SILVERMAN and Hamilton Square Condominium Association present
Glenn Garver: Recent Paintings
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 10, 2012
Hamilton Square Condominium
232 Pavonia Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07302
201.434.1000
Exhibition Run: May 10, 2012–August 31, 2012
Glenn Garver, Untitled, 2012, oil and spray paint on canvas, 32 x 42 inches
“All my painting is intuitive”
–Glenn Garver
Recent Paintings is a new body of abstract painting and works on paper by artist Glenn Garver. Paint—the medium—is both subject and object of Garver’s work. Though he has strong ties to American postwar gestural abstraction, his work is a unique investigation of the nature and possibility of paint. In some areas of canvas, paint is as creamy as ice cream, and looks as though he applied it to the canvas using a wide trowel from Cold Stone Creamery. In other areas, paint rises and falls like ocean spray during high tide.
Garver’s bravura handling of paint sets him apart from his contemporaries. Often large in scale, his allover compositions are notable for their short, kinetic bursts and continuous sweeps of color, which appear to have been painted quickly. These violent and chaotic gestures suggest a raw, almost primal, intensity. Garver, however, is no madman. Atmospheric expanses of pure color subdue his kamikaze brushwork.
Garver prefers to work in his studio at night when the building is quiet. His approach is no-nonsense as much as it is varied. A typical session begins with the artist’s decision to work on stretched canvas, paper, or found material. The painting surface dictates his approach, and, ultimately, the outcome of the final work. To create his moody compositions, Garver uses whatever paint he can get his hands on—oil, latex, enamel, and aerosol spray paint. He also does not limit himself to paintbrushes alone, but instead uses a range of tools, including palette knives and trowels.
Each type of paint and tool provides its own distinct mark. Aerosol spray paint, for example, provides a soft or hard edge; it can cover large areas of canvas quickly, and its color selection is vast. Oil paint, on the hand, is viscous, standing in direct opposition to aerosol spray paint.
Garver’s painting is not a reaction to the environment—urban or otherwise, but an organic response that comes from within the artist himself. From the first mark Garver releases onto the canvases, his paintings walk a tightrope between improvisation and premeditation. Do not look for recognizable subjects or objects, but indulge in his work’s sensuous color, rich surfaces, and dramatic gestures.
Garver’s paintings have the immediacy and force of a liver shot in boxing—a quick body punch to the liver with a left hook. Micky Ward knocked down Arturo Gatti with such a shot in the ninth round of their historic first fight. The effects of Garver’s work are just as devastating.
~ Brendan Carroll, Curator
The exhibition will be on view at The Hamilton Square Condominiums through August 31, 2012. For further information, please visit us at SilvermanBuilding.com or call number (201) 435-8000.
Glenn Garver: Recent Paintings is the eighth exhibition that Brendan Carroll will organize for SILVERMAN.
SILVERMAN has presented the works of Jennifer Krause Chapeau, Michelle Doll, Tim Heins, Megan Maloy, Laurie Riccadonna, Thomas John Carlson, Tim Daly, Ann Flaherty, Scott Taylor, Jason Seder, Sara Wolfe, Beth Gilfilen, Andrzej Lech, Hiroshi Kumagai, Tom McGlynn, Victoria Calabro, Asha Ganpat, Darren Jones, Ryan Roa,Laura Napier, Risa Puno, Nyugen E. Smith, Amanda Thackray, and Kai Vierstra.
Brendan Carroll 