303 Gallery
Jacob Kassay turns 30 next year, which means he has time to develop some originality to match his surfeit of intelligence and attitude. A few years ago, Mr. Kassay’s career got off to a precipitous start primarily with well-made monochromatic paintings whose brushy, silvery surfaces all but reflected the viewer. They seemed largely generic, even if taken ironically. This was followed by a much more convincing, quietly beautiful show at the Kitchen last winter that featured works in unpainted linen whose irregular shapes were determined by leftover scraps of canvas. There were hints of Robert Ryman and Richard Tuttle, but that seemed O.K. The more modest mood was noticeable. Perhaps this artist was doing penance for the earlier work?
Wrong. In his first exhibition at 303, Mr. Kassay has kept the irregular shapes but added all kinds of bells and whistles that seem to point toward wink-wink posturing about painting. The shaped canvases — which remain the most engaging aspect of the work — are lightly sprayed with silver or light gray, yielding spatial effects that vary from atmospheric to flat. The titles of the works are now penciled onto the sides of the canvases à la Mr. Ryman, and several (“Murky Bargain,” “Stock Milieu”) seem to refer to the art market. There is an installation piece built with parts of a wall from his exhibition at the Kitchen and numerous carefully chosen used books cantilevered to the wall and held open by wedges of glass to reveal pressed flowers; there is also a canvas on muslin that features the artist’s last name. (This is consistent with the show’s three-letter title, “IJK,” which can read as “I, Jacob Kassay,” even when you discover that he’s using them because they appeared purely by chance on the ceiling of the Kitchen’s exhibition space.) All this and more makes the 303 show too busy, arch, unassimilated and cerebral, although it still holds open the possibility of future accomplishment.
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Jacob Kassay turns 30 next year, which means he has time to develop some originality to match his surfeit of intelligence and attitude. A few years ago, Mr. Kassay’s career got off to a precipitous start primarily with well-made monochromatic paintings whose brushy, silvery surfaces all but reflected the viewer. They seemed largely generic, even if taken ironically. This was followed by a much more convincing, quietly beautiful show at the Kitchen last winter that featured works in unpainted linen whose irregular shapes were determined by leftover scraps of canvas. There were hints of Robert Ryman and Richard Tuttle, but that seemed O.K. The more modest mood was noticeable. Perhaps this artist was doing penance for the earlier work?
Wrong. In his first exhibition at 303, Mr. Kassay has kept the irregular shapes but added all kinds of bells and whistles that seem to point toward wink-wink posturing about painting. The shaped canvases — which remain the most engaging aspect of the work — are lightly sprayed with silver or light gray, yielding spatial effects that vary from atmospheric to flat. The titles of the works are now penciled onto the sides of the canvases à la Mr. Ryman, and several (“Murky Bargain,” “Stock Milieu”) seem to refer to the art market. There is an installation piece built with parts of a wall from his exhibition at the Kitchen and numerous carefully chosen used books cantilevered to the wall and held open by wedges of glass to reveal pressed flowers; there is also a canvas on muslin that features the artist’s last name. (This is consistent with the show’s three-letter title, “IJK,” which can read as “I, Jacob Kassay,” even when you discover that he’s using them because they appeared purely by chance on the ceiling of the Kitchen’s exhibition space.) All this and more makes the 303 show too busy, arch, unassimilated and cerebral, although it still holds open the possibility of future accomplishment.
- Skinny 12-02-2013 2:45 am