Press Release: Painting Out of Bounds

05.03.01

Painting Out of Bounds: A Conversation about Contemporary Painting will address
the critical, philosophical, institutional and technical issues involved in the challenge to
painting's relevance in the twenty-first century. Widely recognized for their highly
accomplished works and contributions to the on-going dialogue about painting,
participants in this panel discussion are Michael Lazarus (New York, NY), Judy
Ledgerwood (Chicago, IL), Lari Pittman (Los Angeles, CA), and David Reed (New
York, NY). From thought-provoking and original perspectives, the panelists will discuss
the practice and reception of painting in our image- and media-driven world. The panel is
also organized with the intention of celebrating the current enthusiasm for painting, the
insights it offers and the opportunity for contemplation it provides.

Frances Colpitt is Associate Professor of Art History and Criticism at the University
of Texas at San Antonio and a corresponding editor for Art in America. She is the author
of Minimal Art: The Critical Perspective (University of Washington Press, 1993) and the
forthcoming book Abstract Art in the Late Twentieth Century, published by Cambridge
University Press. Among her numerous articles, reviews and catalogue essays are many
on contemporary abstract painting

Michael Lazarus has exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, including
solo shows at Feature Inc., New York and Marc Foxx, Los Angeles. Employing complex
colors and collage elements on irregularly-shaped wooden panels, Lazarus's geometric
abstractions collapse disparate elements of two- and three-dimensional art works. The
inclusion of figuration, such as a recurring mask-like ovular face and, more recently,
hands and feet, suggests a common link between these ?utermost extremities.'
According to Lazarus, "they are where most of our sensual interaction with the world
around us is experienced."

Judy Ledgerwood creates large-scale non-objective paintings that incite aesthetically-
and intellectually-charged experiences. Using 'gendered' colors such as faint pearlescents
or a bright bold palette, Ledgerwood's relatively sparse and rhythmic compositions
precariously play in and outside a painting tradition. Her work has been acquired by
many private and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Lari Pittman is an artist whose paintings have been widely exhibited both nationally
and internationally. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of
Contemporay Art, Los Angeles and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, among
others. Last year, Pittman was commissioned by the John Paul Getty Museum to create a
large mural-size painting. Pittman's dense, decorative and celebratory compositions have
addressed the bittersweet relationship between the public and personal inflected with the
politics of sexuality and cultural identity.

Organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, David Reed's recent
solo exhibtion, David Reed Paintings: Motion Pictures traveled to P.S. 1 Contemporary
Art Center, New York and the Rose Art Museum, Boston. In the 1990's, Reed began
incorporating his paintings into multi-media installations. His Vertigo Bedrooms feature
digital insertions of his paintings into Alfred Hitchcock's movie Vertigo, together with
furniture re-created to match the bedrooms in the film, thus questioning 'the real.'
Throughout his career, Reed has reflected on the conscious and unconscious, the plight of
human

intellect, and the experiences these forces create.

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