Kadar Brock "Conjuring and Dispelling"
Arcane Gate, 2009
Marker, spray paint and house paint on paper
Image courtesy of Motus Fort gallery
Jeffrey Chiedo’s Motus Fort gallery is now showing the works of Kadar Brock. The key word of the exhibition is “conjuring,” in reference to the conflicting modes of painting and the obscured words and textures that come and go seemingly at the will of the artist-magitian. The two types of works on display are the monochrome mixed media paintings from 2009, like the one above, and the smaller figurative images in color. The monochromes picture the writing obscured by paint smears in what could be described as a gesture of materialization—the artist-magitian realizes the words as he crosses them out. The immateriality of the legible is made into a material sensibility using the physical solidity of paint. Several of the monochromes recall the later works of Anthony Tapies although Brock’s pictorial concerns seem to be less expressive and more phenomenological.
The other portion of the exhibition are the color multi-media Wizards paintings on paper framed by the artist (all 2010). These already have their designated art history references (i.e. Holbein, Titian, Carravagio), and present, as the title suggests, a gallery of various wizards and conjurors. One name not mentioned in the dead artist roster was Mark Chagall’s, but I certainly sensed his hovering hand all around the color wizards.
The show is on view through July 17th.
