Andrew Brischler: Patient Zero
— The Arts Club 26 May — 27 September 2014

Andrew Brischler’s mixed-media paintings draw on high and low cultural registers. He creates large-scale, boldly coloured works in which he combines references to Abstract Expressionist and Minimalist painting with the monograms or typographic marks of well-known commercial brands. Brischler is concerned with the process of making a painting, and, by experimenting with this process, he continually explores new possibilities for abstraction.

Often titling his works after lines from R&B and hip-hop songs, lines from films, sci-fi thrillers and logos of familiar brands, Brischler firmly contextualises his paintings in the contemporary moment in which they are made. With an academic background in the history of abstract painting, he consciously proposes his new version of abstraction for the twenty-first century, one that both makes reference to and breaks from those of his predecessors.

The deliberate imperfections in the surfaces of Brischler’s canvases, together with his rough handling of the materials, counter the vibrant, often arresting geometric elements within his compositions. Scrawled pencil marks and uncontrolled drips of paint fracture the surface of the works, giving them a fragility, which is reined in and given structure by sharply delineated forms and letters.

In October 2013, Brischler was awarded the highly respected Rema-Hort Mann grant. He was born in 1987 in Long Island, New York, USA and now lives and works in Brooklyn. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2012 and is represented by Gavlak Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida, where he has had two solo exhibitions. Brischler’s paintings have been exhibited at prominent art fairs including: Art Basel Miami Beach (2013) NADA New York (2013) and The Armory Show (2013). This exhibition at The Arts Club is his first solo show in the UK.

The exhibition is curated by Pernilla Holmes and Amelie von Wedel from Wedel Art.