b) The sides surrounding one another, Beka Goedde, 27 1/2″ x 32″, etching, gouache, pencil on panel, 2008

c) What, David Meanix, 40″ x 30″ color photograph, 2008

Leo Kesting Gallery Presents: David Meanix – This City
and Glowlab Presents: Beka Goedde – Entropically Favorable
March 20 – April 6, 2008
Opening Night Reception: Thursday March 20, 7:00 – 10:00 pm
812 Washington St (at the corner of Gansevoort) New York, NY 10014
8th Ave A, C, E and L train Stop or 1,2,3 to 14th Street
Tuesday – Sunday from 11:00 am until 7:00 pm
Admission is free to the public
Phone: 917-650-3760
Web: leokesting.com or http://glowlab.com

After Party at Level V : hosted by Adele Balderston and DJ Pierce Jackson

March 3rd, New York– In a formal collaboration between partner galleries Leo Kesting and Glowlab, David Meanix’s sculptures – born from torn and shredded photographs and culminating in staged renditions of modern daily life – are exhibited next to Beka Goedde’s paintings and works on paper depicting a bird’s eye view of architectural structures suggesting tent cities and shanty towns. In Leo Kesting’s collection of works by David Meanix, entitled This City, and Glowlab’s presentation of Beka Goedde’s Entropically Favorable, two curators bring forward visions exploring psycho-geography and the complex relationships between people and the spaces they inhabit. Exhibitions will be on display March 20th through April 6th.

In This City, David Meanix’s original approach to photography brings a new direction to the discussion of social issues by providing an array of engaging imagery as a starting point. Through a technique known as Photo-sculpture, Meanix delves into the personal lives of women, minorities and couples who either struggle with the challenges that life in the city presents, or bask in its glories. This technique of tearing photographs and collaging them back together allows Meanix to approach the subject in a dynamic way. Pure and true to its intention, Meanix’s artwork is defined by its conception, the deconstruction of the object and the photograph itself. Once this has occurred Meanix can begin to find his subject, an intangible that must be rebuilt. The portrait has been taken and is ripped apart to then be remade representing a fresh look at our personal identities.

“My sculptures are about release. They portray a bringing forth of one’s true self while consciously shedding pretenses. . . A realization that we are spirit held by the physical body; cocoons of sublime bliss.”

In the second exhibition, curated by Glowlab and presented on the gallery’s mezzanine level, Beka Goedde’s first New York solo exhibition, Entropically Favorable, brings a similar vision refocused on the identity of the city itself. Her complex landscapes appear to float in unbounded space on rough, warped painting surfaces that are at the same time thin and delicate, arching and curving outward from the wall. Raw plywood is covered with etchings on Japanese paper, linen and plaster in gauze-like layers, lending a dreamy, ethereal quality to Goedde’s imaginary villages. Jewel-toned colors fill geometric sections in clusters, hinting at life within the primitive structures. Bits of words and phrases appear at times as whispers woven into the terrain.

Trained in neuroscience and philosophy at Columbia University and Barnard College, Goedde presents a complex spatial perspective where planes and structures collide with the uncertainty of memory – dense in places, sparse in others. In these landscapes of growth and continuation, light and tactile perception reach an equilibrium counterbalanced by the acceptance of natural decay. One has the sense that these dwellings might tumble at the slightest quake, leaving only the idea of a landscape behind.

Reminiscent of Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities,” Goedde’s introspective yet dynamic spatial and tactile sensibility draws the viewer into her interconnected framework of imaginary constructions, leaving behind lingering questions about the nature of space.

From its origins as Capla Kesting Fine Art in Brooklyn, the Leo Kesting Gallery launched in 2003 and developed an aggressive campaign to introduce new figurative artists to collectors and art supporters. Leo Kesting offers the art viewing public an opportunity to see forthcoming talents in an intimate setting where undiscovered, cutting-edge artists are presented to the contemporary art scene.

Glowlab, a curatorial project of Brooklyn-based artist and curator Christina Ray, supports the development, production and exhibition of new works by artists and creative technologists whose primary inspiration is the urban environment. Open by appointment in Williamsburg, Glowlab operates as a nomadic initiative, collaborating recently with host galleries and arts organizations in New York, Miami, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Montréal, Rome and Valencia. Glowlab is also the founder and producer of the Conflux, the art and technology festival for the creative exploration of urban public space. glowlab.com, confluxfestival.org

Leo Kesting Gallery is located at 812 Washington St at the corner of Gansevoort in Manhattan’s Meat Packing District. A, C, E, or L train to 8th Ave and 14th Street or 1,2,3 train to 14th Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 11am until 7pm.

]]> http://leokesting.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=266 0 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=264 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=264#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:46:46 +0000 leokesting http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=264 Eric Laine – Bipolart – Facelift
February 22 – March 9, 2008

A) Modern Soul of Life

Capla Kesting Fine Art Presents:
Eric Laine Curates Bipolart : Facelift
February 22 – March 17, 2008
Reception for the Artist: Friday February 22 from 7:00 – 10:00 pm
121 Roebling Street (at the corner of North 5th) Brooklyn NY 11211
Bedford Ave L train Stop
Thursday – Monday from Noon until 6:00 pm
Admission is free to the public phone : 917-650-3760 http://www.caplakesting.com or contact eric at: http://www.BiPolArt.cc

For Immediate Release:
Bipolart launched in 2007 as an independent curatorial outpost with a growing portfolio site for selected artists. A contention of Bipolart is that exhibiting diverse work side by side fuels discourse toward a progressive reception of art. Dialectical tension from such a curatorial process underlines the ‘bipol.art’ distinction.

“Facelift” is a group show curated by Bipolart founder Eric Laine for Capla Kesting Fine Art in Brooklyn featuring artists from Amsterdam, Berlin, Warsaw, New York, and LA.  The work selected for “Facelift” reveals ‘facial’ representation in literal, discreet, and abstract form.  In a sense this group show attempts to lift so-called
face value from its obvious origin to the realm of fiction, taking on forms related to nature, artifice, and abstract irony.

Bare “Facelift” submissions include Autumn Rooney’s ‘Love Series’ painting of Benazir Bhutto and Barack Obama, Carlos Valencia’s Lindsey Lohan pencil drawings, and Marc Grubstein’s ‘I love Frida’ self-portrait photograph.

Discreet “Facelift” submissions include photo prints from the ‘Modern Life of the Soul’ art cult, presented here for the first time in America, which reveal images from their month-long quest into the primeval Polish forest ‘to reverse
evolution by living like plants.’ The mysterious photos develop from glimpses of bare women cloaked with plant life to ritual scenes of decorative altars celebrating the forest. Dutch artist Melanie Bonajo also mutes the portrait gaze in a different project of female bondage photos where she uses household items to wrap her nakedness up and cover her face.

An example of ironic abstract work in terms of the show stems from Matthew Steinberg’s modernist influenced urban painting series. Here scenes of urban architecture are painted onto canvas in rich contrasts and sharp lines heightening color perception to a city’s modern makeover beyond its concrete familiarity.

Exhibiting artists:  Melanie Bonajo, Clare Churchouse, David Henry Brown Jr., Marc Grubstein, Kinga Kielczynska, Steffi Lindner, Marok, Mosco, Autumn Rooney,  Kristen Schiele, Ania Siwanowicz, Matthew Steinberg, Carlos Valencia

Facelift is on view from February 22 until March 17, 2008, with an opening night reception for the artist on Friday February 22 from 7:00 – 10:00 pm. The Gallery is located at 121 Roebling Street in Brooklyn NY. Gallery hours are Thursday to Monday from noon until 6pm.

Founded in October of 2003 by artists David Kesting and Lincoln Capla, Capla Kesting Fine Art has become synonymous with the exposure of underground artists. Created primarily as a venue to expose their work, and that of their talented group of friends CKFA has developed a reputation for their off the beaten path approach to advancing the public’s knowledge of premier talents that demand our attention.

“We’re not here making a statement. We’re just showing art we think deserves to be shown. The goal and whole idea of the place is to help bring artists that we respect and enjoy to the attention of the public.” – Capla Kesting Fine Art

Directions: Bedford Ave L train Stop. Exit the subway walking west on North 7th, away from river, 2 blocks to Roebling, then proceed south 2 blocks to North 5th. The gallery is located on the corner of North 5th and Roebling.

]]> http://leokesting.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=264 0 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=262 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=262#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:45:50 +0000 leokesting http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=262 Diane Dwyer
March 14 – March 16, 2008
A) Bow, Diane Dwyer, 18″ x 26″, Oil on Board 2007

B) Sparrow, Diane Dwyer, 12″ x 16″, Oil on Board 2005 Leo Kesting Gallery Presents:
Diane Dwyer
March 14 – March 16, 2008
Opening Night Reception: Friday March 14 from 7:00 – 10:00 pm
812 Washington St (at the corner of Gansevoort) New York NY 10014
8th Ave A, C, E and L train Stop or 1,2,3 to 14th Street
Tuesday – Sunday from 11:00 am until 7:00 pm
Admission is free to the public
phone : 917-650-3760 / 917-292-8865

http://www.leokesting.com

Diane Dwyer’s quiet, subtle paintings of birds, storm clouds and underwater scenes give a serene calm as a backdrop to the tumultuous storms through which we endure. As a painter her works are enigmatic. Her use of color, line and perspective create an image that our eye is easily caught in and spun from one side of the canvas to the other not unlike a leaf caught in a current.

In this collection expect to see a consortium of Diane’s repertoire, from early paintings of bird portraits to her well known storm cloud abstracts and birds as they are caught inside of them. As well as underwater images such as a 1940’s battleship in its submerged grave after atomic testing.

“Dwyer’s first solo show at the gallery featured the signature ‘dramatic oils of splay-winged birds sideswiped by tumultuous weather … a true delight.’ (Village Voice Best of 2006), as well as lovely skewed perspectives of skies with wires, cornices and other seemingly banal objects teasing us from outside the center of the picture, leaving space and time for contemplation of their meeting with the “divine” and timeless sky-scapes with which they were paired. The new work is looser, and we think “deeper” both literally and otherwise.” -Brook Bartlett

Originally CKFA from Brooklyn New York, the Leo Kesting Gallery started in 2003 and developed an aggressive campaign to introduce new figurative artists to collectors and art supports. Leo Kesting offers the art viewing public an opportunity to see forthcoming talents in an intimate setting where new undiscovered artists with a cutting edge are exposed to the contemporary art scene. In this way, we present our collectors with an off-the-beaten-path approach to acquiring artwork for our minds and culture.

The gallery is located at 812 Washington St at the corner of Ganesvoort in the meat packing district of West Greenwich Village. A, C, E, or L train to 8th Ave and 14th Street or 1,2,3 train to 14th Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 11am until 7pm. ]]> http://leokesting.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=262 0 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=260 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=260#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:44:30 +0000 leokesting http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=260 Lincoln Capla – The Studio Collection
March 1 – March 12, 2008

A) I Will Continue to Love America, Lincoln Capla. 65.5″ x 59″, Oil on Wood and Glass

Leo Kesting Gallery Presents:
Lincoln Capla – The Studio Collection
March 1 – March 13, 2008
Opening Night Reception: Saturday March 1 from 7:00 – 10:00 pm
812 Washington St (at the corner of Gansevoort) New York, NY 0014
8th Ave A, C, E and L train Stop or 1,2,3 to 14th Street
Tuesday – Sunday from 11:00 am until 7:00 pm
Admission is free to the public phone : 917-650-3760

http://www.leokesting.com

Lincoln Capla’s artwork has been called “a product of a multifaceted vision rather than a sign of immaturity or an effort to be postmodern” by Ben La Rocca from the Brooklyn Rail. Those traits are evident in this expansive view of his career, The Studio Collection, the largest retrospective to date of Lincoln Capla’s artwork. Showcasing multiple styles from hundreds  of paintings, drawings and sculpture for view. Lincoln’s approach of minimizing color, concentrating on line and perspective while focusing on concept, allow his themes to overpower the viewer.

“Lincoln’s work allows the viewer to escape the mundane fight of color and splash that so many artists get absorbed in,” explains gallery co-director John Leo “by exercising restraint, Lincolns work embraces subtle execution to allow his concepts to really touch a persons soul.”

In the painting, I Will Continue To Love America, Lincoln use of found object is aptly chosen to express the concept of transparent conflicts within ones own house. Though harsh and damaged like the object he choose to paint on, our frailties are easily broken when reflected against permanent aspects of our lives

“The beauty of this artwork lies in Lincoln’s ability to tie found object to the concept of his painting,” gallery co-director David Kesting adds, “Any canvas would not work for such a grand painting, Lincoln needed a large dynamic material to work on that would convey the ancient foundation from which we come and how easily we can shatter the trivial arguments we engage and hold ourselves in.”

Originally CKFA from Brooklyn New York, the Leo Kesting Gallery started in 2003 and developed an aggressive campaign to introduce new figurative artists to collectors and art supports. Leo Kesting offers the art viewing public an opportunity to see forthcoming talents in an intimate setting where new undiscovered cutting-edge artists are exposed to the contemporary art scene. In this way, we present our collectors with an off-the-beaten-path approach to
acquiring artwork for our minds and culture.

The gallery is located at 812 Washington St at the corner of Gansevoort in Manhattan’s Meat Packing District. A, C, E, or L train to 8th Ave and 14th Street or 1,2,3 train to 14th Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 11am until 7pm.

]]> http://leokesting.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=260 2 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=259 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=259#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:39:33 +0000 leokesting http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=259 Leo Kesting Gallery – Grand Opening
January 17 – Feb 25, 2008

Leo Kesting Gallery – Grand Opening!
Thursday, January 17th – from 7 to 10pm
Preview of artworks to be exhibited at Leo Kesting in 2008
812 Washington St. (at Gansevoort) New York, NY 10014
Featuring: Lincoln Capla, Daniel Edwards, Jonny Fenix, Jason Douglas Griffin, David Meanix, Joe Heaps Nelson, Brian Leo, Shawn Bishop-Leo, Ray Sell and Dave Tree

New York city’s Meat-Packing District has long been a place of intrigue and dialog with its citizens. Once famous for commodity and produce, to its seedy midnight lurking of the 80’s and early 90’s, to its current status of international chic, the meat packing district has long been where the guts of New York are located. These cobblestone streets where the longest blocks of the city run into the Hudson, now inhabited by the trendiest of restaurants bars and fashion boutiques is the prime location for our new gallery to unleash this new wave of artists into the main stream of America. Traveling the L train with our success from the Bedford avenue stop in Brooklyn underneath the now gentrified 14th street and emptying our payload on Washington Street at the mouth of the West Side Highway we welcome home our new digs, Leo Kesting Gallery in the meat packing district.

Showcasing artworks by Lincoln Capla, Daniel Edwards, Jonny Fenix, Jason Douglas Griffin, David Meanix, Joe Heaps Nelson, Brian Leo, Shawn Bishop-Leo, Ray Sell, and Dave Tree; Leo Kesting brings its raw vision and collection to Manhattan for a feast to the eyes of international collectors. With a storied reputation of standing behind its artists, regardless of the opinions of critics, Leo Kesting braces the public for the sensual appeal of figurative illustrations, vivid expressive paintings and sharp rhetoric that has become our trademark in the art world. Also on display will be samples of work from additional galleries that will be working with Leo Kesting Gallery in a series of guest exhibitions throughout the year.

Please join us as we celebrate this momentous occasion. Thursday, January 17th from 7-10pm at 812 Washington Street. ]]> http://leokesting.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=259 0 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=257 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=257#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:38:31 +0000 leokesting http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=257 Brian Leo – Martial Law Winter Wonderland
November 30 – December 23, 2007

A) Bird Fluin, Mixed Media on Canvas

B) Milk It, Mixed Media on Canvas,

C) Mother and Child, Mixed Media on Canvas, Capla Kesting Fine Art Presents:
Brian Leo – Martial Law Winter Wonderland
November 30 – December 23, 2007
SHOW EXTENDED UNTIL FEBRUARY
Reception for the Artist: Friday November 30 from 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Winter Wonderland Holiday Special with Brian Leo: Friday, December 14 7:00 -10:00 pm
121 Roebling Street (at the corner of North 5th) Brooklyn NY 11211
Bedford Ave L train Stop
Thursday – Monday from Noon until 6:00 pm
Admission is free to the public phone : 917-650-3760 http://www.caplakesting.com
For Immediate Release:

With Brian Leo’s third solo exhibition at our gallery he explores the reality of a presidential mandate for martial law allowing George Bush to remain in power for an unspecified period of time. Viewing into a near future, Brian proposes the hope for an end to the Bush presidency is left unrealized in the 2008 election. Precipitated by a possible outbreak of the bird flu and the subsequent citizen unrest, Bush declares Martial Law, and cancels the democratic process for the foreseeable future.

In Martial Law Winter Wonderland, Leo imagines the five ways Martial Law could be reinstated in the near future: epidemics of disease, civil unrest, a natural disaster, an act of war, and an economic crisis. Brian Leo greets the upcoming new year with an explosion of doom that we can only hope is science fiction, but are already becoming the reality: diseased and deformed newborns, a Red Cross ship loaded with ammunition, Americans performing jobs we’ve come to associate with desperate poverty, all in his familiar, and now deeply strange style. Like George Orwell and Ray Bradbury before him, Brian Leo creates an alarming narrative in order to remind us: if we are not vigilant towards the politics and policies of the present, then the possibilities of the future election and beyond are only dreams.

Brian Leo has recently shown in Tokyo, at the Bridge Art Fair in Chicago and Miami, Sunset and St. Marks in Los Angeles, the Fountain Art Fair in New York, Chicago and Miami, and galleries throughout the East Village, Chelsea, and Williamsburg. He was also noted in the July 29 th 2007 issue of The New York Times.

Brian Leo Martial Law Winter Wonderland is on view from November 30th until December 23rd, with an opening night reception for the artist on Friday November 30th from 7:00 until 10:00 pm. The Gallery is located at 121 Roebling Street in Brooklyn NY. Gallery hours are Thursday to Monday from noon until 6pm.

Founded in October of 2003 by David Kesting and Lincoln Capla, Capla Kesting Fine Art has become synonymous with the exposure of underground artists. Created primarily as a venue to expose the work of their talented group of friends CKFA has developed a reputation for their off the beaten path approach to advancing the public’s knowledge of premier talents that demand our attention.

“We’re not here making a statement. We’re just showing art we think deserves to be shown. The goal and whole idea of the place is to help bring artists that we respect and enjoy to the attention of the public.” – Capla Kesting Fine Art
Directions: Bedford Ave L train Stop. Exit the subway walking west on North 7th, away from river, 2 blocks to Roebling, then proceed south 2 blocks to North 5th. The gallery is located on the corner of North 5th and Roebling.

CKFA is sponsored by Kelso Brewery in Brooklyn and we proudly pour their beverages!

]]> http://leokesting.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=257 0 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=254 http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=254#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:36:02 +0000 leokesting http://leokesting.com/blog/?p=254 Miguel Paredes – B-Boys
November 9 – 25, 2007
A) Madonna and Child, Mixed Media on Canvas, 30” x 24”

B) Le Christ, Mixed Media on Canvas, 36” x 24” Capla Kesting Fine Art Presents:
Miguel Paredes– B-Boys
November 9– 25, 2007
Reception for the Artist: Friday November 9 from 7:00 – 10:00 pm
121 Roebling Street (at the corner of North 5th) Brooklyn NY 11211
Bedford Ave L train Stop
Thursday – Monday from Noon until 6:00 pm
Admission is free to the public phone : 917-650-3760 http://www.caplakesting.com

For Immediate Release:

It was in the fall of 1981 when urban life as we have come to describe it was born from the street culture of the Bronx and Queens. When Run DMC and KRS ONE lead the way to a Hip Hop music revolution. While Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat validated street art culture, a young LaGuardia high school art student living on the then very dangerous Upper West Side took the name MIST to a graffiti street campaign that ran thorough all five boroughs. MIST survived those days, survived Mayor Koch, survived the Son of Sam, survived the drug epidemic, survived the Latin Kings but was ingrained with a knowledge of street art that stills shows its scars today. It is with great pleasure that, with advent of fall in New York, Capla Kesting Fine Art brings MIST back to his former home to display a collection of artworks reminiscent of this time. Not under a graffiti pseudonym but as himself, a successful Miami based businessman, a successful publisher and successful painter, as Miguel Paredes.

Miguel Paredes’ boundless approach to the canvas is evident upon sight, communicated through his vibrant and eclectic artistic style; a meshing of abstracted figurative painting, rich with line drawings and floral elements. Working in mixed media, Paredes’ work is energetic, sometimes frantically so.