Lori Bookstein Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent plaster and bronze sculpture by Bruce Gagnier. This is the artist’s fifth solo show at the gallery.
For his latest exhibition, Gagnier continues to expand his exploration of the figure citing important influences from the past, particularly the Renaissance and Rodin. The artist evolves each sculpture as a continuous sketch in clay using modeling and collage techniques until a unique figure emerges. Working from the inside out and gauging the personification as the figure develops, Gagnier maintains a flux as he models, interrupting any synthesis of opposing techniques or promise of final solutions. This enables the painterly sculpture to emerge as a mix of the artist’s conscious decisions and memories, and that which is arbitrary and left open to chance, independent of his will or pre-determinate ideals of beauty or classicism. The figures express through this interplay, themes that human beings struggle with existentially and on a daily basis; the inner self and pressure imposed from without, whether social, moral, cultural or aesthetic.
Within the show are new, refined sculptures – Yrsa, May, and Odile – a development from previous works. Gagnier has smoothed away the bumps and valleys of the surfaces to create younger, harder looking figures; their inner and outer lives seemingly more in accord than with previous works. By avoiding easy formal solutions when working with his figures, the artist allows them to manifest as honest and poignant characters, each exuding a mood and spirit wholly their own.
Bruce Gagnier (born 1941, Williamstown, MA) studied art history at Williams College (1959-63) and went on to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (1963) and Columbia University (1963-67), where he studied with Nicholas Carone, Peter Agostini and John Heliker. Most recently, he was the recipient of the Arts and Letters Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2014). In 2004, he was elected Academician by the National Academy, and is the recipient of the Ingram Merril Award (1993) and the New Jersey State Council Award (1985). Gagnier’s teaching career includes positions at Yale University, Sarah Lawrence, Parsons, Haverford College and the International Schoold of Art in Umbria, Italy. Since 1979, he has been teaching drawing and sculpture at the New York Studio School. Gagnier lives and works in Brooklyn.
Bruce Gagnier: Corpus will be on view from June 4 – July 3, 2015. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 4th from 6-8 pm. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30 am to 6:00 pm. For additional information and/or visual materials, please contact the gallery at (212) 750-0949 or at info@loribooksteinfineart.com.