It’s time to draw the line on your preconceptions about abstract art.  Drawn/Taped/Burned: Abstraction on Paper, the newest exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art, features modern and contemporary works on paper from the Kramarsky Collection.  On view from January 23 through May 1, 2011, Drawn/Taped/Burned showcases artists’ ingenuity in using unconventional materials and inventive drawing techniques to create their geometric and process-driven abstractions.  On its dedicated website, www.aboutdrawing.org/drawntapedburned (website launch to be announced), the exhibition also provides a forum for discussion about the art and the varied reactions it garners.  For more information and Museum hours call (914) 232-9555, ext. 0 or visit www.katonahmuseum.org.

For nearly five decades, Sally and Wynn Kramarsky have amassed over 3,000 original works on paper with a primary focus on Modern, Minimalist, Conceptual, and Process Art dating from the 1950s to the present. Moving away from representation and narrative themes, the work on exhibit demonstrates art in its purest physical form: line, color, shape, texture, and composition.  Drawn/Taped/Burned celebrates the beauty of a fluid line, the energy of scrawling shapes, and the mood expressed by a single band of color.  As the title suggests, the artists in the exhibition employ many objects in the service of mark-making—not just the traditional pen or pencil, but also ash, wax, string, smoke, tape, tea, and tar.  Works on view range from an intimate, five-inch drawing by Jay Kelly to the larger-than-life work of Jill O’Bryan. 

KMA Executive Director Neil Watson states, “This remarkable exhibition is drawn from a stunningly deep collection.  The Museum and our public are very fortunate to have this rare opportunity to experience a broad range of drawing approaches to abstraction by world-class artists.”

Works in the collection reflect the relationship between artists and their mediums.  In discussing how he has amassed his collection Mr. Kramarsky explains, “I really start out by looking at something and saying, ‘How is it made?’  Not, ‘Why is it made?’  That’s not nearly as interesting to me.  In the initial moment, how was this made?  What happened?  What happened when the artist put the pencil or pen or brush to paper?  And because it is almost impossible, when you work on paper, to correct it, that initial moment is crucial.  That interests me: that somebody has the courage and the idea to make that original mark.”

Drawn/Taped/Burned is organized by Ellen Keiter, the Museum’s Curator of Contemporary Art.  Ms. Keiter has brought together 74 original works on paper by 66 artists who explore geometry, process, text, and unorthodox materials.  The exhibition features some of the biggest names in the art world, as well as the newest generation of contemporary artists.  Artists include Carl Andre, John Cage, Mark di Suvero, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Robert Ryman, Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Joel Shapiro, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Christopher Wilmarth.

“Viewers must trust their own instincts and imaginations rather than rely on the artist for meaning,” Keiter says of the exhibition.  “Given time, this act of looking can be quite liberating, even enthralling.  Too often abstraction is easily dismissed; it is the patient viewer, however, who reaps the greatest rewards of close observation.”

The online component to the exhibition has been developed in the spirit of creative response and environmental consciousness.  The site serves as the exhibition’s catalogue, featuring biographical information on each artist, an interview with Mr. Kramarsky, as well as writings about the individual artworks by museum professionals, graduate students and, primarily, by other artists in the exhibition.  KMA visitors and the general public are encouraged to contribute their own thoughts and reactions to the works on view by logging onto the website.

In the Project Gallery

On view in the Project Gallery from January 23 – May 1 is Reverse Polarities, a work created specifically for the Katonah Museum of Art by sculptor Jason Peters.

A radiant pyramid of light, the sculpture challenges viewer perceptions of space and reality.  Jason Peters’ geometric sculpture, constructed from common industrial materials, playfully explores reflection and illusion, as well as the formal elements of line and color.  The work is carefully sited in the Project Gallery for the greatest phenomenological impact. 

The Brooklyn-based artist has shown his work throughout the United States including the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the Times Square Alliance in New York, and the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  His work has also been commissioned by The Children’s Museum in Pittsburgh, The Friends Seminary and the Time Square Alliance, both in New York City, and the Salina Arts Center/Smokey Hill River Festival in Salina, Kansas.