In a basement somewhere in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, PR stopped by the studio of Joshua Abelow and his dog Georgia. Abelow is fearless in his approach to making art. He does not subscribe to one dogma of art making, in fact he is skeptical of such linear ways of thinking. Working within abstraction and figuration, drawing and painting, Abelow's practice is at once self-referential and self-critical using formalism and humor.

Self Portrait, 2010
oil on burlap, 24” x 18”

The abstract paintings are exploration in color for Abelow. He has a very systematic process that starts with lists of color combinations in notebooks. The notes are then written on the back of the paintings and stored until he gets to them. Usual Abelow works on three paintings per color idea to see what kind of variation occurs.

untitled (Abstraction "FQQ"), 2010
oil on burlap, 24” x 18”

With the drawings he mocks himself and the absurdity of being an artist. There is less of a system at play here but one nonetheless. These are intuitive drawings made in one shot. There is no erasing - the line is always moving forward.

untitled, 2010
pencil on paper, 30” x 22”

Along with his drawings and paintings, Abelow has a blog called Art Blog Art Blog. The blog is updated daily with images of works that he finds or that finds him. It is not unlikely to see images of works from himself or friends along with work from the likes of Henri Matisse, Francis Picabia and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.
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studio shot

Self Portrait, 2010
oil on burlap, 24” x 18”

untitled (Abstraction "FKK"), 2010
oil on burlap, 24” x 18”

work table

Painter, 2010
pencil on paper, 30” x 22”

untitled (Abstraction "FW"), 2010
oil on burlap, 24” x 18”

the artist in his studio



works in progress

Georgia

Past exhibitions include Brother/Sister, Two-person exhibition with Tisch Abelow, Grizzly Grizzly, Philadelphia, PA; Power to the People, Feature Inc, New York, NY; Paper! Awesome!, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA.

-Kris Chatterson 12.06.10