You’ve developed a reputation for discovering artists toward the beginning of their careers. What is it that initially attracts you to the work of an emerging artist?
I think you end up with a sensibility. You look for something that you really haven’t seen before, and an artist that has the possibility of transcending the known to create something that is new and fresh that can continue to excite. I think the most interesting aspect of the art world is discovering someone new who has a position and a language that people are interested in. The problem is, when you’re really early, sometimes they make it and may want to move on or do different things. And you were there from the beginning. So sometimes you can be too early. The first few years of an artist’s career - before they’ve taken off, all the way to some form of international recognition, that’s the most exciting time. It’s extremely fluid and creative, and that’s where we are with our recent discovery, Evan Nesbit.
You look for something that you really haven’t seen before, and an artist that has the possibility of transcending the known to create something that is new and fresh that can continue to excite.
Photo: Anthony Japour, Art Basel Miami Beach 2014
Yes. Evan Nesbit’s first solo exhibition at the gallery, in March of 2014, presented a series of acrylic and dye on burlap works. How were you first exposed to his work, and when did you decide it was something you wanted to exhibit and promote?
Well, believe it or not, I often find new things trawling the internet. Occasionally something sticks out, and I get a hold of the artist. With Evan’s work that’s what happened. I contacted him and purchased a piece personally, which is something I often do in the beginning. I took it home and hung it in my living room in a corner that was a bit dark. At first I thought it was a nice painting, but I wasn’t sure I was going to do anything with it. About four months later I moved it into my bedroom, where light streams in in the morning. I woke up one day, and the light was hitting the painting in such a way that I finally understood what his paintings were about: light, and color, and how things change on a perpetual basis. I’d been reading it before as just an abstract, minimalist image, which was not what it was about at all.
I finally understood what his paintings were about: light, and color, and how things change on a perpetual basis.
I then called him and said, ‘I get what your work is about, and I’d like to offer you a show.’ He said he’d wished I’d told him sooner because he had a lot of offers on the table. I knew I was a little late in the game after having to think about it, but I’m glad I did. He called, I think the next day, and said, ‘Yeah, I’ve decided to work with just you for now.’ He has since shown in Europe, in Japan, in Italy. He’s now represented by Eleven Rivington in New York, which I thought would be great for him. He’s been in a group show at Sean Kelly Gallery and has a waiting list of forty to fifty people for his work.
Sometimes you can try something, but it can hurt the artist if you don’t have a plan. Once you have a plan, even if it doesn’t work, at least you’ve given it your all. It’s almost like a game. If there are no rules in place, and it’s completely arbitrary, your odds of winning are almost zero. And the only person who puts those rules in place is the dealer. Now, with very established artists, the rules are already in play, and you’re just part of a cog in a wheel. Some dealers are very good at this. And there are really good galleries that wait until someone has done all this beginning work, which is the most difficult work because there’s 10,000 artists and only 100 are going to be in play. It’s really one percent. And how are you as a gallery going to be able to spot that one percent that has a chance of making work that means something?
It sounds like your decision to work with an artist stems from a pretty personal connection with the work, which can, in the case of Even Nesbit’s painting, develop over time. For you, how does his painting accomplish this? And what about his technique and his connection to the material make his creative process successful?
Well everything is painted on burlap, which is so different from canvas in that it allows a lot of space between the fibers. So first he takes the burlap and tie dyes it until it has a form or a shape that he really likes, a bit like Warhol’s shadow paintings. Once he likes the shape, the mood and the feeling of it, he actually paints it from behind. So you almost have a gestural painting on the back of the work, made from special acrylic painting that he heightens with high-velocity pigment, which makes the color extremely bright. Then he turns it upside down, lets it rest overnight, and the paint gravitationally comes through the weave. The next day he checks to see if it’s working for him. So accident, chance and imperfection are involved. And it’s in the imperfection that Evan Nesbit’s work shines. If it were a perfect rendition of something, poured through and without flaws, I think it would be very uninteresting to me. But because it is a very flawed surface - an exchange of material, air, light, color and speed - each piece is almost a reflection of himself. Each one is almost like an abstract portrait, dealing with gravity, time, space and uncertainty.
Accident, chance and imperfection are involved... it’s in the imperfection that Evan Nesbit’s work shines.
The flaws sort of humanize it in a way, which has to be one of the reasons it appeals to people as it does?
I think that’s absolutely true. It’s really a beautiful object that changes with the changing of the day. So, if placed and viewed correctly, they’re some of the most non-static paintings I’ve ever been around.
Could you speak to the role of philosophy in his art?
I think it’s about how time and presence change within a surface. It’s very much like Turrell in that way. With a Turrell you have to go and sit on a bench or go into a room and become immersed in color as it changes. It’s an interpretive kind of feeling. And by using acrylic, it becomes artificial painting. He doesn’t want to use materials that come from the earth. He wants it to be this very artificial happening in a very natural setting. So, it’s really about our times. Everything is digital, yet people are trying to bring back analog. It grapples with the issues of our times in a really non-objective way.
Could you tell us a bit about what Evan is currently working on and what we can expect from him in the near future?
Well, he’s working on new pieces for group shows with us. In June he’ll have his first solo show with Eleven Rivington in New York. He’ll do a show in Naples in the fall, and then, in January of 2016, he’ll open our season with a solo show at Roberts & Tilton.
Evan Nesbit, Porosity (Manic Panic), 2014, Acrylic, dye and burlap
It sounds like you’ve all got your work cut out for you.
Yes. And then there’s another new artist I’ve found, again online, named Israel Lund. He’s a young artist who’s doing tremendously well so far.
I think the current state of painting is on a lot of people’s minds nowadays. And I think MoMA’s ‘Forever Now’ exhibition has many questioning, once again, where it is and where it’s going.
It’s true.
So much has been done, in so many ways. And I can imagine that, as a painter, it’s got to be incredibly intimidating and overwhelming trying to drown out the noise to find a voice that resonates and that actually says something.
It must just be horrifically difficult to even consider doing it. And that’s why I tell you we’re not trying to find the next Jasper Johns. We’re working to contextualize a system with something that can last. Anyone considering that a mid-career or younger artist is a done deal just hasn’t been doing it long enough. That’s not the way it works. Even some of the artists at MoMA will not make it in the long run. Some will, and a lot won’t.
Right. And only time will tell?
And only time will tell.
Minature: /ˈkaɪˑæzəm/” Installation View, Roberts & Tilton, 2014
