TOM MUESKE: RECENT WORKS

June 28 - August 14, 2014

Tom Mueske’s practice, once exclusive to ink on paper, now embraces mixed media on canvas. This change in creative focus underscores Mueske’s ability to realize simplicity in beauty; employing an understated artistic process he allows the viewer to appreciate a deeper understanding of his ideas and experiences. In a thought provoking interview about his work Mueske said,  “I feel that drawing is more personal and universal than any other media. Drawing with ink on paper is unforgiving and vulnerable. Works on paper are also less aggressive objects than paintings or sculpture. These sensitive qualities that drawings possess are communicated quietly. They are provocative.”

Tom Mueske’s recent drawings and paintings expose his interest in the concept of the ‘accidental.’ His use of mixed materials, integrated media, shapes and colors challenge and produce constant visual discovery. Mueske’s compositions are vibrant and seemingly spontaneous: random lines and free shapes radiate energy and rhythm, defining a relationship to the space around them. Irregular shadows and alternative visual fluctuations are considered derivative of an earlier period in Mueske’s body of work. “I attempt to create work that relates to both the provisional nature of contemporary art and the historic tradition of abstraction. I do that through my choice of materials and process. I wouldn’t say that there is an intentional engagement, rather a natural disposition to minimal ideas. I don’t consider myself an abstract artist—I illustrate abstraction.” -Tom Mueske

The first solo exhibition of Tom Mueske’s work in the prestigious Gallery Row on La Cienega will be exhibited at Sonce Alexander Gallery from June 28 to August 14. This is an unmissable opportunity to discover his latest work including, Warped and Enamel. The flourishes and concentrated scribbles of Untitled Installation distill painting and drawing into simplified and chance gestural markings. Lines play against one another, while raising questions about the subjectivity of his process. Mueske remarks on his recent work, “When I begin the drawings with colored markers, I attempt to perform gestures that are sincere and genuine. I often make marks with my wrong hand or behind my back. This removes any expectations of what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ that I bring to the work. I then begin the labor-intensive process of outlining the marks with black ink. The outline preserves, modifies, and reiterates the original act and, ultimately, transforms it.”

Biography

Tom Mueske is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute (MFA, 2007), where he received a Graduate Fellowship Award (2005). He obtained a residency at Stichting Kaus Australis, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2011). He has been featured in several exhibitions across the United States, including Haines Gallery, San Francisco, California (2008, 2007); Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, Washington (2005); New American Talent, Jones Center for Contemporary Art, Austin, Texas (2007); Architecture and Landscape, Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, California (2012); Next/New, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, California (2007); and he participated in the California Biennial, Orange County Museum, Newport Beach, California (2010).

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