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Marx & Zavattero

July 24 - August 22, 2010

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77 Geary Street 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94108
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Tilt Pitch (detail) dimensions variable laminate & enamel on panels, 2008
Opening Reception Saturday, July 24, 5:00 PM Marx & Zavattero is proud to announce Los Angeles artist Timothy Nolan’s third solo exhibition at the gallery July 24 – August 21, 2010. Using materials such as cut metallic paper, vinyl, glass, and aluminum, Nolan will showcase a new series of floor and wall sculptures along with a series of “paintings,” bringing to life his interest in the inherent gap between physical and illusionary space that occurs through shifts in color, light, and perspective. Nolan describes his work as “interpreting the endless realm of systems of order which occur naturally, unnaturally, on purpose, and by chance.” With a subtle palette of white, silver, gray, and black, Nolan puts into play variations on themes of geometry, repetition and pattern. Pitch – a remarkable 20-foot floor sculpture – will take center stage in the middle of the gallery. The piece features a series of over 20 triangular MDF pieces in varying scale and surface finish, suggesting the geometry of crystal formations while also conjuring a fourth dimension; the work’s double-mirrored surfaces uncannily recall the infamous mirror scene in Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai. Here, light, shadow, and reflection create multiple shapes within the work that blur the line between permanence and impermanence, solid form, and most notably, illusion. In the impressive wall piece Stack, Nolan uses 25 vinyl on aluminum elements to create a subtle arc made up of five different hues of irregular geometrical shapes. The repeating pattern and subtle shift in grayscale alludes to form evocative of a ridge, a spine, or intricately folded paper that dangles from, or ascends toward, the sky. In his silver cut metallic paper on painted panel series titled Stroke, Nolan explores the calligraphic gestures of the grain of cut paper and wryly hints at painting’s legacy. Each work conflates both the gesture of artists like Franz Kline with the lesser known, harder-edge Op Art, creating pieces that are luminous, active, and subtle. In summing up his new body of work, Nolan states, “I seek to honor hand-crafted mark-making as distinct from the perfection of machine or computer-generated designs.” Nolan has exhibited extensively since the early 1990s with solo shows at Heather Marx Gallery; Carl Berg Projects, Los Angeles; the Art Exhibits Program at LAX, Los Angeles; and Newspace, Los Angeles, among other venues. Group exhibitions include Quickening, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, AZ; Human Presence: The Geometry of Color/The Singular Body, the San Diego Museum of Art; Art on Paper, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; Trajectory, Schiltkamp Gallery at Clark University, Worcester, MA; Drawing Actions, de Halle, Geel, Belgium; Repeat Performance, Anthony Grant, New York, NY; and LAPD: The Los Angeles Pattern & Decoration Project, Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles, among other venues. Nolan was a 2007-08 COLA Individual Artist Fellowship recipient for the City of Los Angeles, and received a James Irvine Foundation Honorary Fellowship in 2007. He was also awarded a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 2001. His work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, The New Yorker, Artweek, and Artkrush, among several other publications. Recent artist residencies include the Stichting Kaus Australis, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside, CA; and the Edward Albee Foundation Residency, Montauk, NY. His work is in the collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Nolan received his MFA from Queens College, Flushing NY and his BA from Boston College.