Paul Pagk

2011-10-01T12:57:00.001-04:00

'within" oil on linen 65" x 74" 2011

'walkin' ' oil on linen 76" x 74" 2009 2011

'das inner dasein' oil on linen 65" x 74" 2008 2009

Spring Summer Fall Shows

2011-05-21T11:54:00.042-04:00

Group show A Romance of Many Dimensions, curated by Brent Hallard November 10 - December 1, 2011 at the Brooklyn Artists Gym. 168 7th Street Brooklyn NY

Group Show A Review at Edward Thorp Gallery, NY

'o g l s 130' 28" x 27" oil on linen 2010 2011

'o g l s 129' 28" x 27" oil on linen 2010 2011

These are a Few of My Favorite Things.... Curated by Jerelyn Hanrahan at The End 13 Greenpoint Av, Brooklyn

70 Years of Abstract Painting – Excerpts at Jason McCoy inc. & Mesquite Drawings at Some Walls, Oakland, CA

2011-03-24T23:11:00.068-04:00

Mesquite Drawings at Some Walls, Oakland, CA
April through May 2011

“Mesquite drawing” 2010, mixed media on paper, 14" x 17"

“Mesquite drawings” 2010, mixed media on paper, 14" x 17" x 18

70 Years of Abstract Painting – Excerpts at Jason McCoy inc. April 6 – May 20

o g l s 127 oil on linen 25" x 24" 2010

Paul Pagk, Cora Cohen and Josef Albers

John McLaughlin, Paul Pagk

PAPER A-Z @ Sue Scott Gallery March – 22 April 2011

2011-03-12T15:16:00.024-05:00

Untitled (Mesquite drawings) pencil and watercolor
on paper 14" x 16"1/2 2010

Untitled (Mesquite drawings) pencil, oil pastel and ink
on paper 14" x 16"1/2 2010

GEOMETRIC DAYS @ EXIT ART

2011-02-19T12:03:00.035-05:00

'All Tomorrow's Parties' oil on linen 76" x 74" 2010

'Mobile Home' oil on linen 76" x 74" 2010

'Aligned deepdown from above on the edge' oil on linen 76" x 74" 2008 2010

'Place' oil on linen 76" x 74" 2010

GEOMETRIC DAYS

February 25-April 30, 2011

ARTISTS

Rico Gatson, Charles Koegel, Peter Hildebrand, Geoffrey Owen Miller, Driss Ouadahi, Paul Pagk, Nathlie Provosty, and Dannielle Tegeder

Curated by Papo Colo and Jeanette Ingberman with Herb Tam

Informal Relations @ Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art curated by Scott Grow

2010-11-30T22:46:00.039-05:00

'untitled' ink, oil pastel and pencil on paper 22"5 x 15" 2005
online catalog:
http://issuu.com/scottgrowstudio/docs/informal_relations_catalog

Painting and Sculpture Foundation for Contemporary Art Benefit @ Lehmann Maupin Dec 2010 Jan 2011
http://artcards.cc/review/fca-benefit-at-lehmann-maupin/2850/#more-2850

Geometric Progressions 11 Painters @ Edward Thorp Gallery September 24 through November 6th 2010

2010-09-27T10:07:00.015-04:00

Three White Squares oil on linen 76" x 74" 2008 2009

Two Pink Rectangles 65" x 74" oil on linen 2009 2010

untitled Pre-Lexicon Series 1 oil on linen 19” x 20” 2004

Work sent to Cologne in March 2010

2010-07-21T21:39:00.010-04:00

Das Land ist Dein Land oil on linen 76" x 74" 2009

Pinkscape oil on linen 76 x 74 inches 2008 2010

Summer group show LUSH LIFE

2010-06-12T12:09:00.036-04:00

ogls 111 oil on linen 27" x 26" 2010

ogls 116 oil on linen 28" x 27" 2010

Recent Paintings My red maybe your orange, even @ Galerie Eric Dupont Paris March 13th to April 17th

2010-02-26T09:51:00.070-05:00

Red Insertion 76" x 74" oil on linen 2008 2009

Between Heaven and Earth 65" x 74" oil on linen 2008 2009

4 - 2 - 8 - 3 60" x 62" oil on linen 2008 2009

ESP / Cuban Boxer 2 62" x 60" oil on linen 2009

Three Ways 62" x 60" oil on linen 2009 2010

My red maybe your orange, even

On the evidence of most comments, Paul Pagk’s work is purely geometric abstraction – it is in the heritage of American Minimalism, for fans of clearer labels.

This association is not sufficient. Born in 1962 in England, Pagk is only three years old when his compatriot Richard Wollheim publishes the first article defining minimal art. From 16 to 20 years, he moves to Paris, he studies at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, but he crosses the Seine as often as possible to get to the Louvre or to the Pompidou Centre. There he enthuses as much for classical as for modern painting, and leaves himself exposed as well to Ingres, to Delacroix, to Picasso and to Matisse. A real bulimia. “I looked so many painters, he says, that it’s difficult to mention them all”. He adds, “I really can not say who influenced me the most”. Because what interests him then is learning to paint. Observing, studying the surface of masters’ pieces – not their labels.

The contact with minimalism occurs when Pagk arrives in New York in 1988. « A shock » which stimulates him to simplify his forms : it remains today only lines wich intersects at right angles (Red Insertion), geometrical structures in the shape of lozenges, trapezoids (4-2-8-3), parallepipeds (ESP – the Cuban boxer) or pyramidal (3-ways, the Village Green). The reduction is such that critics return him easily to his predecessors, Donald Judd, Sol Lewitt or Dan Flavin most often. But what Pagk retains from them is mainly their interest in the Merleau-Pontian philosophy. He wanted to be a painter at the age of seven years, he practiced the classical ballet, and it is not a coincidence that he is sensitive to the idea that the body and perception are constituents of our experience to the world. In effect Pagk has not changed. « I am basically a painter and painting is my subject », he repeats. He is fascinated by painting and the relation to body it establishes – not labels.

Look at his hands. His fingers and nails show his paintings’ colours and betray the cooking to which he devotes himself ritually to prepare his painting – a mixture of oil and pure pigments which he keeps secret recipe. His studio is also far to look like a sterile laboratory. The disorder reigns. If walls remain almost white, tins of paint, pigments, paintbrushes, rags and mixer knives pile up on the table that serves as his palette, coated with multiple layers of paint of which smell make us feel it is still fresh.

It is enough that the eye adapts a few moments to notice the thickness of the pictorial surface. Rather than being monochromatic and economical, it makes visible the superimposition of many layers of colours that do not overlap completely (4-2-8-3). Far from being smooth, it reveals fragments of coagulated paint, marks of brush strokes or lines tirelessly taken back (ESP) – in fact it reveals the creation process and preserves memory from it. These subtle variations of colours and material play with light and create optic vibrations, which fluctuate permanently according to illumination. They catch the eye of the viewer, who, if he accepts to be grabbed by their magic, will leave his entire body there. The perception of the work is such that “the more we look at it, the more the painting opens and reveals itself.”

The line is not so clear it appears at first sight. Indeed Pagk begins by tracing the outline of his structures, then encircles them, covers them with large colour plans, and rediscovers them alternately, incessantly. The distinction between line and colour fades, the boundaries are constantly redefined. The result is therefore an impression of movement : line quivers, and gradually the geometric rigor of the painting wavers while the structures teeters in a unspecified manner between the foreground and the background of the canvas, cast forward or conversely immersed by colour.

In abeyance, these structures are not necessarily evanescent. The artist captures their materiality by hanging them all along the canvas, as if to anchor them securely in the physical world of the viewer, thus giving them the opportunity to spread freely beyond the painting. Even the stangely puffy yellow shape, that we notice as it is an exception, does not float. It is not fasten to the frame, but stays isolated Between Heaven and Earth.

If we look closer, Paul Pagk’s painting is not so wise and minimal we like to admit. It is luxuriant in colours, carnal in consistency (4-2-8-3), indefinite or childlike in its strokes (ESP) and sometimes funny in some of these swelling unlikely forms (Between Heaven and Earth).
Against the theoretical and historical pedigree, the ambiguity and richness of this work reminds us that we must be wary of this "little knowledge of association" (Jean-Louis Schefer): a tic as safe as the famous Meetic, which avoids direct relation and guarantees against the alleged danger of the unknown. Tactile, Pagk’s painting requires instead a sensitive contact and without mediation. The meeting is not without risk, the work is not there to provide "an immediate understanding, but the possibility of the unknown". So it is a true blind date that Eric Dupont Gallery invites us to.
Séverine Gossart

My red maybe your orange, even
À en croire la plupart des commentaires, l'œuvre de Paul Pagk relève purement de l'abstraction géométrique – il se situe dans l'héritage du minimalisme américain, pour les amateurs d'étiquettes plus précises.

Cette association n'est guère suffisante. Né en Angleterre en 1962, Pagk n'a que trois ans lorsque son compatriote Richard Wollheim publie le premier article définissant l'art minimal. De 16 à 20 ans, il est installé à Paris, étudie à l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, mais traverse la Seine aussi souvent que possible pour se rendre au Louvre ou au Centre Pompidou. Là, il s'enthousiasme autant pour la peinture classique que moderne, et s'expose aussi bien à Ingres qu'à Delacroix, à Picasso qu'à Matisse. Une véritable boulimie. "Je regardais alors tant de peintres, dit-il, qu'il est difficile de tous les mentionner". Il ajoute : "Je ne peux vraiment pas dire ceux qui m'influencèrent le plus". Car ce qui l'intéresse alors, c'est apprendre à peindre. Observer, étudier la surface des tableaux de maîtres – pas leurs cartels.

Le contact avec le minimalisme intervient lorsque Pagk arrive à New York en 1988. "Un choc", qui l'incite à simplifier ses formes : il n'en reste aujourd'hui que des lignes qui se coupent à angle droit (Red Insertion), des structures géométriques en forme de losanges, trapèzes (4-2-8-3), parallélépipèdes (ESP-the cuban boxer 2) ou pyramidales (3-ways, the Village Green). La réduction est telle que la critique le renvoie aisément à ses prédécesseurs, à Donald Judd, Sol Lewitt ou Dan Flavin le plus souvent. Mais ce que Pagk en retient est essentiellement leur intérêt pour la philosophie merleau-pontienne. Lui qui voulait être peintre dès l’âge de sept ans, a aussi pratiqué la danse classique, et ce n'est pas un hasard s'il se montre sensible à l'idée selon laquelle le corps et la perception sont constituants de notre expérience au monde. Dans le fond, Pagk n'a pas changé. "Je suis fondamentalement un peintre et la peinture est mon sujet", répète-t-il. Ce qui le passionne, c'est toujours la peinture et le rapport au corps qu'elle établit – pas les étiquettes.

Regardez ses mains. Ses doigts et ses ongles portent les couleurs de ses toiles et trahissent la cuisine à laquelle il se consacre rituellement pour préparer sa peinture – un mélange d'huile et de pigments purs dont il conserve le secret de la recette. Son atelier est aussi loin de ressembler à un laboratoire aseptisé. Le désordre y règne. Si les murs restent presque blancs, les pots, pigments, pinceaux, brosses, chiffons, et couteaux mélangeurs s'accumulent sur la table qui lui sert de palette, enduits de multiples couches de peinture dont l'odeur nous fait sentir qu'elle est encore toute fraîche.

Il suffit que l'œil s'accommode quelques instants pour s'apercevoir de l'épaisseur de la surface picturale. Plutôt que d'être monochrome et économe, elle rend visible la superposition de nombreuses couches de couleurs qui ne se recouvrent jamais tout à fait (4-2-8-3). Loin d'être lisse, elle laisse apparaître des fragments de peinture coagulée, des marques de coups de pinceau ou des tracés inlassablement repris (ESP) – elle avoue en somme le processus de création et en préserve la mémoire. Ces subtiles variations de couleurs et de matière jouent avec la lumière et créent des vibrations optiques, qui fluctuent en permanence selon les éclairages. Elles capturent l'œil du spectateur, qui, s'il veut bien se laisser saisir par leur magie, y laissera son corps tout entier. La perception de l'œuvre est telle que "plus on la regarde, plus la peinture s'ouvre et se révèle".

Le trait n'est pas non plus si net qu'il apparaît à première vue. Pagk commence en effet par tracer les lignes de ses structures, puis les entoure, les recouvre de larges plans de couleur, les redécouvre, tour à tour, sans arrêt. La distinction entre ligne et couleur s'estompe, les limites en sont constamment redéfinies. En résulte dès lors une impression de mouvement : le trait frémit, et peu à peu la rigueur géométrique du tableau vacille alors que les structures oscillent de manière indéterminée entre l'avant et l'arrière du plan de la toile, projetées en avant ou inversement englouties par la couleur.

En suspens, ces structures ne sont pas pour autant évanescentes. L'artiste saisit leur matérialité en les accrochant toutes au bord de la toile, comme s'il voulait les ancrer de façon sûre dans le monde physique du spectateur, leur offrant dès lors la possibilité de s'étendre librement au-delà du tableau. Même ce corps jaune étrangement boursouflé, que l'on remarque d'autant qu'il fait ici exception, ne flotte pas. Il n'est pas arrimé au cadre, mais reste irrémédiablement enclavé Entre ciel et terre.

A y regarder de plus près, la peinture de Paul Pagk n'est donc pas si sage et minimale qu'on veut bien le dire. Elle est luxuriante dans ses couleurs, charnelle dans sa consistance (4-2-8-3), indéfinie voire enfantine dans ses traits (ESP) et parfois drôle dans certaines de ces formes au gonflement improbable (Between Heaven and Earth). Contre les pedigrees théoriques et historiques, l'ambiguïté et la richesse de cette œuvre nous rappelle qu'il faut se méfier de "ce petit savoir d'association" (Jean-Louis Schefer) : un tic aussi sécurisant que le fameux Meetic, qui évite toute relation directe et garantit contre le danger supposé de l'inconnu. Tactile, la peinture de Pagk exige au contraire un contact sensible et sans médiation. La rencontre n'est pas sans risque, l'œuvre n'étant pas là pour assurer "une compréhension immédiate, mais la possibilité de l'inconnu". C'est donc à un vrai blind date que la galerie Eric Dupont nous convie.

SéverineGossart

Liquid Sky in group show 'Re-Accession: For Sale by Owner' curated by Philae Knight and Amanda Steck

2009-07-12T10:14:00.009-04:00

Liquid Sky

Children of the Revolution Cosmic Sex Poem 2009 and Baukunst Galerie 2008

2009-06-13T14:46:00.041-04:00

Paul Pagk wall intervention @ Exhibition on 211 Elizabeth Street
June 9th to June 12th

EXHIBITION
Exhibition is a temporary (six months) independent, art initiative located in a vacant storefront at 211 Elizabeth street in New York. Exhibition offers an experimental and contradictory artistic and curatorial approach. Only a continuous single exhibition will be shown during this six months project. Initiators: Elena Bajo, Eric Anglès, Jakob Schillinger, Nathalie Anglès and Warren Neidich.

1. The work is an intervention upon interventions.
2. The work belongs to no one and is not for sale.
3. The work can be modified, parasitized and destroyed.

1. The artist is drawn from a hat.
2. The artist agrees to these rules in conversation on-site.
3. The artist works in areas determined by a roll of dice.

1. The site hosts a single unfolding exhibition.
2. The site is a vacant storefront at 211 Elizabeth Street in New York.
3. The site is open to the public March to August 2009, Wednesday to Sunday

EXHIBITION 211 Elizabeth Street

Baukunst Galerie, Köln, Germany 2008

video of opening at Baukunst Galerie

introduction talk by Ulrike Jagla-Balnkenburg at the opening

PRESENT curated by Jay Murphy @ HP Garcia Gallery, 580 Eighth Avenue, 7th Floor, New York April 8th - June 28th 2008

2008-04-13T14:00:00.035-04:00

Recent works @ Galerie Eric Dupont 13 Rue Chapon 75003 Paris Oct 27th to December 22nd 2007

2007-11-05T18:39:00.003-05:00

To K from P with Love @ Markus Winter, Berlin, Oct 26th - Dec 22nd 2007

2007-11-05T13:49:00.021-05:00

Text written by Franz Dahlem for and published in limited edition artist book accompanying the show in Berlin -To K From P with Love-

DADURCH

THE STATION OF THE CROSS (1958-1966) von Barnett Newman, habe ich zuletzt wieder in Washington, D.C. in der Nationalen Gallerie gesehen. Zum Format seiner Bilder (198 x 154 cm) sagte Barnett Newman: "A human scale for the human cry."

Der Schmerz erscheint. Die Unendlichkeit, die durch den Weg des Schmerzes erreicht wird ist Ruhe. Dieses grossartige Werk der Ruhe von Barnett Newmann vermittelt den Verzicht. Die Trostlosigkeit beinhaltet, dass es keinen Verzicht gibt. Dadurch aber auch das Wunder. Mein Schmerz hat mir gezeigt, was ich nicht gewesen bin.

Wenn das durch die Kunst dargestellt werden kann, eruebrigt es sich von abstrakter oder gegenstandsloser Kunst zu sprechen!

Denn das Wunder, dass es das Wunder gibt, beruht auf dem Bericht und nicht auf der Tatsache! Tatsachen bedeuten nichts. Kunstwerke berichten ueber die Gefuehle des Menschen in seiner Zeit, die jedes Jahr mit 8.760 Stunden unterteilt ist. Die Aufforderung Auskunft zu geben, betrifft beide Hemisphaeren, also rund um die Uhr, Tag und Nacht! Die Rufmoerder und Totschweiger koennen nicht verhindern, dass der Leidensweg Jesus in den 14 Stationen dargestellt, einen heiligen Weg zeigt, den noch viele Menschen gehen werden.

So viel, lieber Paul, zu meinem Kunstverstaendnis.

Franz Dahlem,

New York City 10013,
9. October 2007

THROUGH IT

The last time I saw “THE STATION OF THE CROSS” (1958-1966) by Barnett Newman again was in the National Gallery in Washington, DC. Barnett Newman said about the format of his paintings (198 x 154 cm) that it is, "A human scale for the human cry."

Pain appears. The infinity, which is attained through the path of pain, is quiet. This magnificent work of quiet by Barnett Newman conveys renouncement. The inconsolability implies that there is no renouncement. However, because of this there is also the miracle. My pain has shown me
what I have not been.

If this can be represented through art, it is unnecessary to speak about abstract or realistic art!

The miracle that there are miracles, is based on the report and not on the fact! Facts mean nothing. Pieces of art speak about the feelings of the person in his time, which is divided each year into 8760 hours . The demand to provide information, concerns both hemispheres, i.e. around the clock, day and night! The character assassins and those who ostracize others with deadly silence cannot prevent Jesus' path of suffering - represented by Barnett Newman in its 14 stations – revealing a holy path which many people will yet take.

This much, dear Paul, about my understanding of art.

Franz Dahlem

New York 10013,
October 9th 2007

translation by Hannah Porat

Lexicon and Aftermath @ Moti Hasson Gallery 535 West 25th Street NYC February 21 March 24 2007

2007-11-05T13:49:00.012-05:00

2007-05-21T17:50:00.007-04:00

Lexicon series 88 oil/tempera on linen 26" x 25" 2006

Ink, 9h pencil and oil pastel on paper 9"x 8" 2006

Lexicon series 84 oil/tempera on linen 27" x 26" 2006

Ink, 9h pencil water color and oil pastel on paper 15"x 14" 2006

Lexicon series 86 oil/tempera on linen 27" x 26" 2006

Graphite, 9h pencil and ink on paper 30 x 22 inches 2004

Tonight at noon oil on linen 64" x 74" 2003

Ink, 9h pencil and oil pastel on paper 10" x 11" 2006

Istance oil on linen 74" x 78" 2003

Ink, 9h pencil and oil pastel on paper 9"x 8" 2006

Fixtion oil on linen 74" x 78" 2003

Graphite, 9h pencil and ink on paper 30 x 22 inches 2004

Ink, 9h pencil and oil pastel on paper 12 x 13

Graphite, 9h pencil and ink on paper 30 x 22 inches 2004

Four triangles oil & enamel on linen 74" x 74" 2000

Link oil on linen 65" x 74" 2004

Land 1976 oil on linen 2000

Here, over and around about oil on linen 65" x 74" 2001/04

I was several thousand miles away when I found this page. I knew the name of course. But the hand. I forgot how well I knew the hand. There was a period of my life in New York when I had the privilege of meeting Mr Pagk. I can't remember the precise span of time this was but there was defintely a hot summer involved, the summer of love we may have called it. There was a generous Cuban-American with handsome manners, a beautiful French-Vietnamese doctor with a wonderful partner, some acupuncture in there too. There were hot New York streets, Brazilian dancing in Central Park on a Sunday, melting toffee-like tarmac, a tireless Welshman with a hug of genius, the smell of turpentine, exiles, exiles. The turpentine was Mr Pagk's. We were in a room on the lower west side, some tennis on the TV, a piano maybe, shoes, lots of shoes, the US Open I believe on the TV, soft waters lapping like a million Marlon Brando's outside the windows, the sun's reflection like a pot of gold. Consistently, persistently, kind of innocently too, Mr Pagk played and played - a musical instrument? - with form in space, his form, his space, a tilt here, a blast of noble blue or black there, sometimes pinned down by red, and often against white, often with something white, very white, melting ice-cap white, to settle not only the guest shape, the visiting form, but somehow your thoughts as well, as if this man with Anglo-Czech certainty continued to defy - I remember saying - anyone to stop him painting. (He was also always expertly anti-fashion.) So to see this man's work again, to wander through the 'studio' again, brings so much back to me. Except of course the smell of turps.
Peter Bach
April 26th 2006

"Lexicon series"40 oil/tempera on linen 2005

Aftermath oil on linen 78" x 74" 2002

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Graphite, 9h pencil and ink on paper 30 x 22 inches 2004

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Ink, graphite and oil pastel on paper 16.5 x 11.5 2003


Ink, graphite and oil pastel graph paper 16.5 x 11.5 2003

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