James Kelly Contemporary

James Kelly Contemporary is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of past and present  works by Stuart Arends. This will be his third solo show with the gallery. Arends newest body  of work, the PDF series, is a continuation of the artist’s 30-year investigation of the  box-form. Exhibited alongside  the new body of sculptures will be a small selection of never  before shown works from throughout his career illustrating the artist’s transition and  development that has lead to the new PDF series. In addition there will be exhibited drawings  from over the span of his career.

The PDF series, which stands for Piero della Francesca blue, are intimate in scale, solid cast  beeswax sculptures where the shade of blue used on the surface refers to the early  Renaissance master’s palette. The sculptures are cast in three to four layers using milk, orange juice, or cream cartons as the mold. Between each layer the artist paints the surface  with white oil paint before pouring the next layer. Once the form is complete and has been  worked till the desired surface has been achieved, Arends then applies the blue paint that  references the early renaissance artist’s works.

Arends has also selected several early works to be included in the exhibition. Including the  first ever pedestal top sculpture from 1981, fabricated from a found cardboard box that he  painted and varnished the small yellow sculpture was a departure at the time for the artist from his normal practice of wall-mounted works. Also on view will be the third box that Arends  ver made. This work created from another found cardboard box that  he painted and   varnished, its surfaces are not pristine like the more recent aluminum  work, the artists hand  is very apparent in the these earlier works. Also on view will be a small selection of drawings  from throughout Arends career. Arends graduated from the Otis Art  Institute MFA program in   1981, and  his work has been exhibited widely throughout the US  and Europe and is  included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Villa Panza, Varese,  Italy; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; the Corcoran Gallery of  Art, Washington,   D.C.; and The New Mexico  Museum of Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM.

The artist will be in attendance at the exhibition opening at James Kelly Contemporary, on  April 30th from 5-7 pm.