Donald Moffett
Lot 082011 (Cobalt and Its Troubling Perfection), 2011
Oil on linen with wood panel support, galvanized bucket, concrete, driftwood, wood post, wire, hardware
88 x 21 x 15 inches
223.5 x 53.3 x 38.1 cm
Lot 070511 (The Double Syndrome), 2011
Oil on linen with wood panel support, concrete statuary, wood, concrete, wire, rebar, wrought iron, hardware, c-clamps, rubber
132 x 18 x 20 inches
335.3 x 45.7 x 50.8 cm
Lot 030111 (The Central O), 2011
Oil on linen with wood panel support, galvanized buckets, chain, wire, concrete, driftwood
116 x 81 x 16 inches
294.6 x 205.7 x 40.6 cm
Lot 032211 (The Crimson Cut), 2011
Oil on linen with wood panel support, cast iron, electric motor, common black pipe, hardware
124 x 28 x 20 inches
315 x 71.1 x 50.8 cm
Lot 101011 (The Ravaged I), 2011
Oil on linen with wood panel support, alkyd enamel on metal with rubber tires, concrete weight with rebar handles, metal chain, steel wire, cotton covered iron weight, timbers, (2) cow bells
76 ½ x 32 x 60 inches
194.3 x 81.3 x 152.4 cm
PRESS RELEASE
Donald Moffett: Richmond Terrace
4 November – 9 December 2011
Opening reception: Thursday, 3 November, 6 to 8 pm
Anthony Meier Fine Arts is pleased to present Richmond Terrace, an exhibition of new work by New York artist Donald Moffett. In his fourth exhibition at the gallery, Moffett debuts a suite of works that continues his ongoing investigation into the dimensionality of painting and its potential meanings. In this latest step, Moffett shifts viewers' perspectives from the wall to the round.
While maintaining a clear delineation between front and back, Moffett’s paintings are displayed on freestanding structures of functional, although at times elaborate, components that allow access to the verso of his canvases. The structures are utilitarian in nature – made of wood, metal, concrete, buckets, wire, and chain – and unadorned. In contrast, Moffett’s paintings remain elegant and formal, their surfaces heavily textured and brightly colored, their shapes complex.
The essence of the new hanging structures is a simple idea – a presentation apparatus – that has fueled Moffett’s dialogue with painting and its histories to a distinctive level. As pieces of a whole, the structural components are unassuming. In combination, they are formidable in scale and presence, providing a backdrop to Moffett’s lush paintings that is both strong and humble.
Donald Moffett’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX; the Museum of Fine Art, Boston; and the, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; among others. A mid-career survey exhibition of his work, The Extravagant Vein, is currently on view at The Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, thru 8 January 2012. It will travel to The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (18 February thru 3 June 2012) and The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA (23 June 23 thru 9 September 2012).