Josh Blackwell, Rebecca Morris, Ree Morton

May 3 – June 5, 2016 | 195 Chrystie Street, NY, NY 10002

11R is delighted to present Josh Blackwell, Rebecca Morris, Ree Morton, on view from May 3 through June 4 at 195 Chrystie Street. This three-person exhibition features recent sculpture by Josh Blackwell, paintings and watercolors by Rebecca Morris, and work from the 1970s by Ree Morton, bringing together three artists who consider the possibilities of poetic intervention into the everyday.

By embroidering and stitching onto such items as plastic bags and oven mitts, Blackwell transforms commonplace objects into visionary sculptures. Blackwell’s pieces, entitled Never Uses, are displayed alongside the abstract works of Rebecca Morris, whose conscious emphasis on geometry and topography contrasts with Blackwell’s irregular, organic forms, despite both artists’ shared affinity for and sensitivity to surface.  Ree Morton’s pieces – staged on their own in the project room of 11R’s West gallery – provide a historical reference point for Blackwell and Morris, as her use of personal narrative, utilization of language, and idiosyncratic approach to color and materials were pioneering in her lifetime.  Morton’s work has been described by the art historian Lucy Lippard as deploying “confrontational innocence,” and her art informs this multi-generational exhibition with its consideration of intimacy, humor, and quotidian beauty.

Josh Blackwell (b. 1972) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.  Recent solo and group exhibitions include Kate MacGarry, London; John Tevis Gallery, Paris; Rachel Uffner, New York; Ooga Booga, Los Angeles; Elizabeth Dee, New York; Invisible Exports, New York; and many others.  Josh Blackwell is represented by Kate MacGarry, London.

Rebecca Morris (b. 1969, Honolulu, HI) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Rebecca Morris’ work will be included in the upcoming Made in LA: a, the, through, only, at the Hammer Museum. Recent solo and group exhibitions include 356 Mission Rd, Los Angeles; Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht; Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago; Kunsthalle Lingen, Lingen; David Zwirner Gallery, New York; Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York; and others. She is also the author of MANIFESTO (For Abstractions and Friends of the Non-Objective).  Rebecca Morris is represented by Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL, and Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Germany.

Ree Morton (b. 1936, Ossining, NY; died 1977, Chicago, IL) was the subject of a landmark retrospective at the Reina Sofia, Madrid in 2015.  Important exhibitions during her lifetime include Artists Space, NY; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; among many others.  Her work is included in major museum collections in the US and Europe.  The estate of Ree Morton is represented by Alexander & Bonin, NY