SEERS, SIGNS
Curated by Dan Devening
Featuring work by: Gerd Borkelmann, Cody Tumblin, and Ken Weathersby
May 2 - June 15, 2015
At first glance, the works on paper by Gerd Borkelmann—each measuring only 8 x 11.5 inches— may appear to be little more than casual studies. However, each is highly complex, tracing and understanding the relationships and interactions that delineate the history of the image. As a painter Gerd Borkelmann possesses an enormous sensitivity for the finest nuances of color and an unmistakable awareness of material and surface. His work is characterized by an impressive concentration of formal means and an uncompromising pursuit of simplicity and clarity.
Gerd Borkelmann has been showing his drawings and paintings since the early eighties in Europe and the United States. He has had solo shows at Galerie PR 8 in Geldern, Germany, in Cologne at Galerie Dorit Jacobs, at the Galerie im Trudelhaus, in Baden, Switzerland, at the Kunstverein Peschkenhaus in Moers, the Museum B.C. Koekkoek in Kleve, Germany and two solo exhibitions at devening projects + editions in Chicago. His work can be found in the collections of the Deutsche Bank, the Leopold Hoesch Museum in Duren and the Museum Kurhaus in Kleve. Gerd Borkelmann lives and works in Kleve, Germany.
Cody Tumblin’s recent hand-dyed paintings loosely chronicle time spent in his home studio and reflect on a collective history of multiple works. Missteps, errors and recalibrated strategies suggest an anxious rhythm that fluctuates between moments of excited urgency and long, quiet periods of uncertainty. Each work is a reflection of these cycles, weaving together a strange narrative of time spent.
Cody Tumblin is from Nashville, Tennessee and lives and works in Chicago. He received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His most recent solo show was Tell Tale at devening projects + editions; other recent exhibitions include PRTY PPL Circuit 12 in Dallas and Forlorn Luck, a solo show at Lunchmoney Gallery in Aarhus, Denmark. In Chicago, Cody was also seen in SHIT IS REAL at devening projects + editions, a solo show with The Salon Series, and Pile Hunk Stage with Kayl Parker at Gallery X. This summer, Cody is anticipating two-person shows at The Packing Plant in Nashville and at LVL 3 in Chicago. www.codytumblin.com
Ken Weathersby likes to complicate the usual order of the structural elements in paintings by foregrounding the support, by opening up spaces within, and by interrupting or countering the aggressive priority of the painted, retinal area (what is “made to be seen”). This undoing of structural relations of support to supported puts wood, linen, canvas, paint and optical effect on equal footing, as elements in a lexicon to be reshuffled.
Ken Weathersby’s paintings are currently freatured in Textual at ODETTA Gallery, and in a two-person show (along with Li Trincere) at Key Projects, all in New York. His work is traveling in Therely Bare (Redux), a group show opening at I.S. Projects in Leiden, the Netherlands in spring 2015. Recent solo shows include Strange Fit at Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn, Silent Opera at One River Gallery in Englewood, NJ, and Cache at NIAD Art Center Gallery in Richmond, CA. Weathersby’s work was included in Off the Wall at Parallel Art Space, Pierogi XX at Pierogi Gallery, the Aljira Fellows exhibition at Aljira Art Center, Post-Op at Mixed Greens Gallery and the National Academy of Art Museum’s 183rd Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art in New York. Weathersby received an MFA in Painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art and has lived in or near New York City since 1990. www.kenweathersby.com
Dan Devening is an artist, educator and curator. In the US, his work has been featured at Autumn Space, Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago Cultural Center, Terra Museum of American Art, ebersmoore gallery, and Julius Caesar in Chicago; the Tarble Arts Center in Charleston, IL; Kinkead Contemporary in Los Angeles and Launch F18 and Printed Matter, Inc. in NY. Other recent projects include exhibitions in Germany at the Kunsterverein Recklinghausen, Museum Kurhaus in Kleve, galerie oqbo and Scotty Enterprises in Berlin, dok25a in Dusseldorf and Renate Schroeder Gallery in Cologne. Other international group exhibitions include shows at Art Metropole in Toronto; De Appel in Amsterdam; Secession in Vienna and Galerie des Multiples in Paris. Some of his curatorial projects include Gravity Matters and Shadowy Folds at dok25a in Dusseldorf; Where There Is, recent drawings from Chicago at galerie oqbo in Berlin; Seems at the Block Museum at Northwestern University; The Nature of Disturbance at rowlandcontemporary in Chicago; Infra-Thin at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellen, Illinois; Paper Products at the Evanston Art Center; and Slow Frequency, a MacArthur Foundation funded project with Shannon Stratton and Jonathan Middleton. In 2007, he inaugurated and currently directs devening projects + editions, a gallery project featuring exhibitions and site-specific installations by emerging and established international artists. He is also a partner in Paris London Hong Kong, a new gallery in the West Loop Gallery District in Chicago. He is currently Adjunct Professor in the Department of Painting and Drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; he lives and works in Chicago. www.dandevening.com