January 7, 2006, Philadelphia, PA—A new series of abstract paintings by acclaimed Philadelphia artist Stuart Netsky will be on view at Locks Gallery from February 3rd through the 28th, 2006. The opening reception will be held Friday, February 3rd from 5:30–7:30 pm. Admission is free and open to the public.
This series of ten large-scale paintings are Netsky’s most ambitious to date. Their silken surfaces are created from pours of enamel paint and resin. The vivid colors recall his earlier, molten lipstick and nail polish paintings, but are now super-sized and more declarative as abstract paintings within the modernist tradition.
The Locks Gallery exhibit coincides with a twenty-year retrospective, Imitation of Life, organized by the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery at the University of the Arts. Netsky 's first mid-career survey encompasses painting, sculpture and photographs - marking the first time his abstract paintings of the past decade will be shown together with his earlier, conceptual work.
Netsky has had over a dozen solo exhibitions in Philadelphia and New York since 1990. His first museum survey, organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia in 1993, included a multi-part installation referencing the AIDS epidemic and issues of vanity and mortality. Netsky’s work has been in recent exhibits across the U.S. including Mind Over Matter: Reworking Women’s Work (Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM); Influence, Anxiety and Gratitude (List Visual Arts Center, MIT, Cambridge, MA); and S(how) (Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA).
The artist received graduate degrees in sculpture from the University of the Arts and Tyler School of Art. Netsky teaches design at Drexel University and Philadelphia University.
Imitation of Life is on view at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery of the University of the Arts, January 18–February 26, 2006. A fully illustrated catalogue is available.
