Christopher Grimes Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new works by Kevin Appel. Appel’s new series of paintings begin as primary arrangements: cut-out paper forms referencing the portholes of Jean Prouvé’s Maison Tropicale are combined with Appel’s own photographs of fragments of his previous works, landscapes, and images of Paolo Soleri’s Arcosanti.
These forms are constructed into soft, sculptural collages on the studio wall that are photographed at close range and then printed onto canvas. Multiple layers of geometric and gestural marks are silkscreened and hand painted over these flattened images creating a rhythm within the painting while obfuscating the original subject matter. Appel’s paintings are prismatic collages, an investigation of new and old imagery engaged in a recursive conversation where images and forms are pulled from one canvas and used in another, their intersection hinting at a controlled collapse of utopian ideals.
