Heather Gaudio Fine Art is pleased to present Echoes and Iterations, a group exhibition featuring works by Nicky Broekhuysen, Peter Monaghan, Norman Mooney and Robert Sagerman.  The exhibition dates are August 16 – September 27 and the public is invited to attend an artist reception on Friday, September 12, 5:30-7:30pm.
 
The works on view are process-driven paintings and sculpture, their visual outcomes defined by the way in which the artists are working with their materials.  While expressing themselves mostly through abstraction, the artists draw inspiration from the natural, scientific, mathematical and mystical worlds.  Together, their works create discernible and conceptual relationships, at times echoing each other in form, color and imagery, making for a captivating and engaging experience for the viewer.
 
About the Artists:
 
Nicky Broekhuysen
On view at the gallery for the first time, Nicky Broekhuysen’s paintings are a compendium of thousands of colorful, minute “I” and “0” forms created with custom-made rubber stamps. The artist began introducing these two simple characters as a nod to binary language and the transition from analogue to digital witnessed in the early aughts.  As Broekhuysen’s practice and personal circumstances developed and changed, so too did her perspective and interpretation of the “I” and “0”. These shifted and took on new meanings – the “I”, a simple vertical line became more indicative of the individual or separateness, whereas the “0” symbolized universal connectedness and belonging. Broekhuysen daubs each character onto her painter’s palette before stamping it on the canvas.  The ensuing stamped marks contain the pigment from the preceding application, hence each character carries traces of the previously stamped color.  The artist continues stamping the canvas surface with painted I and 0 until they meld into accretion of color field gradations.  The end results are beautiful colorfield paintings made of tiny characters that only become apparent up close. More recent works reference the colors and forms in nature around her new surroundings in the Hautes-Pyrénées in France.  Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, Broekhyusen earned her BFA from the ELAM School on Fine Arts, Auckland University in New Zealand. Her paintings have been the subject of many solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and are in multiple collections including the Microsoft Art Collection and the Aria Fine Art Collection.
 
Peter Monaghan
Dublin-based artist Peter Monaghan returns to the gallery with new work informed by his graphic design sensibility. For over twenty years Monaghan ran a successful business as a graphic designer before dedicating himself full time to the fine arts.  In the twenty-five years since, Monaghan has translated his calligraphic and sculptural skills into the three- dimensional works for which he is known.  Referencing patterns seen in nature, mathematics, music and movement, Monaghan’s color and forms get activated as the viewer shifts position. For this exhibition, Monaghan has created a new body of work made with watercolor on paper arranged in complex radial or wavy motifs. The patterns turn in and away from each other, which while thoroughly structured, allow for unexpected visual outcomes that will delight viewers.  Monaghan is considered one of Ireland’s best known contemporary artists and he has been the subject of a Netflix documentary. He graduated from the National College of Art and Design and was a frequent lecturer at Dun Laoghaire College of Art.  Since becoming a full-time fine artist in the early 2000s, Monaghan has had sell-out solo and group exhibitions and has also worked on site-specific installations. The gallery has represented his work in the United States for the decade.   Monaghan’s works are in many notable public and private collection here and abroad. The artist lives and works in Dublin. 
 
Norman Mooney
Another Irish-born artist featured in the show, Norman Mooney explores the infinitesimal possibilities of natural formations, such as blooms, starbursts and other clusters that are found in the natural and scientific worlds. Another shape the artist explores is a nod to the natural phenomenon known as the butterfly effect, which is the notion that a seemingly insignificant action can have large and unpredictable meteorological consequences in other systems.  Beginning with drawing, the plethora of forms get translated into three-dimensional sculptures created with natural and/or industrial materials.  The artist toggles between executing monumentally large sculpture to smaller, more intimately scaled pieces as a way to expand his investigations into mass, volume and density. These inquiries into form and all the mathematical possibilities bestowed by the shapes are further realized by the materials with which they are executed. Mooney’s sculptures are made with wood, glass, highly polished, marine-grade stainless steel, aluminum painted with bright colors, or Corten steel. The shapes may share the same characteristics, but the warm, rough opacity of a weathered Corten surface makes for an entirely different viewing experience when presented in a reflective, high-polish finish of 316L steel, or through the light transparency of glass.  Mooney was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, receiving his BFA from the National College of Art. He relocated to New York City in 1994 and has since enjoyed a successful artistic career with many exhibitions and commissions in the U.S. and abroad.  Some public installations and collections include the American Consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico; the Brooklyn and Chicago Botanic Gardens; The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky; the Taikang Wuyuan Art Museum in Shanghai and the Namhai Arts Center in Guangdong, China. 
 
Robert Sagerman
Central to Sagerman’s process has become the pursuit of the transcendental experience the artist achieves through his abstraction.  The gallery roster artist painstakingly applies mark after mark of pigment with the use of a palette knife, creating copious layers of color and texture on a canvas or panel.  The colors can shift and give way to other tonalities, and the gestures can be dotted dollops, or form undulating, swirling patterns.  The end results are color field abstractions which from a distance can seem like monochromatic landscape suggestions. Closer inspection reveals the complexity of the surface, the multitude of layered marks with unexpected dots of different colors peering through which are hidden from afar.   Sagerman counts each paint mark as he applies it on the surface, keeping track of each in a log and tallies them when the painting is complete.  The titles reference the total number of paint applications, numbers that are in the thousands.  For Sagerman, this practice of counting is an immersion into the limitless nature of kabbalist mysticism, where the artist is able to bridge the gap between the terrestrial and divine world.  In addition to holding an MA and MFA from Pratt Institute, Sagerman holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew and Judaic Studies from NYU.  Sagerman’s richly textured paintings have been the subject of many solo and group exhibitions in the United States and Europe, and his works are in many important public and private collections including The Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum in Hagen, Germany; the Museum Für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany and the Portland Art Museum in Oregon. 
 
Heather Gaudio Fine Art specializes in emerging and established artists, offering painting, works on paper, photography, and sculpture. The gallery provides a full-range of art advisory services, from forming and maintaining a collection, to securing secondary market material, to assisting with framing and installation. The focus is on each individual client, selecting art that best serves his or her vision, space, and resources. The six exhibitions offered every year are designed to present important talent and provide artwork appealing to a broad range of interests. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday; 10:30am to 5:30pm; and by appointment.