Thomas Kovachevich

Callicoon Fine Arts is pleased to announce an exhibition by Thomas Kovachevich titled Delancey, on view from January 7 to February 7, 2016. It is the artist’s third exhibition with the gallery and it coincides with an exhibition by the artist titled Define at Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles. 

The title artwork of the New York exhibition brings the world into the gallery in much the same way that Kovachevich allows the world to enter into his art. For Delancey, the artist constructs a system that emphasizes the act of observation, rendering it so powerful that a wall of the gallery essentially disappears. Using a surveillance camera that is connected to a video projector, the artist opens a view to the street outside. The continuous feed of images throughout the day makes theater out of the changing light, the pedestrians and passing cars: a drift with the given that engages the real. 

The rear wall of the gallery, opposite from Delancey, holds a sculptural work titled Palisades, referencing both the architectural structure and the geologic formation. To make the work, Kovachevich scores sheets of bright yellow corrugated plastic using a freely gestural drawing movement. The sheets are bent back along the sinuous lines to construct multi-form volumes that are stacked and arranged into columns, their regularity also adrift with the given that engages the real. 

In addition, the exhibition contains a series of framed drawings on mirrors or reflective gold mylar that have been painted with water repellant. These works can be understood as performance objects, even while they retain the sense of mirrors as agents of representation. While face up on a table, water poured into the unpainted areas clings to those areas, held back by the repellant. And when the water evaporates the residue becomes a new drawing to be reinstalled on the wall. The artworks are the result of events that take place within the systems defined by the artist. 

New York-based Thomas Kovachevich, began making artworks in the 1960s when “process,” “materials,” and “performance” were key concerns. His close observation of ordinary materials has lead to the development of an extraordinarily diverse body of works, that are, none-the-less, consist with his earliest engagements. He has had many solo exhibitions including The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Significant group exhibitions include Documenta 5, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Detroit Institute of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, COCO Kunstverein, Vienna, and at Hamburger Banhof, Berlin. His work is included in many notable collections, including The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and the Bern Kunst Museum, Switzerland. 

Callicoon Fine Arts is located at 49 Delancey Street between Forsyth and Eldridge Streets. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm. The nearest subway stops are the B and D trains at Grand Street and the F, J, M and Z trains at Delancey-Essex Street.

Please visit tifsigfrids.com for more information about the exhibition in Los Angeles.