News
Recent Exhibitions
American Abstract Artists: Tribute to Esphyr Slobodkina
The Painting Center, New York, NY
September 2 – 27, 2008
Henry Brown’s artwork was included in American Abstract Artists: Tribute to Esphyr Slobodkina at The Painting Center. The exhibition was dedicated to Esphyr Slobodkina (1908–2002), a founding member of AAA. It featured work by her and 75 current members as well as materials representing some of the group’s past history. Esphyr Slobodkina was the organization’s first secretary, served as president, treasurer, biographer and maintained a lifelong active involvement with AAA. The exhibition celebrated the continuity of American Abstract Artists.
American Abstract Artists is a democratic, artist-run organization, founded in 1936 to promote the exposure and understanding of abstract and non–objective art. To date American Abstract Artists has organized over 75 exhibitions of its membership in museums and galleries across the United States. AAA produces member print portfolios, publishes catalogues and an American Abstract Artists Journal, distributes its published materials internationally to cultural organizations, documents member history in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, and hosts critical panels and symposia.
The exhibition was made possible through the generous support of The Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Foundation;The Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason Foundation; and Richard and Franny Zorn. A brochure with an essay by Stephen Maine accompanied the exhibition.
Machine Learning
Gallery Sonja Roesch, Houston, TX
March 8 – May 3, 2008
The Painting Center, New York, NY
November 27 – December 22, 2007
Boyden Gallery at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s City, MD
September 4 – 27, 2007
Henry Brown, Terry Haggerty, Gilbert Hsiao and Douglas Melini
Curated by Matthew Deleget
The title of this traveling exhibition was inspired by a subfield of artificial intelligence concerned with the development of algorithms that allow computers to “learn.” Machine learning recognizes patterns within massive sets of information and has a wide range of real-world applications, the most common of which is the Internet search engine. Machine Learning explored new pattern painting and its relationship to new forms of visual intelligence in the information age.
A color catalog accompanied the exhibit. Machine Learning was reviewed in The New York Sun, ArtsHouston and Houston Press. Henry Brown, Matthew Deleget and Gilbert Hsaio were interviewed for The Front Row on KUHF Houston Public Radio. They also participated in a panel discusion at Gallery Sonja Roesch.
Machine Learning Prequel was exhibited in conjunction with Machine Learning at the Boyden Gallery. Machine Learning Prequel was a curated selection of precident pattern based artwork from St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s permanent collection and functioned as a point of entry for Machine Learning. The prequel exhibition consisted of work by nearly twenty artists made during the past sixty years, including Thomas Hart Benton, Victor Vasarely, Sam Gilliam, and Jean Arp.
Machine Learning was a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts. The exhibition, tour, and catalog were made possible by grants from the Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Foundation, The Golden Rule Foundation, and Louise & Anne Abrons Foundation. Machine Learning was curated by Matthew Deleget, artist and co-founder of MINUS SPACE in Brooklyn, NY.
The paintings they make are handmade, labor-intensive, retinally-charged works. Each uses color explicitly, with certain leanings toward the luminous and prismatic…each artist employs pattern, often in overlapping or concurrent layers, as the core visual device to carry the content of their work.
—Matthew Deleget
Machine Learning, exhibition catalog, Boyden Gallery at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, The Painting Center, and Gallery Sonja Roesch, 2007. Essay by Matthew Deleget.
In the Press
KUHF Houston Public Radio Interview
Henry Brown, Matthew Deleget and Gilbet Hsaio were interviewed for The Front Row about their artwork and the exhibition, Machine Learning, at Gallery Sonja Roesch. The interview was conducted by Meghan Hendley and The Front Row was hosted by St. John Flynn.
…work that utilizes color, light and alternative materials in the design of pieces whose effect is to create an attention grabbing break of space in the normal visual landscape.
—St. John Flynn
Interview with Meghan Hendley. The Front Row. Houston Public Radio. KUHF, Houston. 24 Apr. 2008.
ArtsHouston
[Henry Brown’s] paintings encourage inspection and deliver on many levels.
—Garland Fielder
“Gallery Sonja Roesch, Machine Learning”, ArtsHouston, April 2008.
The New York Sun – “Intelligent Design”
Their peculiar facture—with private beginnings to demonstrative gestures—adds to their fanatical air.
—John Goodrich
“Intelligent Design”, The New York Sun, 27 Dec. 2007. “Intelligent Design” is a review of Machine Learning at The Painting Center, New York City.