Catinca Tabacaru Gallery Collective

Past Tense

Joe Brittain

8 September  —  22 October 2017

Joe Brittain
Past Tense
Installation View

Joe Brittain
Past Tense
Installation View

Joe Brittain
Past Tense
Installation View

Joe Brittain
Past Tense
Installation View
New York, NY

Joe Brittain
Untitled (Frozen River), 2017
petrified river bed stones, steel wire, 1931 printing of “Decline of the West” by Oswald Spangler
23 × 64 × 5 inches

Joe Brittain
Days and Ages, 2017
black sand in wall, polished marble
40 × 30 inches | 7 × 15 × 11 inches

Joe Brittain
Letter to the Weather 2 and 3, 2017
graphite on archival newsprint (framed)
27 × 21 inches

Joe Brittain
Untitled, 2017
marble, wood, black diamonds
47 × 18 × 9 inches

Joe Brittain
Untitled (detail). 2017

New York, NY, August 28, 2017: Using sculpture as a way to ask fundamental questions of human sensibility, my new works create situations and dialogs for us to probe our relationships to, and placements within the material world and its deep, incomprehensible history. Part historic, part scientific, part spiritual, the works are a continuation of my exploration of natural, core materials; marble, black diamonds, fossilized stone, pure pigments, bone, crystal, and pure metals.

These materials, each with their own unique and complex roots, are brought together in focused, abstract forms. The works confound expectations and reveal an internal search for oneself and others.

This is Joe Brittain’s second solo show with the gallery.