Andrea Schwartz Gallery
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        • Wynne Hayakawa - Ferdinand Florence
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        • Suhas Bhujbal
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Ferdinanda Florence

ABOUT | ARTIST STATEMENT | CV | PORTFOLIO

Artist Statement

My approach is not one of addition—only subtraction. Options are eliminated, details deleted and suppressed. What is left offers a kind of visual resistance; the subjects are grounded. The paintings themselves are emphatically physical, the paint matte and the support clearly visible. In this pursuit, I am inspired by the still life paintings of Giorgio Morandi.  Critic Hilton Kramer once described Morandi’s art as “emanating from some inviolate zone of privacy, serenity and detachment,” a welcome respite from “a noisy and embattled world” (NYT, 12/6/81).  Like Morandi, my paintings are admittedly quiet, but far from serene.  
 
The two series I’m working on, Orange Equipment and VELPCo, are both focused on particular buildings, which stand-alone like sentinels. Orange Equipment is what it says in white lettering on a blue sign, on a building with ridiculous proportions and a footprint that is anything but rectangular. The VELPCo series reflects the structure gripping the ground like an old cathedral. 
 
Painting Orange Equipment, large no. 1, I was thinking of Monet’s paintings of haystacks; he had painted dozens of these, some backlit as the sun was setting. To me those haystacks appear like bizarre and hilarious totems, otherworldly beings who just beamed onto earth and realized they were wearing the wrong camouflage. I used a fluorescent orange as an undercoat, just to see how far from a rational palette I could go.
 
My brain is also embattled and noisy. Unlike in previous series, there are no adjacent buildings in the immediate vicinity to offer support, and no roads to cross.  We have reached the last line of defense. 
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Andrea Schwartz Gallery

545 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 | 415.495.2090 | info@asgallery.com
  • Exhibitions
    • Current
    • Previous
    • By Year >
      • 2023 >
        • Group Show
        • Tom Bolles
      • 2022 >
        • Group Show 2022
        • Deborah Bell & Heather Patterson
        • Suhas Bhujbal
        • Ned Evans & Mitch Jones
        • Barbara Kronlins & John Nelson
        • Patrick Dintino
        • Donald Bradford
        • Wynne Hayakawa
      • 2021 >
        • Group Show 2021
        • Ferdinanda Florence & Gwen Manfrin
        • Heather Patterson
        • Piero Spadaro
        • Cara Barer
        • COLOR
        • Tom Bolles
        • John Belingheri & Albert Dicruttalo
        • Robin Kandel
      • 2020 >
        • Gallery Group Show
        • Ned Evans
        • Suhas Bhujbal
        • Alex Couwenberg & Jeff Metz
        • Stitch Group Show
        • Patrick Dintino
        • Sarah Williams
        • Art Miami 2020
      • 2019 >
        • Gallery Group Show
        • Out of Town Group Show
        • Tom Bolles
        • Piero Spadaro
        • Cara Barer
        • Summer In SOMA
        • Wynne Hayakawa
        • John Belingheri
        • Danae Anderson
      • 2018 >
        • Group Show
        • Ned Evans & Jeff Metz
        • Gwen Manfrin & Tim Yankosky
        • Alex Couwenberg
        • Donald Bradford
        • Barbara Kronlins & Sarah Wililams
        • Patrick Dintino
        • Suhas Bhujbal
        • Seamus Conley & Albert Dicruttalo
      • 2017 >
        • Mitch Jones Julian Voss Andreae Exhibition 2017
        • John Belingheri Exhibition 2017
        • John Bonick - Tracy Krumm Exhibition
        • Chad Hasegawa
        • Cara Barer and Jamie Brunson
        • Gugger Petter
        • Tom Bolles
        • Piero Spadaro
        • Wynne Hayakawa - Ferdinand Florence
      • 2016 >
        • Anderson and Dicruttalo 2016
        • Robin Kandel
        • Patrick Dintino
        • ASG - SFAI MFA Highlights
        • Peter Combe
        • Suhas Bhujbal
        • Palladini and Weinstein
        • Alex Couwenberg
        • Imboden and Lobato
      • 2015 >
        • Barer and Hsu
        • John Belingheri
        • Krumm and Manfrin
        • Surface
        • Tom Bolles
        • Seamus Conley
        • Bell, Corrigan, and Tidwell
        • John Nelson
        • LA | SF
      • 2014 >
        • Suhas Bhujbal
        • Philip Buller
        • Patrick Dintino
        • Florence and Hayakawa
        • Bonick and Yankosky
        • Gugger Petter
        • Brunson and Kronlins
        • Robin Kandel
        • Crowd
  • Artists
    • Search by Name
  • News
  • Gallery
    • Staff
    • Gallery Rental
    • Artist Submissions
  • Contact
  • Bardessono
  • Hotel Yountville