Robert Hardgrave
Aura Anonymous
Mixed media on canvas
2008
24 x 24 in.
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Press Release
Joshua Liner Gallery is pleased to present Compounded, an exhibition of new work by the Seattle-based artist Robert Hardgrave. This is Hardgrave's debut exhibition in New York and his first solo show with the gallery.
In twenty-three works, ranging from large acrylic-on-canvas paintings to small ink-on-paper drawings, Hardgrave depicts phantasmagoric figures existing in painterly environments. Described by the artist as "countenances of spirits," these images are built up from basic, expressive mark-making and complex shapes. Curved and scalloped lines are repeated and multiplied in arch-like groupings, an additive process that creates dynamic, flowing imagery.
Calligraphic in nature, Hardgrave's approach to mark-making takes inspiration from the miniature-painting traditions of the Near- and Far East. Yet he succeeds in creating a truly distinct, organic, and personal vocabulary of textures and forms.
Some works incorporate collage, using various types of rice paper and printed media, further worked with ink and acrylics. The "compound" qualities of these works suggest that spirit "portraits" may have more in common with abstract expressionism than traditional figuration. According to the artist, all works in the exhibition convey ideas about reincarnation and the possibility of life after death, a theme deeply informed by Hardgrave's own experience as an organ transplant survivor.
Robert Hardgrave has exhibited widely on the West Coast, including in Seattle at Center on Contemporary Art (COCA) and Lawrimore Project; Compound Gallery, Portland; Receiver Gallery, San Francisco; San Jose Museum of Art; Robert Berman Gallery and Blk/Mrkt Gallery, Los Angeles; as well as Andenken Gallery, Denver; Youngblood Gallery, Atlanta; Camp Fig Gallery, Austin; and internationally at Feinkunst Krueger, Hamburg, Germany, and the 2005 Basefield Exhibition, Melbourne, Australia. He lives and works in Seattle, Washington.
Artist
Robert Hardgrave
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Koralie and Robert Hardgrave opening reception (May 16, 2008)