Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery presents the second in a series of three-artist project room exhibitions, featuring Brendan Fowler, James Hyde, and Jacob Kassay, on view from September 10 through October 31, 2009. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 10th from 6 to 8 pm.

Each of the three artists approaches one medium through another in an exhibition that bridges painting, photography, sculpture, and performance. Using artifact, masquerade, and alchemy, they form objects which interrogate their own status and transform the residue of ephemeral actions. Best known for his ongoing sound/performance project, BARR, Fowler deconstructs the relationship between art and rock in self-referential 3-D assemblages of photographs and prints. Fragmenting and exploding the rock-poster format, these works are the residue of ephemeral acts, exploring the dual themes of storytelling and problem-solving which inform Fowler’s performance. Asking “what happens when a painter makes sculpture?” Hyde creates skeletal constructions that take short words as their subject, twisting reading, recognition, and perception. With foam, paint, papier-mâché and brick pedestals, Hyde makes a rare, deliberate foray into a practice that lacks a clear history, building on his sustained investigation into painting’s space and limits. Kassay connects the act of painting to other transformative actions; mimicking the photographic process, he creates paintings by priming canvases, exposing them to various debris, then dipping, bathing, and fixing them in a silver finish in a process similar to mirror plating. The mottled, gleaming results, with their chemically charred edges, are simultaneously exquisite objects and traces of this autonomous act.

Brendan Fowler (b. 1978, Berkeley, CA; BFA, Sarah Lawrence College, 2002; lives and works in Los Angeles and New York) was included in the 2009 New Museum Triennial The Generational: Younger Than Jesus.

James Hyde (b. 1958, Philadelphia; studied University of Rochester 1975-1977; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) has exhibited widely in the United States and Europe, including a recent solo exhibition at The San Diego Museum of Art. In 2007 he collaborated with Svetlana Alpers and Barney Kulok on a book and exhibition, Painting Then for Now.

Jacob Kassay (b. 1984, Buffalo, NY; BFA, The State University of Buffalo, 2005; lives and works in New York) had his New York solo debut in 2009 at Eleven Rivington.