by爎andomly pouring paint on a vertical canvas or a canvas placed on the爁loor and gesturally mixing in a diverse range of experimental爉aterials such as glitter or automotive lacquer.
