DAVID
BIERK
January
2005 |
| This
is to let you know that the next exhibition at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, opening
on January 8 and continuing through February 2, 2005, will be entitled "Life"
the third in a series of four posthumous exhibitions of David Bierk's work.
Most of the paintings in this exhibition, which spans almost two decades,
have never before been shown in New York. All works are now in the gallery
and available for viewing.
|
|
Unlike the
last exhibition, which focused around the artist's love of the landscape,
this show combines the artist's commitment to the light-saturated landscape
with his love of the classic figure in art history. After visiting the
Metropolitan Museum and taking photos of classical sculptures, Bierk decided
to produce a series of "Post Met" paintings, paying homage to
this seminal period of art, which has inspired artists through the years.
Bierk made the subject of art history his own, plumbing its depths from
classical times to 2002, the year he died. He never literally copied the
masters; he re-interpreted their works, celebrating the act of creation
through his passionate, multi-layered paintings.
|
David Bierk, Requiem for Life, Apollo,
oil on photograph on board, steel, 25 x 44, 1994
|
| |
|
David Bierk,
A Eulogy to Life, to Da Cortona,
oil on photograph on board, steel, 21 x 29 inches 1996 |
David Bierk, Portrait in Stone, Locked in Migration, to Fantin-Latour,
oil on canvas, concrete, 48 x 42 inches, 2000 |
| For
the artist it was not the image alone that was important, but the presentation
of the image as well. His Metropolitan studies of classical sculptures are
juxtaposed with a rusted iron surround. The ruddy warmth of the iron powder
"frame" is in contrast to the icy white marble glow of the painting.
Bierk worked the surface of the surround, stressing, distressing, weathering
and ageing it, not unlike the surface of the paintings, which he instantly
and intentionally aged, creating his signature craquelure, a conceptual
necessity. Each of the three Metropolitan studies is a detail of a classical
marble nude (a straightforward head, a female head and bust, a hand and
discus) evocative of a lost time and era, tenderly painted, revealing the
artist's love of his subject. In celebrating art history, Bierk also expressed
appreciation for the great museums of the world and their treasures.
|
David Bierk,
A Eulogy to mankind, Still Life Fragment #1,
oil on photograph on board, steel, 28 x 30 inches, 1997
|
David Bierk,
Requiem for Life, Aphrodite,
oil on photograph on board, steel, 24 x 34 inches, 1994 |
| |
|
David Bierk,
Requiem for a Planet, to Donatello,
oil on copper, oil on photograph on board, steel,
24 x 43 inches, 1994-2001 |
David Bierk,
Requiem for a Planet, Ochre Light,
oil on found steel, 28 x 40 inches, 2000-2001 |
| Dr.
Michael Mezzatesta, in his catalogue essay, writes of Bierk's interest in
classical art as follows: "Bierk's study is different for it was not
based on drawing after the antique but on photographing the antique. He
carefully surveyed his targets, shooting a head frontally or in profile,
from below or straight on, or by meticulously framing a portion of the figure.
His images are more than records of the sculptures' appearance: they are
redolent with the aura of antiquity, capturing the evocative essence of
the classical past. Moreover, Bierk painted on the photograph itself, altering
the image artfully defined by the camera lens through his personal touch.
Painterly manipulations thus remove the photo from the status of museum
souvenir to a different realm, to another place and time suggesting both
the present, and the 19th century when sepia-tinted photos of ancient sculpture
decorated drawing rooms and classrooms throughout Europe and America."
|
David Bierk,
Requiem for a Planet, Apollo,
oil on photograph on board, oil on paper on board,
steel, 24 x 42 inches, 1994-2001 |
David Bierk,
Requiem for a Planet, Still Life Fragment, to Mankind,
oil on photograph on board, oil on paper on board,
steel, 28 x 40 inches, 1997-2001 |
|
|
|
David Bierk,
Requiem for a Planet, Pompeii Man,
oil on photograph on board, oil on canvas,
steel, 31 x 45 inches, 1994-2001 |
David Bierk,
Requiem for a Planet, Hudson River Evening,
oil on copper, on canvas,
64 x 88 inches, 2000 |
| Included
in the exhibition are several glowing landscapes, the most heroic of them
entitled "Requiem for a Planet, Hudson River Evening" 65 x 88
inches. Most of Bierk's landscapes are completely invented, based on his
affection for artists who loved the light in the landscape, Turner, Bierstadt,
the Hudson River painters come to mind. The landscapes of the '80s are more
tranquil, with golden skies, trees, meanders, rolling hills; the more recent
landscapes are more abstract, mostly sky, at least 3/4's of the canvas filled
with the athleticism of painting. |
David Bierk,
Eulogy for a Planet, Rust Sky and Pond,
oil on paper on board, oil on iron on board
29 x 36 inches, 1998 |
David Bierk, A Eulogy to Earth, Ancient Valley,
oil on paper on board, Oil on iron on board
29 x 36 inches, 1998 |
| |
|
David Bierk,
Ontario Summer, ORange Sky, Study II,
oil on paper on board, 23 x 31 inches, 1989 |
David Bierk,
Olama Study, to Constable,
oil on paper on board, 22 x 28 inches, 1988 |
| One
almost feels the artist pushing, pulling, scraping the paint around the
surface creating charged atmospheric spaces. In "Requiem for a Planet"
golden clouds traverse the umber tree-dotted terrain, moving at rapid speed,
as if windswept by the artist's passion to apply paint. His landscapes are
a testimony to his feelings for the land and what man has done to destroy
its natural resources and riches. These are powerful, moving, heartwrenching,
sublime paintings. |
David Bierk,
After Kensett, Study II, Summer Day on Conesus Lake,
oil on paper on board, 15 x 21 inches, 1987 |
David Bierk,
Manitoba Morning Study,
oil on paper on board, 15 x 21 inches, 1987 |
| |
|
David Bierk,
Kawartha Dawn, Orange Sky,
oil on paper on board, 15 x 21 inches, 1988 |
David Bierk,
Kawartha Dawn, Yellow Sky,
oil on paper on board, 15 x 21 inches, 1987 |
| David
Bierk was born in Appleton, Minnesota in 1944. He received both a B.A. and
an M.A. from Humboldt State University, Arcata, California. He also attended
California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland. |
David Bierk,
Metropolitan Study - Nude,
oil on photograph on board, iron on board,
28 x 26 inches, 1999, 9/10 |
David Bierk,
Metropolitan Study - Bust,
oil on photograph on board, iron on board,
28 x 26 inches, 1999, 9/10 |
| David
Bierk's work has been widely shown throughout the United States and Canada
at The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut; Binghamton
University Art Museum, Binghamton, New York; Canadian Museum of Contemporary
Photography, Ottawa; Dayton Art Institute, Ohio; Evansville Museum of Arts,
Science and History, Indiana; Flint Institute of the Arts, Michigan; Samuel
P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville; Hunter Museum
of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee; Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah,
New York; Las Vegas Art Museum, Nevada; London Regional Art and Historical
Museum, London, Ontario; University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Memorial
Art Museum, Rochester, New York; MoMA extension at Pfizer, New York, New
York; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Alabama; New York Academy of Sciences,
New York, New York; Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, among others,
as well as many corporate and private venues. |
David Bierk,
Metropolitan Study - Hand and Bowl,
oil on photograph on board, iron on board,
28 x 32 inches, 1999, 9/10 |
David Bierk,
Requiem (Life), to Titian,
oil on photograph on board, steel,
24 x 29 inches, 1996 |
| His
work is included in many public collections, among them Art Gallery of Algoma,
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia;
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Art Gallery of Peterborough, Ontario; Art
Gallery of Windsor, Ontario; Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography,
Ottawa; Canadian Postal Museum, Ottawa; The Dayton Art Institute, Ohio;
Evansville Museum of Arts, Science and History, Indiana; Knoxville Museum
of Art, Tennessee; London Regional Art Gallery, London, Ontario; Macdonald
Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Alabama;
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; City of Peterborough, Ontario; Tom Thompson
Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario; as well as many corporate and
private collections. |
| The
artist was named Artist-in-Residence by the Canada Council, St. Catherines,
and the Canada Council, North Bay, Ontario. He received the Queen's Golden
Jubilee Award (posthumous) and three grant awards from the Canada Council.
|
|
|
|
| Link
to David Bierk Memory Exhibition 2004 |
Link
to David Bierk Sanctuary Exhibition 2003 |
| |
|
