ROSALIE
KNOX
KATHERINE BERNHARDT
November 20th – December
20th, 2003
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 20th, 6 - 8pm
Kenny Schachter ConTEMPorary
14 Charles Lane, NYC 10014
t. 212 807-6669 f. 645-0743
www.RoveTV.net schachter@mindspring.com
Between West
and Washington Streets Perry and Charles Streets
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
ROSALIE KNOX: Shoot the Shit
conTEMPorary is proud to present the first solo show
of photographer Rosalie Knox.
In the eight years since she graduated with a B.F.A.
from The Cooper Union, Knox’s photographs have
been exhibited in thirteen shows, including 1996’s
“100 Photographs” at American Fine Arts,
and 2001’s “This is the Modern World”
at Modern Culture. Her work has been published in
a slew of international papers and magazines, including
Dazed and Confused, Figaro, French Vogue, Hanatsubaki,
Harper’s Bazaar, i-D, Index, Jane, The New York
Times, Ryuko Tsushin, and Women’s Wear Daily.
In her own words, Knox documents
“unusual and talented people and their work
and lifestyle.” Like a high school girl entranced
with Nan Goldin, she puts herself in the midst of
models, prostitutes, performers, gender-benders, exhibitionists,
celebrities, crazy people, party people, et al., hoping
for these lost souls to somehow rub off on the negative.
My how they do, and Knox proves she’s got way
more chutzpah and wit than the average high school
girl aping Goldin. Also, it is not without artful
timing, choice, and possibly even some instigation,
that Knox is able to capture these souls with her
camera.
Knox’s work evidences an eye
and tolerance just beyond our own, but not out of
reach; her images are both distinctive and accessible.
It takes a good mix of spontaneity, humor, and voyeurism
to do what she does. Truth may be Beauty and Beauty
Truth, but Knox seems to know that Tooth and Booty
are a lot more fun to look at.
KATHERINE
BERNHARDT: New Works
Upstairs is an exhibition of the work of Katharine
Bernhardt, who’s simultaneously being given
a large solo show at Team Gallery.
Bernhardt received her M.F.A. at
New York’s School of the Visual Arts in 2000,
and her B.F.A. at Illinois’ School of the Art
Institute of Chicago in 1998. Since graduating from
the Art Institute, she has been included in thirteen
group shows, and this is one of five solo shows she’s
been given in the last three years.
Bernhardt has made paintings dealing
with fashion, animals, abstraction, etc. independent
from each other, but now she’s attempted to
fuse her interests into a more “cohesive body
of work.” It must be said that Bernhardt let
out a hearty laugh after spouting this art critical
phrase. As much as there is continuity in terms of
source material and sometimes execution, these works
share a presence and a texture quite distinct from
her past works. Her experiments with abstraction,
expression and collage turn out pictures that are
all the more appealing for their layers, business,
and the degree to which they are built-up.
Models, dresses, and jewelry are
taken from the fashion glossies, and wrought lo-fidelity
and high energy in acrylic, spray paint, and marker.
Tarantulas co-inhabit a web with the logos of Yves
Saint Laurent, Chanel, and Fendi. Missioni sweater
patterns are taken to a fluorescent and psychedelic
extreme.
Onto some canvases, Bernhardt overlays
a cut out flower or butterfly shape made from her
spare drop cloths. The artless beauty of the drop
cloth is also applied to the pictures themselves,
with some works heavily speckled with drops of paint.
Wide-eyed faces sometimes appear through the splotches,
dots, and drips, resembling cosmic, stardust-speckled
sibyls of the Church of Vogue.
—Benjamin Berlow
