Alexander Gorlizki: The First Time I Heard You Blink

Solo exhibition

Greenberg Van Doren Gallery is pleased to present our first solo exhibition by Alexander Gorlizki. The First Time I Heard You Blink, will be on view from March 25th to May 1st and will include over fifty diverse and intricate works on paper and a full-scale installation that will provide both a window into the artist's thought process and a key to the manifold visual references found within his works.Gorlizki's works on paper combine such diverse elements as hand-painted figures, ornamental and textile patterns, as well as photographs and magazine pages. His compositions range from geometric abstraction to loosely narrative surreal scenes that offer views into layered worlds where Eastern and Western iconographies and historical references are found re-contextualized and co-mingling in a contemporary and flattened visual space. In Look Out!, Gorlizki reprises a motif common to the lexicon of 20th century American abstract art--the splatter--and frames it within a traditional and ornate eastern design creating a sense of juxtaposition and tension. Gorlizki often employs Malaysian textile patterns, Japanese Kimono patterns, or Victorian lace to ground representational components in space or to replace three-dimensionality. The Warrior Returns (pictured above) unites confounding figurative elements such as an English army officer's suit, an orator, and a ram playing a lute in an elaborate interplay that evokes a quality of subversive humor characteristic of many of Gorlizki's works. Gorlizki's interest in uniting elements from Eastern and Western geographies presents itself as much in the process of making the works as it does in the visual language of each piece. Gorlizki begins each drawing by meticulously mapping out the composition in his New York studio. The paper is then sent to the atelier of Riyaz Uddin in Jaipur, India, where sections of the paper are fastidiously painted with a single-hair brush in the Mughal miniature style. Often one paper will travel back and forth between Gorlizki's New York studio and the Indian atelier for years during which both parties will add elements to the paper until the work is deemed complete.Alexander Gorlizki was born in London, U.K., in 1967 and received his M.F.A. from the Slade School, London, U.K. He currently lives and works in New York, NY. His work is included in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK, the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, CA, the Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany, and the Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO. Recent solo exhibitions include Kudlek van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne, Germany, and Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. Recent group exhibitions include On Paper, Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France, 2009.