Newtonland, 2010
White Flag Projects, St. Louis
“The artists included in Newtonland harness gravitational forces in various degrees. Artist Greg Bogin’s (New York) shaped canvas suggests orbital speed and rotation, while Elizabeth Bryant (Los Angeles) evokes natural phenomenon that is closer to home. In her photographic mobile, forms are cut free from their conventional pictorial landscape. Anne Eastman’s (New York) stabiles negotiate geometries wrought in familiar materials, while Ib Geertsen (Danish 1919-2009) and Jan Van Der Ploeg (Dutch) explore the abstract qualities of form and color when subjected to the merits of balance and harmony. Jonas Wood’s (Los Angeles) drawings claim a debt to Calder’s mobiles and stabiles while identifying parallel compositions in the structure of houseplants. Like Eastman’s vernacular material references, Michelle Grabner and Brad Killam’s (Chicago) large-scale suspended screen employs familiar aluminum stadium bleacher material with traditional silverpoint line drawing. Finally, a selection of Jean Painleve’s (French 1902-1989) early 20th century nature films document radical life forms that have evolved in the relative density of the sea.”
(From the press release)
