JEFFREY BISHOP
LIQUID ARCHITECTURE
October 28 - December 31, 2022
Reception for the Artist
Friday, October 28th, 5-8pm
Jeffrey Bishop: Liquid Architecture
By Tom McGlynn
Jeffrey Bishop’s work has been characterized over the course of his career by a graphic intensity that is synthesized from many sources. One can see in his earliest sculptures and drawings classic Modernist tropes, including aspects of El Lissitzky and minimalist masters such as Barry Le Va, but can also discern influences of indigenous Northwest Coast totemic art and graphic tendencies of the symbolic traditions of American Southwest and Plains tribal artists. It’s a sophisticated mix of expressive form that melds distinctions between art historic traditions in ways similar to the Abstract Expressionist “unconscious” conjured by Jackson Pollock or Richard Pousette-Dart for example, but also more recently erupting in urban graffiti and the welter of contemporary “asemic” writing experiments taking shape in social media groups.
His most recent series of compositions contain a compelling mix of symbolic and gestural elements that whiplash from expressive linear saraband to slower, pooling areas of inky mediums on synthetic substrates. One’s initial impression of these works is of a collection of Rorschach ink blots devised in the mind of an alien or otherwise alternate being, almost as if by proto-linguistic means of syntactical coding dependent upon linear attenuation and mass expansion and contraction. These are largely realized in deep blacks amidst subtle intermediate networks of grey suspended in luminous fields of vibratory value. The series is entitled Fathom Compression which hints playfully at a confluence of understanding and signal wave form dimensions.
With longer viewing, bi-lateral (humanoid/ insectoid?) symmetries arise that further reveal these works to be not simply chance-based but also the result of a carefully conducted operation. Bishop intentionally lets his ink medium takes its natural, flowing course but also carefully directs that course and then technologically intervenes with a silkscreen layer to “sample” elements of these improvisatory passages. The resultant hybrid image therefore doubles reflectively in its visionary reverie. This is automatic writing squared.
The question of how augmented pattern-recognition registers in one’s subconscious in a profoundly expressive way has always been important to Bishop. Looking again to his earlier work, one sees a similar inclination to bi-lateral symmetry in works such as Near Agung and Seek Cili (both 1993) from his mid-career period when he was based in Seattle, Washington.
This compelling series of works include vibrant colors and sections of patterning that recall the groundbreaking work of Philip Taaffe in that artist’s late 1980’s -early 1990’s period. Like Taaffe, Bishop has been involved in reinventing a language for painting that generously includes its more prosaic origins in the myriad decorative patterns recognized across world cultures. James Siena’s work, too, could be included in such a kindred group. Certainly, Siena’s recursive compositions also reflect a certain algorithmic networking of gesture evident in Bishop’s approach. Bishop’s early exploration of such spontaneously- controlled works were the result of a long and productive stint of creative activity on the West Coast. This is a specific developmental characteristic he shares with painters such as David Reed and Mary Heilmann, both of whom discovered the essence of their artistic autonomy in The West prior to arriving in New York City. In any case, his earlier experiences in Seattle lend these mid-career works a certain freshness and vitality that his more recent and newest work considered here has further extended and refined.
Considering more recent works, two examples perfectly predict the works in the present exhibition. Cinq Femmes Rhumba (2006) and Totem Quiver #1 (2022) exemplify Bishop’s biomorphic and geometric inclinations. The former recalls the surrealist collages of Max Ernst based on microscopic organisms, while the latter combines wave-forms that invoke the nesting shape-form ovoids of the Haida-Gwaii together with the jagged reflective patterns of Hopi pottery and textiles (among many other world cultural implications). Both compositions set off vibrations of dynamic, rhythmic counterpoint. If one considers the multiplicity of formal languages deployed here, sensitively orchestrated by Bishop, one might gain a deeper insight into the artist’s sensibility and intent. There’s a universal structure to Bishop’s formal address to the viewer that includes an immediately accessible sonic dimension.
To paraphrase Goethe, if architecture is frozen music, then the liquid architecture of Jeffrey Bishop’s music is uniquely realized in his harmonically complex work.
Jeffrey Bishop
Catalog available
Jeffrey was born in Berkeley CA.
Father was a Particle Physicist
First language was German. Was in Zurich (father doing a post doc)
Later lived in Paris and Brussels as a kid and in the Ticino (the Italian part of Switzerland) - learned French and Italian (French fluent, German functional, Italian lost(!)
Then lived in Princeton NJ before going to college in Boston at The Boston Museum School (now called the School of the Museum of fine Arts, SMFA). Got my BFA degree from Tufts University. 1973.
Won the 66th James William Paige Travelling Fellowship 1974.
Jeffrey was influenced at the time by Michelle Stuart, Dorothea Rockburne, Joan Snyder and Deborah Remington among many. Later and more lastingly by Robert Smithson, especially the writings.
He went to grad school at the University of Washington, Seattle 75-77. Studied with Jacob Lawrence and Michael Spafford.
He won the prestigious Betty Bowen Award, 1982, resulting in a one person show at the Seattle Art Museum.
Showed for many years in Seattle at the Linda Farris Gallery.
Also in Los Angeles where I lived in 88/89.
I taught painting, drawing, modern art history at Cornish College of the Arts during my time in Seattle.
Moved to NYC in 1994.
Residencies at:
American Academy in Rome
Jentel, Sheridan WY
Takt, Berlin, Germany
Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff Alberta, Canada
Interests:
Contemporary music
Current Jazz
Hiking, biking, scuba diving.
I was an active skydiver for 22 years (now retired!)
ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2022
Mosaic Artspace, Curated by James Trigas, Andreas Kokkodis
2021
Marfa Clinic Exhibition Space Marfa, Texas, Curated by Don Culbertson and Valerie Breuvart
2019
John Molloy Gallery NYC, NY Curated by John Molloy "Quiver Wall", Mural at Ideal Glass Studio
22 E. 2nd St, NYC Curated by Willard Morgan
2018
SRO Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, "Nomadic Mechanics", Monoprints 2014-2018
Curated by Cecilia Whittaker-Doe, Don Doe
Talking Pictures: "6 Paintings" Brooklyn, NY, Curated by Cathy Quinlan
2016
Scholes Street Studio, Brooklyn, NY, Curated by René Alain "Quiver-Alchemy"
490 Atlantic Gallery, (two person show) Brooklyn, NY, Curated by Jim Edwards
2014
ShapeShifter Lab, Brooklyn, NY Roger Smith Hotel, NYC, Curated by Danica Drummond
2011
Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, Mass, Curated by Katherine French
2008
Catherine Person Gallery, Seattle, WA
2006
OHT Gallery, Boston, MA
2005
Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, Ohio, Curated by Dr. Edna Southard
2001
OHT Gallery, Boston, MA
2000
Westminster School, Simsbury, Conn.
1997
Meyerson & Nowinski Gallery, Seattle, WA
1994
Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA
1994
San Diego State University Gallery, San Diego, CA, Curated by Walter Cotten
1993
Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA
1988
Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA
1985
Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA
1984
Whatcom Museum of Art, Bellingham, WA, Curated by Dennis Evans
1983
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, Curated by Bruce Guenther
1981
Karl Bornstein Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1980
Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
"Just Friends", Equity Gallery, NYC, Curated by Patricia Fabricant, Beth Dary and Alexandra Rutsch Brock
2021
Digital: AAA Prints 2012 - 2019, Curated by AAA (American Abstract Artists)
Western Connecticut State University Danbury , CT
"Just Friends", Equity Gallery, NYC, Curated by Patricia Fabricant, Beth Dary and Alexandra Rutsch Brock
2020
"American Abstract Artists - 75th Anniversary Print Portfolio and 2019 Monoprint Portfolio"
Curated by AAA, Transmitter Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
"Dedication and Purpose: 65 over 65"
Joanne Mattera Art blog. On line Exhibition, Curated by Joanne Mattera
"Just Friends", Equity Gallery, NYC, Curated by Patricia Fabricant, Beth Dary and Alexandra Rutsch Brock
2019
"The Black and White Show", Curated by Ford Crull, Jane St Art Center Saugerties, NY
"Independent Cogitate"
Yangzhou Contemporary Art Center, Curated by David Chen, Yangzhou, China
2018
"Turbulence", Curated by Odelette Cho
Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery NYC, NY
"Drawing Invitational", Curated by Cathy Ann Quinlan, Paul D'Agostino and Jeffrey Bishop, Talking Pictures Brooklyn, NY
Sideshow Nation VI
"The Greatest Show on Earth"
Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Curated by Richie Tempiero
2017
"Yellow Chair, Holiday Extravaganza", David&Schweitzer Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY, Curated by Michael David
"Hygge", Small Works, Curated by Jen Dragon
Cross Contemporary Art, Saugerties, NY
"Mykonos Biennial" Mykonos, Greece, Curated by Lydia Venieri
"True Believers", David & Schweitzer Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY, Curated by Daniel John Gadd
"GAMUT, A Group Show about Color", Cross Contemporary Art, Saugerties, NY, Curated by Jen Dragon
"Alter(native) Facts, Pleiades Gallery, NYC, Curated by Denise Adler
"The Trace" (Abscence/Presence) Lichtunfire Gallery, New York, NY, Curated by Peggy Cyphers, Ford Crull, Priska Juschka
"The Talking Pictures Invitational" 106 Van Buren, Bed-Stuy, NY
Curated by Cathy Ann Quinlan, Paul D'Agostino, Jeffrey Bishop, (Based on JB interview with Susan Sontag, 1981)
"Thru the Rabbit Hole 2, Nation V", Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Curated by Richard Timperio
2016
"DSC Flat File Exhibition", DSC Gallery(David & Schweitzer Contemporary) Brooklyn, NY, Curated by Michael David
"Quiver/Alchemy", 490 Atlantic Gallery, Brooklyn NY
(2 person show), Curated by Jim Edwards
"NOMENCoLorATURE #1, Studio 10, Brooklyn, NY, Curated by Paul D'Agostino
"NOMENCoLorATURE #2, Centotto Gallery, Brooklyn, Curated by Paul D'Agostino
"Art Du Jour", 490 Atlantic Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Curated by Jim Edwards
"In Monitoring", The Buggy Factory, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY, (3 person show), Curated by Paul D'Agostino. With Tom Butter and John Descarfino
"Works on Paper NYC IV", Jeffrey Leder Gallery, NYC,
2015
"Small Works", Jeffrey Leder Gallery, NYC, NY
"Last GREXIT to Brooklyn", Centotto Gallery, Brooklyn, NYC,, Curated by Paul D'Agostino
"Take Five", Cross Contemporary Art, Saugerties, NY, Curated by Jen Dragon
2014
"Group 17", Kunstraum Tapir, Berlin Germany "Take Five", Curated by Isolde Krams
"Back in Situ, or Turns", Centotto: Galleria [simposia] Salotto Brooklyn, NY. Curated by Paul D'Agostino
"Abstraction and its Discontents", Storefront Ten Eyck, Brooklyn, NY, Curated by Deborah Brown
2013
"Come Together: Surviving Sandy", Curated by Phong Bui, Brooklyn, NY
Jeffrey Leder Gallery, NYC, N.Y. "Organic Connections" 3 person show, Curated by Charles Marburg Westminster School, Simsbury, CT. "100 Year Anniversary Artists".
2012
"Studio of the Absurd", M55 Gallery, LIC, NY.
"III Bienal Internacional de Pintura de Guayaquil", Museo Alvarro Naboa, Guayaquil, Ecuador. Curated by Mauricio Pablo Martinez Rojas
2006
"Spring Highlights", Winston Wachter Gallery, Seattle, WA.
2004
"Diagnostic Arts", Monserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA.
2003
OHT Gallery, Boston, MA. "Gallery Artists".
2002
OHT Gallery, Boston, MA. "Gallery Artists"
2001
Linda Farris "LOOK", Seattle, WA
1999
Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, WA
1998
Meyerson & Nowinski Gallery, Seattle, WA
1997
Meyerson & Nowinski Gallery, Seattle, WA
1995
Vox Populi Gallery, Seattle, WA
1994
Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
1993
Security Pacific Gallery, "The Betty Bowen Legacy".
1992
Linda Moore Gallery, San Diego, CA
1991
Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA. "Watercolor".
1990
Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA. "20th Anniversary Show".
1988
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA. "Betty Bowen Award Tenth Anniversary Exhibition".
1983
Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA
1982
Westminster School, Simsbury, Conn. "Five Alumni". Blackfish Gallery, Portland, OR. "Linda Farris at Blackfish".
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA. " The Collectors: An American Tradition".
1981
Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA. "Washington Drawing" (Traveling Exhibition).
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MI. "Collage and Assemblage" (Traveling Exhibition). Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA. "The Washington Year/Shape as Idea: Abstraction".
Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA. "Selections from the
Modern Collection".
Cranberry Gallery, Plymouth, MA. "Contemporary Washington State Artists".
Vladisvostock, USSR. "Cornish Faculty".
Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, LAICA, Los Angeles, CA. "Eight Seattle Artists".
1980
Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA.
1979
Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA. Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA. "Washington Open".
1978
The City of Seattle, Seattle WA. "Selects".,Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA.
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA. "New Ideas" (Four Person Show).
1977
Linda Farris Gallery, "Seattle Drawing", Seattle WA.
1974
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA. "Traveling Fellowship Show".
