We are pleased to announce a debut solo exhibition by New York based artist Ned Vena, to include both paintings on linen and acid etched mirrors.
Vena addresses his interest in the elemental tenets of painting through a utilization of materials usually related to vandalism - spray paint, enamel, spray rubber, and acid. While the works themselves are at first formally considered and restrained, his use of materials usually associated with chaos, freedom and public disobedience places the paintings at the intersection of the ongoing dialogue on the concurrent destruction and celebration of painting.
Vena's mostly black, monochromatic paintings present complex, and finely tuned patterns of parallel lines constructed from the textures of alternately layered paint and spray rubber, or by the interstitial, negative spaces of raw linen revealed between lines of paint or rubber. The effect is that of a noisy and destabilized picture plane, covered in the static hum of oscillating lines. Vena takes full advantage of the intrinsic qualities of his chosen materials - the soaking and seeping of enamel paint, the rough and unpredictable impasto of spray rubber - all highlighted by a sidelong view of the works, where the layering is most evident in contrast to the raw linen as well as the raw linen edges of his supports.
In contrast to the controlled chaos of his paintings on linen, Vena's works on mirror record the explosive and unpredictable gesture of a large acid splash, permanently etched into the glass surface of the mirror. Each work is presented in a row or grid of multiple panels, referencing the Minimalist penchant for a repetition of regular forms. The reflective qualities of the mirror are used to create an exact optical repetition of a unique organic mark, which the acid left behind on the surface of the mirror. Thus, Vena addresses the dissonance between a unique mark and a reproduced one. The effect of the acid on the mirror furthermore obfuscates and obliterates the reflection of the viewer leaving it fractured and caught at an askance angle.
The paintings reference the early work of Frank Stella, another Boston native. Similar to Stella's practice of titling paintings after geographical locations, Vena titles his works after Boston's industrial areas and suburbs that were of significance during his time spent there.
