The Front Room: Richard Aldrich - Manon de Boer

Chronicling an abstract personal account of his relationships, studio practice, and his sense of history through a spectrum of techniques, New York-based artist Richard Aldrich has in recent years placed himself at the forefront of a new approach to the medium that re-thinks how a painting is made, how it is experienced, and ultimately what it all means. The Contemporary Art Museum is proud to announce the first major museum exhibition by this emerging artist, who offers a new perspective on how this most time-honored form of art can be understood. Decidedly literary and personal, Aldrich's paintings are deeply interconnected, as he draws together elements of the studio, the cosmos of canvas scraps and books that fill it. The Contemporary presents twenty paintings spanning dense abstraction, figuration, "object paintings," and collage–all which come together to showcase the startling breadth of his painterly investigations. In addition, Aldrich will present four works from the St. Louis Art Museum's permanent collection among his own installation. Exploring unexpected juxtapositions between history and the present, and reframing our expectations for the quintessential "19th century French painting" through the lens of contemporary art, Richard Aldrich produces an exhibition reveal the magic of and new possibilities for painting today.

Richard Aldrich and the 19th Century French Painting is curated by Laura Fried, Associate Curator, and organized by the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis .

Manon de Boer: Between Perception and Sensation

For her first major exhibition in the United States the acclaimed Dutch, Brussels based artist Manon de Boer asks us to listen as we look in uniquely crafted films that are defined by and explore sound and sonic effects. In an ambitious installation conceived especially for the Contemporary's galleries, De Boer presents four key works that address the her attention to the structures of music. For Presto. Perfect Sound (2006), De Boer shot six takes of a violin performance, out of which she cut and then reconstructed the optimal sound composites to produce a "perfect performance," despite the visual glitches we see before us. In Two Times 4'33" (2008), her camera fixes on the feeling of silence, on film and in the body, as it reverberates through the audience and extends to us off screen. A third film, Dissonant (2010) reveals the rupture between what we see and hear, and as the screen goes black, the viewer trades vision for the pure aural experience of a dancer's moving feet. With a focus on performance—and the ways that sound gives each of these film form—she reveals her expansive and grounding experimentations with sound, image, and the fundamental experiences of film.

Manon de Boer is curated by Laura Fried, Associate Curator and João Ribas , Curator at the MIT List Visual Arts Center , Cambridge. The exhibition is organized by the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis .
 

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KünstlerInnen:    Richard Aldrich , Manon de Boer