Opening reception: Thursday, March 15, 6-8 pm
The Elizabeth Harris Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition titled city silhouettes by William Carroll. This will be his third exhibition with the gallery.
William Carroll continues his exploration in paint of all five boroughs of New York. His first show focused on black and white acrylics on paper. His second added paintings made with basic Krylon spray paint, using cardboard stencils. His current exhibition the artist further explores in depth his past mediums. Mr. Carroll has made hundreds of quick line drawings using small memo pads and a black pen while on extensive walks (i.e. Coney Island to the East Village).
The artist writes: "My greatest pleasure is to be out of my apartment at dawn and off to explore the city. In the early morning light the buildings are silhouettes that play against each other in a dialogue that illuminates and defines what is so very specific about the structures and spatial organization of New York. I spend hours walking and drawing with memo pad and black pen….from Canarsie in Brooklyn to Baychester in the Bronx….making hundreds of quick line drawings. Some of the drawings are then transformed into the paintings that are the final ‘story’ of the walks. Whether working in acrylic on paper, or spray paint on canvas, the paintings are meant to retain the simplicity and spontaneity of the original drawings. Like pages in a journal, or snapshots, they convey information in as straightforward and simple a manner as possible. And certainly I’m influenced by those early 20th century images of the city by artists such as Louis Lozowick and Alfred Steiglitz.”
Joe Fyfe, in Art in America, alludes to this simplicity: "The pictures seem to owe something to the simplified draftsmanship of comic strips. This association adds to the sense that the images are the product of deep memory, stretching back, perhaps, to childhood, as much as of a contemporary metropolitan experience. There is also a kind of mute spookiness - the buildings have nary a window - and alternatively, a quizzical liveliness about them". And further he states that the work "…...offers a deft combination of blunt humor and silent depth: Nancy and Sluggo meet Giorgio Morandi."
William Carroll was born in the Bronx, raised on Long Island, got his BFA from Pratt Institute, and spent the 70’s in San Francisco. He has worked in the New York art world for over twenty five years: at the Dia Art Foundation, The Brooklyn Museum, Charles Cowles Gallery, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, Nancy Graves Foundation and is presently the Director of the EFA Studio Program on 39th Street in Manhattan, and is teaching a Professional Practice course for MFA students at Pratt Institute. His work will be included in the exhibition Urban/Suburban at the Islip Art Museum in April.
The Gallery is located at 529 West 20th Street, 6th floor, and is open Tuesday through Saturday 11 – 6 pm. There will be a reception for the artist on Thursday, March 15th, from 6-8 pm.
For further information contact Miles Manning at 212 463-9666.