The Ides of Spring
“Four Brothers of the North Woods I”, 26” x 31”, Mixed media with gold foil on canvas, 2021
Keyes Gallery, New York, NY April, 2021
Opening Night Performance: Samuri Master Zen Takai, 5th Generation Samuri
PRESS RELEASE: “The Ides of Spring”, Keyes Gallery, New York, NY April 2021
New York, NY, March 15, 2021. Keyes Gallery is pleased to present “Ides of Spring”, an exhibition of artworks by New York artist Bill Claps. The exhibition will run from April 6th to May 9 th and will be open Wed. – Fri., 2-5pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 1-6pm
Claps will present new works from his most recent series, “Natural Abstractions New York City”, created with source photos he shot this fall in the natural environment found in his home town of NYC. The project initially began out of practical necessity, as Claps was forced by the lockdown to work closer to home, but eventually grew into an exercise in gratitude. According to Claps, “The project gave me a newfound appreciation for the nature and beauty of my surroundings, and it also showed me that I don’t need to travel to the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia or to a volcanic island in Japan to find inspiration from nature.”
The "Natural Abstractions" series is Claps' homage to traditional Chinese painting and to the 18th century Japanese master printmakers whose graphic style greatly influenced the European Impressionists. Claps' signature process begins with photographs taken in varied forests and mountains around the world. His technique recalls the Byzantine gilding practices, updated for the 21st century by combining them with photographic and digital processing technologies, and a unique gold foil process he developed for this series.
These works evoke a sense of the brush strokes, musicality and spiritual content of Chinese calligraphy, together with the spiritual evocation of Chinese landscape painting. Taoist and Buddhist sentiments are evoked through his unique visual language, which invites the viewer to perceive the beauty of invisible spaces. In referencing this history, Claps creates dynamic images that live in balance between figurative and abstraction.
Contact:
Keyes Gallery
245 West 14th St, NYC
Mariana Verkerk
C: (917) 721-5512