For Immediate Release:

Abstract Paintings at Jay Grimm Gallery, Chelsea

Jay Grimm Gallery at 505 West 28th Street, New York, will hold a group exhibition May 31 through June 29, 2001, of abstract paintings by Claire Corey, Peter Crump, Chris Gallagher, Mary McDonnell, Gayle Ruskin-White, Gary Tenenbaum and Werner Thomas. There will be a reception at the gallery on Thursday, May 31st, from 6-8 P.M. These painters are linked by an interest in surface and landscape, though their sources and styles are disparate.

Claire Corey eschews the traditional mode of oil paint and instead uses a computer to produce images. Yet, while her medium is atypical, Corey achieves the classic goals of painting, balancing light, form and color to create beauty. Her use of digital technology does not signal an abandonment of tradition, but rather an updating in a manner that is at once fresh and vital. Corey will exhibit work done on Plexiglas and installed in the gallery's front windows. She was most recently in a two-person show at Venetia Kapernekas and in the annual show at the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Peter Crump paints on panels, which are shaped to echo natural forms. With subtle gradations and modulations of color, his works evoke a feeling of sunlight playing across a landscape. However, Crump subverts this straightforward treatment of abstraction by attaching a blank piece of panel to the composition, drawing attention to the materials and process of making the work and thus providing a reinterpretion of the genre. Crump will have a two-person show next month at Rome Arts in Williamsburg.

Chris Gallagher makes luminous oils with an optical quality. By slightly warping parallel lines of color and using a play of hard and soft edges, his smooth surfaces seem to shimmer and move before the viewer's eyes. Gallagher is represented by James Graham & Sons, where he had a one-person show last winter and his work is featured in the June issue of Elle Décor.

Mary McDonnell's paintings emanate light. Her works develop slowly, the result of countless glazes of oil paint applied over many months. By contrasting tones of similar colors and allowing the accretions of pigment to create cloud-like forms, McDonnell attains a sense of timelss beauty. McDonnell had a solo show last year at Margaret Bodell Gallery, New York.

Gayle Ruskin-White also makes surface-oriented work, building up her paintings with numerous layers of paint. However, she introduces geometry-often in the form of rigid bands of color, which set off and compartmentalize the fluid flows of color. This balancing of lines with fields of color creates a delicate tension that contributes to the success of her work. Ruskin-White is currently in a three-peron show at L.I.C.K, Ltd, in Long Island City.

Gary Tenenbaum uses oil and encaustic in covering canvases with small dots of color. Sometimes monochromatic, and other times vividly contrasting, these dots are arranged in swirling dynamic compositions that emerge over time. Tenenbaum has been in group shows at The Whitney Museum and the Aldrich Museum.

Werner Thomas' oils at times seem like Flemish tapestries, embroidered with interlocking floral patterns. Thomas will exhibit a large image subdivided into hexagonal units by lines within the work and by the shape of the canvas itself. The biomorphic honeycomb references the theme of organic growth and movement that is central to his work. Thomas had a solo show at Gallery 128, New York in 1999.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11-6 P.M. and by appointment. Please call the Gallery at 212.564.7662 or visit the website at www.jaygrimm.com for images or additional information.