Wendt Gallery is pleased to announce Organic Compositions, a solo exhibition of works by Ron Kent on view at The Wendt Gallery New York April 12th through May 12th. The exhibition is curated by Serina Manqueros, a specialist in contemporary art. A contributing essay for the exhibition catalog has been made by Ken Wallace, director of Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts & Happy Valley Cultural Center. An opening reception will be held April 14th from 6 to 8 pm. To RSVP, please email [email protected] of phone (212) 838-8818. The exhibition catalog is available upon request.

Ron Kent’s works are found in over 70 collections worldwide, including renowned museums such as The Smithsonian, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Louvre, as well as the collections of The White House and of The Vatican. He is a self-taught pioneer in the art of wood-turning, with a technique and body of work that has evolved through a process of continual experimentation and exploration of artistic abstraction. “The fact that I didn’t know, nor care, what other turners were doing helped me immensely,” Kent once said in reference his approach to his art, especially at the beginning of his career. “The best things in life you do with no agenda.” This ‘lack of agenda’ is a recurring theme found in Kent’s work, and throughout the course of his career. The artist never sets out to create something specific. Instead, Kent allows experimentation of materials to provide the catalyst for his artistic path.

The Guardian Series re-examines a format Kent began in the 1960s and grew out of his interest in exploring the concept of negative space. As the title of the series suggests, these forms conjure a protective posture. As a grouping, The Guardians project an even more commanding stance through their association with each other.

The idea for Post Nuclear Series, culminated from a single broken vessel. Originally planning to repair the break, Kent instead opted to make it an artistic focal point of the piece. The artist further explored the series through stitching, braiding, wiring, and scorching the surface of the vessel with a blow torch. Since 2006, Kent has incorporated this method in several of his subsequent works. Through The Post Nuclear Series, Kent was inspired to even further explore other forms of experimentation in his work, in order to shift his primary interest towards the exploration of artistic expression. Prior to this point, the artist’s prime motivation had been to maintain the sanctity of the vessel.

In Apocalyptic Series, Kent again experiments with new kinds of material and explores the natural and spiritual world of his homeland of Hawaii. Raw and primitive, works such as Asteroid are a notable result of his experimentation with Polyurethane Foam.

To view Organic Compositions online, please visit www.wendtgallery.com. For more information please call (212) 838-8818. Wendt Gallery New York hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm, and by appointment.

Serina Manqueros, Curator