For immediate release:

J.J. Garfinkel

View Sheds

October 19 – November 19, 2007
Opening reception: Friday, October 19 6-9pm.

The Hogar Collection is very pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition of Brooklyn based painter, J.J. Garfinkel. In his first solo exhibition at the gallery, Garfinkel will present fantastical paintings that explore the boundaries of landscape, abstraction, the sublime, leisure, mysticism and meditation. View Sheds presents a conscious attempt to embody the state of tranquility where a viewer can be transferred to a specific place in order to attain a closer sense of oneness. Like scenic overlooks on the side of the road, “view sheds” function as places for viewing specific natural transcendental moments. The paintings take on the role of picture windows, allowing us to journey to places unknown. As in the tradition of Victorian grottos, they represent and present to the viewer manicured and grafted imaginary physical locations that are created to serve as a sort of surrogate or artificial escape into nature’s essence and pure beauty. With fictional titles that mimic real names of scenic overlooks, the works become sort of hyper-real adjectives, freed to delve into the depths of mysterious worlds and forward into abstraction. In the scenes, foreign elements such as gates and fences invade, cohabitate and meld simultaneously and harmoniously with wild landscapes where rocks can glow with vibrant energy. The works visually reminisce and meander in a conceptual sublimity that is akin to the most pure levels of abstraction. They seamlessly combine rich, thick, raw and vibrant brush strokes, which speak in the vocabulary of paint viscosity and color, with contemporary hard edge painting that deals with subtleties in layers and design.

JJ Garfinkel lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. His artwork has been shown at venues including White Columns, The Bronx Museum, Nurture Art and Jeff Bailey Gallery among others. He has received fellowships, residencies and awards including a Millay Colony Full Fellowship Award, The Bronx Museum’s Artist in the Marketplace Program, The Vermont Studio Center and The Hayward Prize of the American Austrian Foundation. JJ Garfinkel received his MFA from Rutgers University, a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and attended the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg, Austria.

• For more information or images, please contact the gallery.

directions:

L or G Train to Lorimer St., exit on Metropolitan, walk under BQE towards Manhattan, Left on Marcy Ave., 2 blocks turn right on Grand (@ the corner of Marcy)

also: L Train to Bedford Ave. walk south on Bedford Ave. to Grand St. left on Grand St., walk 3..5 blocks (between Havemeyer and Marcy) JMZ to Marcy Ave., walk 5 blocks north to Marcy, turn left on Grand St.

By car from Manhattan:

Drive over the Williamsburg Bridge. 2nd immediate exit at S. 5th St., Left at light on Havemeyer. Right on Grand Street, 3/4 block on right