New gallery artist Bret Slater has been included in TWO of the last three Modern Painters magazine issues Not only did his show at Thomas Robertello snag one of the Top 100 Best Fall Shows in the September 2011 issue, he held a featured spot in the Top 100 Artists To Watch in the December 2011/January 2012 issue.
Slater, who recently received a MFA at Southern Methodist University, works in a diverse range of pragmatic materials, including cardboard, dry wall, staples, screws, nails, and tape. Whether painting within the aesthetic parameters of manufactured items, reinforcing tape installations with industrial fasteners, or floating rugged cuts of drywall in front of its plastered-over brethren, Slater’s work is a first responder to the language of functionality.
Slater will be showing at Marty Walker Gallery Spring 2012. His work has created a buzz in contemporary art circles and has been described as "working within a language of Minimalism and with an emphasis on the tactile, he creates small works with an almost edible mass". Slater speaks of his inspiration:
I became really interested in this symmetrical rivet that happens in things like cereal boxes or in automobiles: It's a shape that dips down and comes back up. I liked the idea of borrowing composition, borrowing color from places where that color or form exists for a reason and through the reals of visual art being able to look at it formally, without having to worry about what it's function is.The artist reflecting on the minimalism in his work,
Like us, each painting grows into its individuality. My work is simple but nuanced, sophisticated as well as clumsy.
ABOVE, TOP, LEFT TO RIGHT: Chunkenstein, 2011, acrylic on canvas 9 3/4 x 7 x 1 3/4 inches; Warp Rider, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 9 3/4 x 7 x 1 3/4 inches; Sleeping Giant, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 9 3/4 x 7 x 1 3/4 inches. (contact@martywalkergallery.com for pricing)
Sources: Modern Painters, Free Museum of Dallas
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