NADA and Friends

NADA AND FRIENDS

February 8th – 27th, 2022 

Abattoir presents a reprise of their NADA Miami exhibition in the gallery, featuring new work by Shawn Powell, Kent, OH and Caitlin MacBride, Catskill, NY. In addition, we introduce twonew artists to the gallery, Thomas Spoerndle(Akron, OH, resides New York), and Peter Demos(Kansas City, resides New York). John Pearson (Oberlin, OH) will be represented by some of his wall sculptures.

These artists all share an interest in the history of abstract painting and modernism/postmodernism. Powell and MacBrideexplore objecthood in their paintings, each guided by their particular cultural and art historical interests. They mine figuration along singular paths towards raising the familiar into the philosophical. Both Powell and MacBride trade in objects borrowedfrom different realms. In the series presented here, MacBride studies tools from historical craft and museum archives, and Powell paints life preservers depicted with items one might discoveron a sandy beach. American imagery is central to both artists, who each configure carefully wrought objects into unusual environments, suggesting a conscious nod to second wave Surrealism, American still life, and Pop art traditions.

Geometric abstraction lies at the core of Thomas Spoerndle’s paintings. Using primarycolors,his Frik-Shuhnseries employs reductive patterns which shift in scale to create rhythms and patterns reminiscent of Piet Mondrian’s Jazz inspired Boogie Woogiepaintings as well as the Op Art work of Cleveland masters Julian Stanczakand Richard Anuszkiewicz.The artist credits conceptual artistsSol LeWitt and Agnes Martin as inspiring his method of framing apainting in terms of a prescribed plan rather than intuition. John Pearson, an Abattoir Gallery artist based in Ohio, trained in London, provides a link to reductive, conceptual work in the region. His wall sculptures, which appear as geometric objects hovering barely off the wall, tie Spoerndle’s paintings back to his own Ohio roots.

Finally, Peter Demos employs severely reductive strategies to create paintings which operate on both conceptual and optical planes. Using only black and white, he builds paintings without traces of the artist’s hand, but which reward the viewer with close looking.