Review: "Colors" at FreedmanArt

(An Appropriate Distance) From the Mayor’s Doorstep

By Piri Halasz, April 1, 2018

A singularly inventive group show at FreedmanArt is “Colors” (through May 12). The idea for it was born when the gallery’s director, Ann Freedman, visited the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA last year, to see its exhibition devoted to Sam Kootz, the pioneering art dealer who early on represented Adolph Gottlieb, Motherwell & Hofmann, among others. While Freedman was there, her attention was drawn to a poem entitled “Colors” by a 12-year-old schoolgirl named Zoe Kusyk that had been inspired by a 1977 Larry Poons painting at the Fralin. The poem had won first prize in the annual competition inspired by the museum for works of prose or poetry inspired by works in the museum’s collection. The poem itemizes different colors but perfectly captures the way they all run together in the Poons painting and tells how the disparate but very human stories they tell also become one in the end.

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Blouin ArtInfo: "Colors" at FreedmanArt, New York

COLORS, February 15 - August 17, 2018 at FreedmanArt, New York

FreedmanArt “Colors” brings together works of more than 25 artists under one roof at its New York venue through August 17, 2018 “Colors” features artwork by Josef Albers, Lee Bontecou, Jack Bush, Friedel Dzubas, Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Glenn Goldberg, Nancy Graves, Stephen Greene, Grace Hartigan, Hans Hofmann, Paul Jenkins, Alfred Leslie, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Larry Poons, Susan Roth, Kurt Schwitters, David Smith, Theodoros Stamos, Frank Stella, Esteban Vicente, John Walker, Kit White, and Jack Youngerman.

All the artists are known for their inventive, expressive use of color, whether brilliant, raucous, or muted. It is a notably diverse group of works on paper, paintings, and collages by such luminaries as Josef Albers among others. FreedmanArt has been doing interesting thematic shows for some time — everything from works of art given by artists to their friends and colleagues to prints by painters who devoted a good deal of time to exploring other media.

"Colors" takes as its point of departure a poem written by then twelve-year-old Zoe Kusyk, a student in Charlottesville, Virginia, a 2016 winner of “Writer’s Eye,” an annual competition held by the Fralin Museum of the University of Virginia that “challenges writers of all ages to create original works of poetry and prose inspired by works of art on display in the Museum.” “Colors,” was a response to a 1977 painting by Larry Poons, a cascade of liquid hues pulled by gravity into parallel but active rivulets, now remaining distinct, now mingling. “Our commitment is to the artist, and to bringing art and collector together. FreedmanArt serves to educate the public with an active exhibition program, guided by invitational artist exhibitions and special project conceptions, both historical and new,” says the gallery.

The exhibition is on view through August 17, 2018, at FreedmanArt, 25 east 73rd street New York NY 10021.
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