Upcoming Group Exhibition

Group Exhibition: Twinkle, Twinkle
December 14, 2007 - January 19th 2008
Opening Reception Friday, December 14th 6-10pm (featuring special evening performance by Pictureplane aka. Travis Egedy)

Artists:
Leafe Zales
Martin Sammy Gardea
Travis Egedy
Lela Shields
Mindy Bray
Nathan Abels
Noah Manos


Plus+gallery

2350 Lawrence St.
Denver, CO 80205

303-296-0927
info@plusgallery.com
http://www.plusgallery.com

Recent Books of Interest

Olafur Eliasson, "Sonne statt Regen" or Self-Titled/Untitled book (not sure about actual title). There is no text in this book - just beautiful photos of the Icelandic landscape. I was hooked on this book once I saw the sixteen 2-page spreads Eliasson devoted to a half and half horizontal compositions of landscape/sky. A nod to Hiroshi Sugimoto's "Seascape" series in which the photographer takes photos of different bodies of water with a 50/50 horizontal composition of water and sky. Sugimoto presents his "Seascapes" in a line along gallery walls so the horizon from one image visually connects with the horizon of the neighboring image. Hiroshi Sugimoto "Seascape"

Similar to Sugimoto's works, the sixteen spreads in the Eliasson book show different landscapes that are all presented in the same way from page to page so that the reader can envision a long 32 page horizon. The book itself is 14" long and the physical length of the book lends to the imagery. The comparisons from spread to spread are interesting as well and comment on the uniqueness of each image while comparing the similarities through the exactness of presentation. The sparseness of these images is immediatly appealing to me, and near the beginning of the book Eliasson balances the expanse of later pages by picturing tiny thumbnail images on large pages. The entire book is an interesting mix of balance, organization, and quietness. This is eye-candy for sure, but it presents interesting conceptual themes as well. According to the Amazon.com review "This lavish, oversized book, published in an edition of only 1,500 copies and conceived in cooperation with the artist, features a series of landscape photographs by Eliasson from his native Iceland, exploring the limits and conventions of our traditional view of landscape. They show that our perception of nature has been fundamentally affected by cultural influences, memories, and expectations."

Eliasson's images of Iceland reminded me of my recent trip through Wyoming. Wyoming is the most sparse landscape I can recall - with miles and miles of open plains, sage brush, and what many would consider nothingness. I loved it - I think everyone should take a drive through Wyoming. The above picture was taken from the highway in Wyoming and perfectly paraphrases the expanse of that region. I would highly recommend this book - if only for a beautiful coffee table book.

Another recent purchase is Alan Berger's book "Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban America".

This book is heavier on content - with many pages devoted to graphs and diagrams of contemporary urban expansion. There are several case-studies on different cities and regions including one on the Denver. Berger writes that "The term drosscape implies that dross, or waste, is scaped, or resurfaced and reprogrammed by human intentions." It is not a light read, but Drosscape has a wealth of information regarding the topic of waste(d) landscape. There are aerial photos on nearly every page of the book that help to illustrate and support his analysis. Many of the images are similar to those I've been posting on this blog and on flickr - though with different intentions; for documentation and comparison reasons rather than the more aesthetic intentions of my own photos.

Beautiful Found Photos from New York

While lost in NY, I stumbled on a flea market where I found several photo contact sheets with these gems on them.

New Aerial Photographs

These were taken today by myself on the way to and from Nucla, CO. All images copyright Nathan Abels 2007.

New York Hightlights

In no particular order, here are a few highlights from this last weekend's trip to NYC:


Rudolph Stingel at the Whitney Museum


Hiroshi Sugimoto at the Metropolitan Museum


Absolutely beautiful Vermeer painting(s) at the Metropolitan Museum



"Midwest Sprawl" at Gallery 355 featuring work from Nathan Abels and Kat Rohrbacher


Statue of Liberty by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi (photo by Nathan Abels)


Ray Pettibon at David Zwimer (photo by Nathan Abels)


Paul Noble at Gagosian Gallery (photo by Nathan Abels)

Lisa M. Robinson at Silverstein Photography Annual


Noelle Tan at Silverstein Photography Annual

JÜRGEN
BERGBAUER at Lumas Gallery

Website Update

I updated the Nathanabels.com website yesterday. I moved all the work that was in "New Work" to "Paintings" and put all of my new drawings up.

Upcoming Exhibition Opening

I will have several pieces in my first New York exhibition opening this coming Thursday September 20th at Gallery 355 in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan. The three most recent drawings I've posted on this blog will be there, the three contrail paintings from this spring, and a few other pieces. If you're in the area - come check it out.

Beautiful Mountain Photos

I took these yesterday over the front range of the Rocky Mountains. You can see Pike's Peak in the distance, through the clouds on a couple of these photos.

New York - James Cohan Gallery

I had the good fortune to visit New York this weekend. One of the many highlights of the trip included seeing the new work from Ingrid Calame at James Cohan Gallery. I was especially taken by her impecable drawings. Calame gets her imagery from tracing stains on the gound and then arranging these abstract shapes into dynamic and very colorful compositions. They combine the factuality of realism with the movement and appearance of expressionism. Her craftsmanship is perfect and it was presented very clearly and consisely at the gallery. It was a rare treat for me to see her work.


INGRID CALAME
#229 Drawing (Tracings up to the L.A. River placed in the Clark Telescope Dome, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ), 2006
color pencil on trace mylar
72 X 48 inches

Another New Drawing

Nathan Abels, (Untitled) Graphite on Paper, 11x10"

A few new Aerial Photos

more here

New Drawings

"Culdesac" Graphite on Paper, 11x10"
(Untitled) Graphite on Paper, 11x10"
"Development" Graphite on Paper, 11x10"

Two new ones and a better photo of the one from a few days ago. More to come.

Opening at Andenken Gallery, Denver, CO

An overwhelming amount of paintings by Amanda Marie opened tonight at Andenken. Definitely a show worth seeing, here are a few of my favorites:


'Oh, Deer'
Acrylic and Spraypaint on panel

42.25" x 30.25" (in antique frame)

Acrylic and Spraypaint on Canvas
18" x 24"

Acrylic and Spraypaint on Canvas
4' x 5'