MILTON RESNICK(1917 - 2004) at Cheim & Reid Gallery 1 May - 7 Jun

Exhibition Description:

This is the gallery's first exhibition of New York painter Milton Resnick’s work since obtaining exclusive representation of his estate in 2006. The extraordinary group of paintings, made between 1959 and 1963, brings together some of Resnick’s largest canvases.

It is the first time many of them, including the expansive Swan and Tilt to the Land, have been seen in New York since their showing at Howard Wise Gallery in the early1960s. Also included in this show are loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art , New York , the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. The exhibition is accompanied by a full color catalogue with an essay by Nathan Kernan.

Education and Training:

Resnick was born in Bratslav, Ukraine and immigrated with his family to the United States in 1922. He began his studies in commercial art at Pratt Institute, but in 1933 transferred to the American Artists School to focus on painting.

Being a first generation New York School painter, Resnick made friends with Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning and was an active participant in the artistic arguments taking place.

He developed and refined his style between 1959 and 1963 and this became emblematic of his later painting and is an important turning point of his career. One especially defining characteristic of the paintings are their tremendous size. Swan, for example, completed in 1959, measures 25 feet, and is one of the three biggest canvases Resnick ever painted. The 5,000 square foot studio Resnick rented in 1959, and the mental and physical space it provided was undoubtedly an influence.

Resnick focused toward an intimate relationship with mark-making, the surface, and the physical matter of paint itself. The materiality of paint became most important, and Resnick’s intent dissolution of form resulted in ever more monochrome, thickly textured surfaces.

The exhibition is a record of the physical and emotional boundaries of their creator, the paintings testify to an artistic evolution. “Art is not a learning process. It is the very reverse of learning. It is the unhinging of your soul from your sight,” Resnick stated.

Description:

Milton Resnick (1917 - 2004),
SWAN 1961,
Oil on canvas,
116 3/4 x 273 5/8 inches,
296.5 x 695 centimeters,
CR# RS.14703

Full Contact Details:

547 West 25 Street, New York, gallery(at)cheimread.com