Hollis Taggart Presents New Skyscapes by André Hemer
- NEW YORK , New York
- /
- April 28, 2023
Troposphere On View May 11 – June 24, 2023
April 26, 2023 – Hollis Taggart is pleased to present Troposphere, the Vienna-based artist André
Hemer’s second solo show with the gallery. Continuing his ongoing engagement with nature, the nine
new canvases and new video work in the exhibition reflect the artist’s deep study of the sky as well as
his fascination with documenting light. New to this body of work is Hemer’s experimentation with
oval-shaped canvases, which, combined with his masterful fusion of digital media and painting,
create a stunning portal-like effect of bursting open his iridescent compositions of glowing sunset
colors to the viewer. Troposphere will be on view on the second floor of Hollis Taggart from May 11
through June 24, 2023, with an opening reception on Thursday, May 11, from 5-8PM.
André Hemer (b. 1981, New Zealand) has honed a practice that explores the intersections between
digital media and painting. His interest in sampling and transacting digital media – including
photographs, digital scans, and film taken in various locations – is born out of a desire to synthesize
the concerns of the post-internet age with more traditional methods and techniques. Hemer’s process
often involves scanning physical objects, such as three-dimensional paint forms or flora and fauna, en
plein air to capture these objects against the sky and their surrounding environments. The resulting
scans are printed on canvas and function as an underlayer onto which paint is applied or the original
sculpted paint is overlaid, creating a dialogue between material and image.
Unlike Hemer’s previous bodies of work which used source material from one location over brief
moments of time, the works in Trophosphere are amalgamations of images of the sky from various
places the artist has worked over the past year, including New Zealand, Sicily, Thailand, Indonesia,
Vienna, and New York. Reflecting Hemer’s ongoing fixation with capturing how light changes over
time and space, Hemer has now collapsed these variables into ethereal canvases that transcend these
specificities and offer universal skyscapes.
While in Italy, Hemer spent time considering the intertwining of painting, light, and architecture
during the Renaissance, and was impacted by the theatricality of the art and architectural spaces
from that period. Offering a heightened contrast of the close-up foreground of flora and paint against
the scanned ambient background skies, the oval-shaped works in Troposphere transmute into virtual
windows and allude to these ceiling frescoes and shaped canvases of the Renaissance. Hemer’s work
has also become more representational, with the artist’s digital en plein air process more apparent in
Troposphere than in previous works.
For the month before the exhibition’s opening, Hemer has been working from a studio in the
Brooklyn Navy Yard, enabling him to incorporate the scenes and sounds of New York City into his
newest work. Troposphere also premieres a new video work that includes sound captured at the Navy
Yard, from birdsong to the ambient noise of the former shipbuilding hub.
“For my generation, the primary concern has been the way in which digital media and interfaces have
affected our way of being in the world,” says Hemer. “The complexity of transacting our ideas through
multiplicities of form is ironically what has always bought me back to painting as a medium through
which to express those ideas—perhaps because these ‘old’ objects have a wonderful way of capturing
complexity in a simpler form. Troposphere corresponds to the way in which I see our way of being
and seeing materiality in the contemporary age; where the constant transaction between digital and
physical materiality is what constitutes a new way of seeing (and being) in the world.”
About Hollis Taggart
Founded in 1979, Hollis Taggart presents significant works of American art, showcasing the trajectory of
American art movements from the Hudson River School to American Modernism and the Post-War and
Contemporary eras. Its program is characterized by a deep commitment to scholarship and bringing to the fore
the work of under-recognized artists. The gallery has sponsored several catalogue raisonné projects, most
recently for the American Surrealist artist Kay Sage, and has been instrumental in advancing knowledge of such
artists as Alfred Maurer, Arthur B. Carles, and more recently, Theodoros Stamos, Marjorie Strider, and Michael
(Corinne) West. In the summer of 2019, the gallery announced the formal expansion of its primary market
business and focus on the presentation of contemporary work. It continues to expand its roster of
contemporary artists, focusing on emerging and mid-career talents. With more than 40 years of experience,
Hollis Taggart is widely recognized by collectors and curators for its leadership, expertise, and openness, on
matters of art history, market trends and opportunities.
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For press inquiries, please contact Aga Sablinska at aga.sablinska@gmail.com or 862-216-6485.
521 W. 26th Street
Fl. 1
New York, New York
ginx@hollistaggart.com
2126284000
About Hollis Taggart
Hollis Taggart—formerly known as Hollis Taggart Galleries—was founded in 1979, with a mission to present museum-quality works of art, maintain a program motivated by scholarship, and offer personalized support in all aspects of art collecting. For nearly 40 years, the gallery has offered significant works of American art—showcasing the trajectory of American art movements from the Hudson River School to American Modernism and Post-War and Contemporary eras—and curated countless critically acclaimed shows in collaboration with the foremost leaders in the field. Hollis Taggart has also worked with more than thirty museums and institutions to produce scholarly catalogues. In addition, Hollis Taggart has sponsored three catalogue raisonné projects. The first was the two-volume catalogue raisonné of Pennsylvania Impressionist Daniel Garber, which was published in 2006 and includes over 1,500 entries. In 2000, the gallery launched the Frederick Carl Frieseke catalogue raisonné, which is currently being compiled by the artist’s grandson. Most recently, the gallery has undertaken the compilation of the catalogue raisonné of Surrealist artist Kay Sage, in partnership with Mark Kelman and Sage scholar Stephen Robeson Miller. In the summer of 2015, Hollis Taggart opened its first space in Chelsea, moving from the Upper East Side where it had been operating since its inception. In fall 2018, Hollis Taggart will move to the street-level space at 521 W. 26th Street and open a private viewing and storage annex across the street, fully consolidating its operations in Chelsea. Together, the spaces provide Hollis Taggart with nearly 4,000-square-feet to host exhibitions and engage clients with select works of art in its inventory, while improving ease of access between its locations. Today, the gallery’s program has grown to encompass contemporary practitioners, as a vital component to art historical discourse. It also continues to show significant works of historic American art, with a particular focus on the Post-War era. These two intersecting threads offer Hollis Taggart’s audiences and clients a dynamic and diverse set of offerings. As the gallery looks to the future, fostering scholarship and dialogue on American art through time remains core to its work with artists, scholars, and curators. In addition to its public program, the gallery also advises private collectors, corporations, and museums on acquisitions and assists its clients in the development of their personal collections. Hollis Taggart welcomes all inquiries from collectors who may wish to sell or consign works of art or estates. The gallery can also provide appraisal services.
