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JULIA FISH: Threshold/s with Hearth | recent paintings and a site intervention,

March 10 - April 16, 2022

JULIA FISH: Threshold/s with Hearth | recent paintings and a site intervention

Past exhibition
  • Overview
  • Installation Views
  • PRESS
  • Artist
  • Overview
    JULIA FISH, Threshold/s with Hearth | recent paintings and a site intervention

    David Nolan Gallery is pleased to present the concurrent exhibitions: new paintings and a site-specific installation by Julia Fish entitled Threshold/s with Hearth and a solo presentation of work by Richard Artschwager, Interiors.

    Julia Fish’s continued investigation into the architecture of her home and studio in Chicago provides the provisional context for the works on view. The titles of the paintings are rife with architectural reference: ‘plan’ suggesting the diagrammatic, intricate renderings relate to some three-dimensional ‘threshold’, the barrier of entry or exit between two individualized spaces, which becomes a whole. These signifiers are certainly clues, but to understand Fish’s practice means to decode the motifs, theories of color and light at play that are uniquely her own, allowing her to reverse engineer the construction of space. Fish subverts traditional architectural protocol, “working from house to plan.” The goal is not to create a facsimile that is purely accurate in a mathematical and logistical sense, but images that are subjective and intimate to reconstitute and expand the definitions of a ‘studio’, a ‘home’. In the wake of the pandemic lockdowns where periods of confinement prompted a heightened awareness of the place we call home, the works on view feel particularly potent and affecting.

    Fish’s exploration of chromatic spectra considers the issue of perception: the basic, foundational concept that colors are relational and define one another. Tonal gradation and complimentary placement create harmony and tension respectively. Fish harnesses the coding potential of color to represent directional, designated space and in effect, light. The complex systems embedded in Fish’s schematic paintings act as a key or a visual language. A demonstrated interest in processional narrative of the Renaissance predella, the multi-panel paintings of an altarpiece, where words fail and images communicate a sequence of events and passage of time, informs the structure and function of the works on view.

    In translating walls, floors, thresholds and the bricks and matter they are comprised of, Fish’s works both boom and whisper with synergistic melody. The reference to ‘scores’, the musical equivalent of a ‘plan’, recalls the rhythm and optical vibration that would invigorate Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942-43). The canvases pulse as they delineate into upper and lower registers.

    The ‘Hearth project’, conceptualized and realized by the artist, follows a thread of site-specificity inherent to all of Fish’s work. The gallery’s move to the Upper East Side in 2020 created opportunities for provocative installations that considered the relationship of the distinct architecture of the space with the hanging and positioning of artworks. Embracing this challenge, Fish was intrigued by the hearth, the area in front of the fireplace where she would designate her installation. The intervention, as she would call it, applies the same aforementioned system of color coding, based on spatial directionality, to establish formal links between the paintings, the room where they are displayed and the artist’s studio/home.

    In the adjacent gallery is a presentation of drawings by Richard Artschwager made in the mid 1970s. Six objects would be the source of Artschwager’s multi-decade obsession: Door, Window, Table, Basket, Mirror, Rug. His compulsion to render these interior things would prompt drawings, paintings, objects and multiples, illustrating the extent of his preoccupation. Notably, his installation Six in Four, commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art in the Renzo Piano designed structure, would attempt to investigate the six objects in the span of four elevators. In each study, he would exaggerate perspective, surface and scale in different ways, often to comical, absurd effect. Artschwager analyses these architectural objects with the same unending devotion of Fish, albeit with his signature wry wit and surrealist humor.

  • Installation Views
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Install 2
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Install 4
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Install 6
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Install 3
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Install 1
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Install 5
    • Julia Fish Study for Threshold - Plan : [ las meninas ] [ spectrum : east to west over grey ], 2018 gouache on paper 11 x 30 in (27.94 x 76.2 cm)
      Julia Fish
      Study for Threshold - Plan : [ las meninas ] [ spectrum : east to west over grey ], 2018
      gouache on paper
      11 x 30 in (27.94 x 76.2 cm)
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EJulia%20Fish%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EStudy%20for%20Threshold%20-%20Plan%20%3A%20%5B%20las%20meninas%20%5D%20%5B%20spectrum%20%3A%20east%20to%20west%20over%20grey%20%5D%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2018%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Egouache%20on%20paper%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E11%20x%2030%20in%20%2827.94%20x%2076.2%20cm%29%3C/div%3E
    • Julia Fish Study for Threshold - Plan, excerpt/s : stevedore [ spectrum stack, west to east when west is green ], 2018 gouache on paper 23 x 22 in (58.4 x 55.9 cm)
      Julia Fish
      Study for Threshold - Plan, excerpt/s : stevedore [ spectrum stack, west to east when west is green ], 2018
      gouache on paper
      23 x 22 in (58.4 x 55.9 cm)
    • Julia Fish Test for yellow, chord stack - one, after Threshold — score for six Plans [ spectrum east to west ], 2020 japanese printed tablet paper with archival pen, ink / hand-stamped 9 7/8 x 14 1/8 in (25.1 x 35.9 cm)
      Julia Fish
      Test for yellow, chord stack - one, after Threshold — score for six Plans [ spectrum east to west ], 2020
      japanese printed tablet paper with archival pen, ink / hand-stamped
      9 7/8 x 14 1/8 in (25.1 x 35.9 cm)
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EJulia%20Fish%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ETest%20for%20yellow%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Echord%20stack%20-%20one%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eafter%20Threshold%20%E2%80%94%20score%20for%20six%20Plans%20%5B%20spectrum%20east%20to%20west%20%5D%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2020%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Ejapanese%20printed%20tablet%20paper%20with%20archival%20pen%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eink%20/%20hand-stamped%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E9%207/8%20x%2014%201/8%20in%20%2825.1%20x%2035.9%20cm%29%3C/div%3E
    • Julia Fish Test for red, chord stack - one, after Threshold — score for six Plans [ spectrum east to west ], 2020 japanese printed tablet paper with archival pen, ink / hand-stamped 9 7/8 x 14 1/8 in (25.1 x 35.9 cm)
      Julia Fish
      Test for red, chord stack - one, after Threshold — score for six Plans [ spectrum east to west ], 2020
      japanese printed tablet paper with archival pen, ink / hand-stamped
      9 7/8 x 14 1/8 in (25.1 x 35.9 cm)
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EJulia%20Fish%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ETest%20for%20red%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Echord%20stack%20-%20one%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eafter%20Threshold%20%E2%80%94%20score%20for%20six%20Plans%20%5B%20spectrum%20east%20to%20west%20%5D%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2020%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Ejapanese%20printed%20tablet%20paper%20with%20archival%20pen%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eink%20/%20hand-stamped%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E9%207/8%20x%2014%201/8%20in%20%2825.1%20x%2035.9%20cm%29%3C/div%3E
    • Julia Fish Test for blue in grey, after Threshold — score for six Plans [ spectrum east to west ], 2021 japanese printed tablet paper with archival pen, ink / hand-stamped 9 7/8 x 14 1/8 in (25.1 x 35.9 cm)
      Julia Fish
      Test for blue in grey, after Threshold — score for six Plans [ spectrum east to west ], 2021
      japanese printed tablet paper with archival pen, ink / hand-stamped
      9 7/8 x 14 1/8 in (25.1 x 35.9 cm)
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EJulia%20Fish%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ETest%20for%20blue%20in%20grey%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eafter%20Threshold%20%E2%80%94%20score%20for%20six%20Plans%20%5B%20spectrum%20east%20to%20west%20%5D%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2021%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Ejapanese%20printed%20tablet%20paper%20with%20archival%20pen%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eink%20/%20hand-stamped%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E9%207/8%20x%2014%201/8%20in%20%2825.1%20x%2035.9%20cm%29%3C/div%3E
    • Julia Fish Hearth : 24 East 81st Street with Hermitage spectrum [ thresholds : west to east to west ] , 2022 oil enamel on cherry wood 11 x 80 1/4 x 1 1/4 in (27.9 x 203.8 x 3.2 cm)
      Julia Fish
      Hearth : 24 East 81st Street with Hermitage spectrum [ thresholds : west to east to west ] , 2022
      oil enamel on cherry wood
      11 x 80 1/4 x 1 1/4 in (27.9 x 203.8 x 3.2 cm)
    • Julia Fish Threshold – score for six Plans : [ chambered spectrum : east to west ] : for E C N, 2017-19 oil on canvas 30 x 70 in (76.2 x 177.8 cm)
      Julia Fish
      Threshold – score for six Plans : [ chambered spectrum : east to west ] : for E C N, 2017-19
      oil on canvas
      30 x 70 in (76.2 x 177.8 cm)
    • Julia Fish Score for Threshold, SouthEast – Two [ spectrum in yellow ] , 2020-2022 oil on canvas 23 x 19 1/2 in (58.4 x 49.5 cm)
      Julia Fish
      Score for Threshold, SouthEast – Two [ spectrum in yellow ] , 2020-2022
      oil on canvas
      23 x 19 1/2 in (58.4 x 49.5 cm)
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EJulia%20Fish%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EScore%20for%20Threshold%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3ESouthEast%20%E2%80%93%20Two%20%20%5B%20spectrum%20in%20yellow%20%5D%20%20%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2020-2022%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Eoil%20on%20canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E23%20x%2019%201/2%20in%20%2858.4%20x%2049.5%20cm%29%3C/div%3E
    • Julia Fish Score for Threshold, NorthWest – One [ spectrum in violet ] , 2020-2022 oil on canvas 23 x 18 in (58.4 x 45.7 cm)
      Julia Fish
      Score for Threshold, NorthWest – One [ spectrum in violet ] , 2020-2022
      oil on canvas
      23 x 18 in (58.4 x 45.7 cm)
    • Julia Fish Score for Threshold, SouthWest – Two [ spectrum in green ] , 2020-2022 oil on canvas 23 x 19 1/2 in (58.4 x 49.5 cm)
      Julia Fish
      Score for Threshold, SouthWest – Two [ spectrum in green ] , 2020-2022
      oil on canvas
      23 x 19 1/2 in (58.4 x 49.5 cm)
    • Julia Fish Studio Threshold with Hermitage Threshold Plans [ east to west ], 2018, 2020, 2021-2022 oil on canvas 12 x 120 in (30.5 x 304.8 cm)
      Julia Fish
      Studio Threshold with Hermitage Threshold Plans [ east to west ], 2018, 2020, 2021-2022
      oil on canvas
      12 x 120 in (30.5 x 304.8 cm)
  • PRESS

    • News

      Julia Fish’s Architectural Abstractions Are Joyful Enigmas

      John Yau · Hyperallergic March 23, 2022
      I did not begin following Julia Fish’s work until after she and her husband, the sculptor Richard Rezac, moved into a two-story brick storefront on Hermitage Street in Chicago, designed...
  • Artist
    • JULIA FISH

      JULIA FISH

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