The Weekly Curation: Momentum

Momentum is a concept we’ve been mulling over for weeks. The dictionary tells us definition of momentum is the impetus and driving force gained by the development of a process or course of events. To us momentum is a great coffee date with a new work contact, networking cocktails on a Wednesday night, meeting a new date for a late night slice of dollar pizza. It’s taking the subway home after a long day, listening to your favorite song on repeat. It’s the feeling of your feet hurting because you know you worked hard all day.

We’ve been in lockdown for over two months. We’re past feeling anxious, but we are staying safe. We’re not out joining the crowds at the beaches and the bars, as much as we want to be. We feel frustrated and stuck.

It’s not just about being stuck in our little houses, tiny apartments, and dingy sublets. Not only has our daily life been put on pause, but progression is gone as well. That’s what we crave: momentum. We New Yorkers are constantly moving, changing apartments, switching subways, finding new neighborhoods, new jobs. We insist on it –– it’s our way of life! Choosing to be a New Yorker goes hand in hand with that exciting struggle. It’s our rite of passage! (that and bagels…) We’re always moving towards something, trying to grab that elusive golden ring.

And now, we have the lack of momentum, lack of impetus, lack of development. And it doesn’t sit well with us. This week artist and curator Mel Reese brings together a collection of Art in Res pieces to help us channel all that manic energy and get in touch with the movement we crave. With this collection, we can feel the craving for movement, feel we are still heading towards something. We’re not just standing still.

In that vein, it’s always a good time to spruce up your environment. With our collection, we hope to give you a fantasy –– of both the future and of a new and improved home space. Move around the dining room table and the living room sofa and hang something new on the wall.

Scroll through the post to see Mel’s placement of each piece, as well as how the selected works come together in a thoughtful, coalescent collection. Make sure to also catch Mel’s tips on curating your own collection now!

Now let’s scroll onward –– happy browsing!

Born in Detroit (Distance 01)

by Carl Auge

32 x 48" •  oil on canvas, on panel

In close quarters, we have no sense of distance. Even on a long daily walk, we always end up back right where we started, at home. Distance can mean a number of things in our lives: the space between two things or running away, going the distance… either way, we need it both physically and metaphorically. Distance from our kitchen sink, distance from our pets, distance from the same few city blocks we’ve walked again and again every afternoon. In Carl Auge’s painting we are reminded of the concrete jumble of expansive highways tracing their way all across the country. It shows a loop of endless roads leading in new directions, all directions –– and it feels it could be anywhere in America. It makes us think of road trips –– the ones from our pasts and the future trips we spend planning in long daydreams. We crave gas station snacks and midnight coffee on the road. The ability to go anywhere if we just follow the highway. It’s a painting that shows paths of opportunity –– future paths we now have time to map out.

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Shelter

by Garrett Griffin

14 x 11" •  Charcoal and graphite on paper

Garrett’s piece, Shelter, is an ominous combination of comfort and fear. Shelter is a word that we will never hear the same way, as #shelterinplace orders spread throughout the globe. A word that once meant safety, security, a haven in the storm, now feels overwhelming –– a tightness in our chest, inescapable. With Garrett’s stunning black and white lines, the subject seems to be almost in motion, inspiring us to remember why we are seemingly stuck in place. The structure is so dynamic, filled with vibrating, intertwined branch-like forms. It reminds us of the comfort of huddling together, of finding a safe space from the outside threats. Beyond physical shelters, it reminds us of sports team huddles, a whole mess of bodies, coming together, agreeing on a course of action, how to dominate, how to take charge. When we look at it through this lens, there’s a dynamic energy to the shelter, to the huddle. A place to plan as the dark storm clouds rage outside. Here, our powers build and wait to be released. We see this as a guide for how to approach our next few days, weeks, and months of shelter in place. We are seemingly confined, but really we are huddled together, gathering strength, making plans, ready to dominate the world when we are released.

Garrett says about his work, “My search for structure and form within my painting parallels my search for a personal definition of identity. My interest in individuality comes from growing up in a biracial military family that consistently relocated, forcing me to navigate through different social and racial norms. By developing a unique abstract language, as well as referencing varied sources such as organic forms, topological maps and architectural blueprints, I build up layers of information within my paintings using a self-referential method of photo transferring past drawings onto new paintings and create textured surfaces of oil with wax using found mark-making tools. I also neurotically erase and add these elements back into the painting. This visual information provides elemental feelings of tension, oppression, weight and space to the work. While working through these layers of history, I’m searching to gain some solidity of form on the surface, resembling how memory evolves over time. Through this process, I hope to find an inherently recognizable image that references my sources, but also feels personal and immediate. The layered elements are diaristic, marking time, and allow me to acknowledge the day to day changes within work and myself.”

Soleus

by Rachel Dwan

48 x 50" •  Oil on Canvas

Anyone who has ever attempted a tough yoga pose knows there is energy in balance. With a new pose, our movements are slow and purposeful, but led by momentum. Keeping the flow is key –– getting up to balancing in warrior three is led by slow, deliberate movement. Or you’ll find yourself toppling head first. In Rachel Dwan’s breathtaking painting, we see balance in composition and color. It’s soothing, with a minimal palette and purposeful, flowing, slicing lines. But even in this calm, we see movement. There’s a push and pull from the balance Rachel crafts, controlled momentum –– metaphorical to all of us right now. We feel life in extremes, in ultimatums. We’re either shut in or we’re traveling, social vs anti-social. Safety vs risk. Relaxation vs exercise. But, as in all things, remember it’s all about balance.

Rachel writes beautifully about this piece, “The soleus is a muscle in the calf that runs from the knee to the heel, and weaves in cooperation with other muscles in a way that reminded me of this tautly balanced painting. As with all my work, I draw only a few lines, and then repeat those to create a resonant minimalist field in which every mark has to overlap and collaborate with every other mark. The arcing forms in this painting surge and knit together to create a joyous balance.”

Rachel Dwan is a SF Bay Area native, who has been creating resonant paintings of natural patterns for almost 10 years. She is inspired by dance, and any other form of communicating ideas with the body. She studied architecture at Stanford.

Doubled Self

by Michelle Holman

55 x 26" •  Oil on Paper

In the days of disposable cameras, there was no greater disappointment than getting your photos back from the drugstore to discover you’d moved or blinked and distorted the photo. As a kid, we thought those weren’t the pictures worth saving –– doubles discarded in the trash. But now, we see that as a time capsule. It’s a moment, filled with motion, suspended in time forever. Like Michelle Holman’s piece, those old photographs showed us at our most organic, humans filled with life and energy. This stunning double portrait shows faces connected via long, swiping brushstrokes––figures too electric to be still for the canvas. We understand with the swipe from left to right that this is not two people, but the same person captured in motion. We imagine how long passed between these moments––seconds, hours, days––but we instinctively know they are connected. Momentum captured in its purest form, the momentum of existence.

Michelle Anne Holman was born and raised in Texarkana, Texas. Holman is an artist who creates large scale oil painted portraits that stylistically use irregular paint application mixed with controlled brushstrokes and refined areas. Recently, Holman has become interested in researching and creating work about her vision. Visual Snow/Static is a rare eye condition where she sees colorful, moving, television-like static throughout her entire field of vision. She is currently creating work using tools and materials exploring how humans see, with the addition of this moving static.

Untitled (green structure)

by Rachael Wren

12 x 12" •  ink and pencil on paper

We never remember seeing a tree or plant really grow. They look so still, planted in the dirt, humbly waiting for the sun. But, then, all of a sudden, seedlings become flowers, saplings become full trees. The quiet powerful momentum of nature. When did that happen? Weren’t we watching them to spot that moment of growth? In their stillness, there is somehow vibration, life growing in the most organic way, without us ever seeing it. Nature is a powerful force, always in motion, something we continually learn to respect. In Rachel’s abstracted geometric approach to the forest, we see an attempt at harnessing this energy, this power. We are reminded of the infinite growth and regrowth of the plants that surround us, from our kitchen succulents, to the old oak trees outside our window. As we travel through her composition, deeper into the glimmering forest, we feel that vibration from shimmering blue/green forms that line both the trees and the forest floor, led by the strong white trunks. In a series of boxes, colors, and shapes we are reminded of the immense power of nature, ever moving, ever growing around us.

Rachael Wren is a Brooklyn-based painter whose work brings together elements of landscape and geometric abstraction. Rachael received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from the University of Washington. She has had solo shows at Wave Hill, The String Room Gallery at Wells College, The Painting Center, Schema Projects, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Providence College. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, the National Academy Museum, Garis & Hahn, Park Place Gallery, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Rooster Gallery, and Geoffrey Young Gallery, among many others. Rachael is the recipient of the Julius Hallgarten Prize from the National Academy Museum and an Aljira Fellowship. She has been awarded residencies at Emerson Landing, Chashama North, the Saltonstall Foundation, the Byrdcliffe Art Colony, the Vermont Studio Center, the Anderson Center, and the Artist House at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

They wanted a clean break.

by Andrea Bartine Caldarise

30 x 24" •  Oil on wood panel.

For most of us, nighttime is reserved for sleeping (and occasional accidental all-night binge watching). These are the much needed hours that allow our body and minds to pause, heal, and escape from our daily life. Though those hours often feel stagnant, and potentially useless, there is a quiet undercurrent of momentum in the night, while we sleep. We find rejuvenation here which allows us to take on the next day and the next. In Andrea’s scene of a park at night, or perhaps a cloudy day, we see a moment of calm. In our dreamy, sleepy states, we embrace the quiet darkness of Andrea’s painting, settling into the soothing world of nature. We wake, finding ourselves exhaling, letting in the calm.

Andrea Caldarise is a painter and collaborator inspired by happenstance conversations and memories. Caldarise's art explores the psychological connection between places and people. Caldarise studied painting and art history at Tyler School of Art, Temple University where she received a BFA and she holds an MA from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been awarded residencies at Post Contemporary, Troy, NY, Yale School of Art's Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship at Norfolk, and most recently was a resident artist with Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn. Caldarise has exhibited her artwork in Philadelphia, New York, and Rome, Italy, she lives and works in Brooklyn.

On curating the collection:

Here I go again. I want to walk you through what I’ve considered when bringing this collection together. Whether you’re an experienced collector or totally new to the art world, it’s always fun to thoughtfully discuss what makes a great collection.

This week, inspired by our ongoing discussion of safety, shelter, home, and our futures, I’ve brought together a group of paintings to embrace momentum. Whether it’s the potential for movement, a daydream of the future, or an active moment in our lives now, each piece is united through subject matter and composition alike. I’m excited to share this week’s perspective and let you in on my process!

Color:

Each piece in this collection is limited in color palette, but they range in their approach. With a limited color palette, we can focus more closely on the painting and drawing techniques. In Rachel Dawn and Garrett’s pieces, we discover the magic that happens when color is removed entirely. With them, we embrace black and white. We attach ourselves to the black lines, seeing them as the object within the white spaces. The lines guide us through the piece, across the surfaces with deliberate movement. On the other hand, with our darker paintings from Carl and Andrea, we embrace the deeper palettes, showing us night scenes and long hot afternoons. These are crafted with purposeful layers of rich color, in which we succumb to the inviting depth of the piece.

Composition:

As our theme is momentum, it’s not a surprise that linear movement is the key to all these pieces. We begin with Garrett’s branching, tangled structure, then climbing our way into Carl’s jumbled cement overpasses. We float through Michelle’s frenetic portrait, gently wafting into Andrea’s nighttime walk, falling into Rachel Dwan’s bending pathways, ending in the gentle cushion of Rachael Wren’s jeweled forest.

Size and scale:

Movement, momentum is overwhelming, all encompassing, so I went BIG with this week’s picks. The pieces ask us to physically move in our space, to embrace the momentum shown on the canvas. We arch our necks to take in Rachel Dwan’s piece, swaying as we look at Garrett’s, or shifting our head and body to take in the scale of Michelle’s horizontal view.

Subject matter:

Each of these pieces approaches drastically different subject matter and yet, they come together cohesively in the compositional tools outlined above. This is what makes curating so much –– finding the puzzle pieces we can bring together of seemingly unrelated works. I interpreted these works to help us all understand the current state of our lives, united by brush strokes and hard lines and soft tones, attempting to help us reconcile the current state of feeling stagnant with our deep human need to keep our lives in motion.

Materials:

For the first time in our curating series, we have a work of art included that is simply drawing in its purest form. We aim to explore all kinds of materials, methods, and subjects, so this is exciting! Garrett Griffin’s charcoal drawing fully embraces the medium –– it's a fragile work crafted with fragile tools. Its malleability is on full view. As we see Garrett discuss in this piece, he works and reworks, erasing almost neurotically, to come to a final composition. In that vein, it becomes a work crafted of almost pure momentum –– the result is a vibrating, complex structure of black lines and form.

With these new viewing tools in hand, happy collecting!