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10.02.2014

A Walk Through "Doppler Shift"

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Doppler Shiftcurated by Mary Birmingham for the Visual Art Center of New Jersey, explores shifting perceptions of color and space. The work is largely geometric in form, the geometry allowing for what Birmingham calls "spatial ambiguities" based on angle of viewing, distance, and light. 

Visitors Molly Heron and Cora Jane Glasser standing before Similar Motions by Gilbert Hsaio
JM photo


With two enormous windows in its large main gallery, the museum offers plenty of opportunity for these kinds of shifts.  And in its smaller seven-sided Eisenberg Gallery, the lowered ceiling and angle of the walls offer yet more opportunities for shifts in perception.

The term Doppler Shift is, says Birmingham, "the apparent change in the frequency of emitted waves relative to an observer." You've probably heard it with regard to weather forecasting, where radar bounceback from rain, snow and hail allows meteorologists to determine the placement and intensity of approaching precipitation. I like to think of this exhibition, then, as a kind of visual weather report for a particular kind of painting and sculpture. ( Disclaimer: I have one piece in the show, but I'm one of 26 artists in an exhibition with a total of 46 artworks.)

Two wall drawings: Rob de Oude, left, and Iemke van Dijk
Guido Winkler photo


The exhibition, which had its opening the last Sunday in September, is up through January 18, 2015. Many of the artists were in attendance--some from the West Coast and as faraway as Germany and the Netherlands--and the images you see in this post were shot by a number of them: Steven Baris, Brent Hallard, Rob de Oude, Debra Ramsay, Guido Winkler and myself, all credited, and I've pulled a few images from the VACNJ website as well.

The group photographic effort mirrors the gestation of this exhibition, as Thomas Micchelli describes in his essay. In brief,  painter Mel Prest created a suitcase exhibition, which she brought to Amsterdam and traveled throughout Europe in 2013. The following year, artists Rob de Oude and Enrico Gomez showed an iteration of the exhibition at their Brooklyn gallery, Parallel Art Space. Debra Ramsay brought Birmingham to see the show. With Prest's blessing, Birmingham reinvented and expanded the concept as Doppler Shift. (This is when you realize that it really does take a village.)

I'm keeping my comments brief in favor of the visual walk-through, but you can read two splendid essays in the catalog, viewable online, by curator Birmingham and the artist/writer Thomas Micchelli. The catalog will also provide more information about the artworks that I can include here.


Installation views
Above: looking into the gallery from the main entrance
Below:  From the opposite end of the long space
Guido Winkler photos





Mary Birmingham, left, addressing the visitors at the opening
We're going to begin our tour of the exhibition with work out of the range of this photo


Edgar Diehl, Weisbaden, Germany; Jupiter Landung IV, 2014
Closer view below
JM photos



Diehl's painting is to the left of the window you see here. Now we'll proceed clockwise around the gallery. On the wall behind Mary Birmingham: Karen Schifano, Enrico Gomez, Don Voisine, Steven Baris, Brent Hallard
Brent Hallard photo

Karen Schifano, New York City;  Pent Up House, 2014
Guido Winkler photo


Enrico Gomez, Don Voisine
Guido Winkler photo


Enrico Gomez, Jersey City, New Jersey; Hope Break Beat II, 2014
VACNJ photo


Baris, Hallard
Brent Hallard photo


Steven Baris, Philadelphia; Stations of the Cube #4, 2014
Steven Baris photo



Brent Hallard, San Francisco; Rim, 2014
VACNJ photo



Three by Kevin Finklea; Joanne Mattera
Brent Hallard photo


Kevin Finklea, Philadelphia; Parakeet for Palermo, group 2, 2010, Dolores Street, 1963, 2011
Guido Winkler photo


Another view of Finklea and Mattera, with Jose Heerkens and Rob de Oude
Brent Hallard photo


Joanne Mattera, New York City, Chromatic Geometry 21, 2014
VACNJ photo



Jose Heerkens, Zeeland, Netherlands; Travelin' Light, 2013-P21, 2013
Guido Winkler photo


Rob de Oude, New York City; Proximities and Parameters, 2014
VACNJ photo


This image, which opens the post, is a painted installation on the back wall of the gallery
Gilbert Hsaio, New York City; Similar Motions
JM photo


One cube with two views to orient it within the gallery
Gay Outlaw, San Francisco; Camo Cube
JM photos



We're back at the entrance to the gallery, this time working counterclockise
Foreground: Patricia Zarate, New York City; Sliding Up, 2014
Brent Hallard photo


Gilbert Hsaio, Lucky Strike, 2013
Brent Hallard photo


Continuing down the wall counterclockwise: Henriette van 't Hoog, Nancy White, Gabrielle Evertz, Richard Bottwin, Don Voisine
Brent Hallard photo

Shifting the perspective: White, van 't Hoog
JM photo


Nancy White, Redwood City, California; #48, 2012
VACNJ photo


Henriette van 't Hoog, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Triangle 1, 2012
JM photo


Stepping back to look at Zarate, Hsaio, Van 't Hoog, White, and view Gabrielle Evertz and Richard Bottwin
Guido Winkler photo



Gabrielle Evertz, New York City; Messenger Spectrum, Door to the East Series, 2013
JM photo


Richard Bottwin, New York City; two views of Yellow Facade, 2013
JM photos




Don Voisine, New York City; Wrench, 2014
VACNJ  photo

Orienting you down the wall from Voisine (and giving you a full view of the gallery's long wall): Guido Winkler, Ruth van Veenan, Gracia Khouw
Guido Winkler photo


Upper left corner: Gracia Khouw, Amsterdam; Closed Circuit Series/ CC3 (yellow/black), 2013
JM photo


Ruth van Veenan, Haarlem, Netherlands; Untitled, 2012
VACNJ photo


Guide Winkler, Leiden, Netherlands; One of the endless possibilities of seeing a particular rectangle a little different XII, 2011
JM photo

. . . . . . . . . .

Now we exit the large gallery and enter with Birmingham calls "the strolling galleries."  

Lemke van Dijk,  Leiden, Netherlands; Uutitled Wall Drawing, 2014
Guido Winkler photo



Turning the corner to Rob de Oude wall drawing, Double Take #9, on the left . . .
JM photo

. . .  and Lone Star video stills below by Sarah Klein and David Kwan, San Francisco
with detail following


Detail of Lone Star
JM photos


Shifting perspective, we walk back through the strolling gallery to view de Oude's framed drawings. above and below
JM photo above

Rob de Oude photo

. . . . .

We now find ourselves back at the glass door of the large gallery we exited moments ago. We're not going back in. Instead, to our right we're going to enter the Eisenberg where the exhibition continues.


On the outer wall of the Eisenberg Gallery: Albert Roksam, Leiden, Netherlands, Four vanishing points in a square #3, 2014


Here, about a 240-degree view of the Eisenberg Gallery. Click to enlarge
JM photo



Another panorama with, from left: Stephen Maine, Patricia Zarate, Gay Outlaw, two Brent Hallards bracketing two Debra Ramsays; right wall: Steven Baris, Debra Ramsay, Mel Prest
Guido Winkler photo


Stephen Maine, New York City; HP13-0909, 2013
Detail below



Patricia Zarate, Sweet Spot; Gay Outlaw, Untitled (Cube Study after Donald Judd), 2005; Brent Hallard, Green Candy, 2011
JM photo


Another view of Zarate, Outlaw, Hallard
Brent Hallard photo


Hallard; Debra Ramsay, New York City; Two Equal Lovers with Yellow Green and Two Equal Lovers with Yellow Green 2, both 2013
Brent Hallard photo


Ramsay,van 't Hoog, Hallard
Brent Hallard photo


Van 't Hoog, Core IV, 2012; Hallard, Baris
JM photo

Brent Hallard, Orange Candy,  2011
Brent Hallard photo


Steven Baris, Debra Ramsay, Mel Prest
Debra Ramsay photo


Steven Baris, Somewhere Beyond or Behind D4, 2011
VACNJ photo


Debra Ramsay, The Effects of a fold on a Pink line, 2013
VACNJ photo


Mel Prest, Vielen Danke Schoen, 2013
VACNJ photo

Detail below
JM photo



Prest, Finklea, White
Brent Hallard photo



Kevin Finklea, Pelikan for Palermo #8, 2014
VACNJ photo


Nancy White, #61, 2013
JM photo



Albert Roskam, Two vanishing points on 2 opposing diagonal lines #1, 2014
VACNJ photo


Also in the Eisenberg Gallery: A video program of time-based art running simultaneously with Doppler Shift, curated by Sarah Klein and produced by David Kwan
Guido Winkler photo

. . . . . . . .

Wait, there's more! In the upstrair Studio X, Gary Petersen created what is essentially a walk-in painting on the gallery's five walls. With shifting planes and ambiguous space, Tilting Points effectively counterpoints the premise of Doppler Shift and vice versa.


Outside the gallery . . .

and just inside the door


Corner view . . .

. . . and a panorama that shows you 360 degrees of the installation. Cllick to enlarge

JM photos

Additional events will take place during the riun of the show. Click here to find out

10 comments:

Ravenna Taylor said...

Nice job, Joanne! very generous of you. Congrats on your own inclusion, the show is very uplifting overall, in combination with terrific installation in a beautiful space.

Brent said...

reminds me what a lot of work it is to curate something like this. Thanks Joanne!

Norman Soskel said...

Incredible show. I love the geometric puzzles and illusions. Amazing details. Thanks for sharing this.

Nancy Natale said...

Excellent post, Joanne! Thanks for such a complete walk through to give an idea of the innovative work and installation.

lyndacole said...

I love this show. I'm so sorry I won't be able to see it in person. Thank you for the virtual tour.

Eva said...

Wow what a gorgeous show and fabulous post! Many thanks, Joanne.

Unknown said...

It is hard to single out one artist that I love most. All are mesmerizing, captivating, and intriguing. This show is wonderful. Thank you Joanne for the post.

Unknown said...

It is hard to single out one artist that I love most. All are mesmerizing, captivating, and intriguing. This show is wonderful. Thank you Joanne for the post.

annell4 said...

Wonderful post!!! Thank you!

anna Wagner-Ott said...

An amazing show of works that are uplifting. So refreshing to see intelligent provocative and technically challenging works. Love the catalogue of the show. Thanks for taking the time to photograph the show.