John Dubrow
Lori Bookstein Fine Art is pleased to announce John Dubrow: Transformations. The exhibition includes breakthrough new and reworked cityscapes and portraits. This is the artist’s seventh solo-show with the gallery.
John Dubrow’s paintings are formal constructions created from a unique combination of initial inspiration, formal observation and accumulated memories. Equally important to the artist, however, is the improvisation that happens within the studio, where the painting is worked and reworked; its final outcome never predicted from the outset. Oil paint is layered thickly, almost geologically in appearance, in a testament to time taken before arriving at a satisfactory compression of composition, color and form.
In paintings such as Playground and Tribeca, the artist explores opening up deep space within a scene, creating a tension between the two-dimensional picture plane and the portrayed perspective. Indeed, the viewer oscillates between simultaneously viewing and experiencing the work. Subtle variations in color choice also become increasingly important within these paintings. In Tribeca, glassy hues that are suggestive of muted daylight highlight the dynamism of the scene, while in Playground darker tonalities are used to create discreet rhythms that structure the painting’s composition.
In all of these works, there is a shift towards freer, more gestural marks that are even disruptive at times. By using his hands to directly apply the paint, Dubrow achieves a deeper connection to the work both literally and figuratively. In doing so, the artist eliminates unnecessary details to create a looser, more open facture that incites the original spirit of the person or place depicted.
John Dubrow was born in 1958 in Salem, Massachusetts. He received a BFA and MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute (1979-83), where he studied painting under Bruce McGaw and Julius Hatofsky. Since 1983, Dubrow has been based in New York City. His paintings are included in several public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Dubois Institute at Harvard University, the Hilton Hotels Corporation and the National Academy of Design. He is the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, the National Academy of Design’s Truman Prize and Carnegie Prize and the Port Authority World Views Project at the World Trade Center.
John Dubrow: Transformations will be on view from March 26 - April 25, 2015. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, March 26 from 6-8 pm. A full-color catalog is available. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30 am to 6:00 pm. For additional information and/or visual materials, please contact Joseph Bunge at (212) 750-0949 or by email at joseph@loribooksteinfineart.com.