curated by Franklin Hill Perrell

Tria Gallery is presenting our next exhibition of selected works by Frank Olt: abstract works that cross over between a variety of media and unusual processes encompassing elements in linen, wood, ceramic, linen, encaustic, and oil. Aspects of wrapping, built out from finely constructed surfaces, ingeniously worked through repeated applications, scrapings, abrasions, and re-applications of pigment, define an oeuvre which is without direct comparison. The aesthetic sources are rooted in a love for abstract traditions of the New York School.

Olt works both in ceramic, which was his initial emphasis, and painting, and sustaining a wide-ranging body of work that infuses both each media with aspects of the other, introducing an array of unexpected possibilities. The uniting thread is the recurrent use of heat, be it the firing of glazed components, or the hot wax used in encaustic. Time too is a constant, since the results arise out of repeated engagement and the tension produced by the imbedding, or removal, of underlying imagery.

Frank Olt, b. 1955 in N.Y., began his career with an artist in residency studio program at the legendary P.S. One, now part of the Museum of Modern Art. In the early stages of his career he participated in numerous group shows, including the Detective Show curated by John Feckner and also including Gordon Matta Clark, Bertoldi, Artschwager, etc.. He subsequently received commissions for his work in ceramic for the New York City Arts in Transit program which was recently exhibited at N.Y.’s Paine Weber Gallery. Olt has shown his work during the last decade in Korea and Japan, at Gallery Maru Sankaku Shikaku in Kyoto, Japan, and also at the Anderson Gallery in Locust Valley, N.Y; Dillon Gallery in Oyster Bay, N.Y.. This past winter, he showed in N.Y. at the Lohin- Geduld Gallery with veteran Abstract Expressionist Yvonne Thomas. His exhibition this spring at Tria Gallery will be his first New York one person exhibition, guest curated by Franklin Hill Perrell, and will be the first to focus on his works in media crossing over between ceramics and painting.

Frank Olt’s exhibition at Tria Gallery will be followed by a joint show with sculptor Alain Kirili at The Nassau County Museum of Art’s Contemporary Gallery, in Roslyn Harbor, NY, from June 6 through September 4, 2009, curated by Elaine Berger, co-chair of the Museum’s Contemporary Collector’s Circle. The Gallery has been a significant venue for contemporary artists over the last several years, exhibiting among others, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Karen Kilimnick, Tony Oursler, and Gregory Crewdson. For their exhibition at Nassau, Olt and Kirili are compared in respect to their passionate interest in materials, process, tactility, and their continuity of abstract traditions.

Tria Gallery specializes in contemporary painting and mixed media by established and emerging artists. In addition to artwork on exhibit, the gallery maintains an inventory of select works by its featured artists. Tria’s three directors, Carol Suchman, Paige Bart and Latifa Metheny, are committed to presenting artists with compelling bodies of work, and ones whose stories, should, in their opinion, be told.