Marinaro is pleased to present Ian Tweedy’s first solo show with the gallery, GRUND. For the exhibition, Tweedy will show a series of new paintings all completed in 2019.
There’s a saying, “Den Sachen auf den Grund gehen,” to get to the bottom of things. Grund also means a piece of the space or land that you stand on. In painting it refers to the base that you paint on—the most common example is gesso in my case, also book covers. Grund also means reason, like the belief to why you do a certain thing or take action. This can be a crucial part in art. Do you have a Grund/reason why you do art? What is it you’re standing on? What’s your base?
The abstract works began during my chemotherapy. I wanted to paint with the figure and free but with some definition. As I went forward, I discovered this was my attempt at “mindfulness” painting, grounding me. These works are abstract and yet suggest figuration.
Refering to Grund again is the background of these things—the base, the beginning of a painting. Grund, the base is drawing.
The large colorful paintings are the beginning of a series inspired by the book covers, but are more of a combination between the space, the flat plain found in American modern art, like Rothko and Motherwell, and figurative drawings in my work.
The figurative works are my attempt to draw a correlation between American abstraction (book covers that over time took the look of Rothkos) and my drawing formed from European historic art. A yellow painting is a scene of a Russian play about the revolution, suggesting a kind of timeless struggle.
-Ian Tweedy
Ian Tweedy (b.Hahn, DE, 1982. Lives and works in New York City) has had solo exhibitions at Untitled, New York, NY; Monitor, Rome, IT; The Arts Club, London, UK; Museion, Bolzano, IT; Santo Spirito Complex, Sassia, Rome, IT; EX3 Center for Contemporary Art, Florence, IT; X Initiative, New York, NY. Curated by Cecilia Alemani; Studio Dabbeni, Lugano, IT; Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bergamo, IT; Studio Dabbeni, Lugano, IT; and Prometeogallery, Milan, IT. Group exhibitions include MAMbo, Bologna, IT; Hooper Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Brand New Gallery, Milan, IT; Maxxi Museum, Rome, IT; Palazzo De Sanctis, Castelbasso, IT; La Maison Rouge, Paris, FR; Galerie Diana Stigter, Amsterdam, NL; Deutsche Bank Collection Group Head Office, Frankfurt, DE; The Consolandi Collection, Milan, IT; MAGA Museum, Varese, IT; Municipal Gallery of Contemporary Art of Monfalcone, Monfalcone, IT; Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Turin, IT; Cantonal Art Museum, Lugano, IT; Center Culturel Suisse à Paris, Paris, FR; Triennale di Torino, Turin, IT, Castello di Rivoli Turin, IT curated by Daniel Birnbaum; Prague Biennale 3, Prague, CZ; Teseco Foundation, Pisa, IT; Isola Art Center, Milan, IT; Palazzo Te, Mantov; Museo D'Arte Contemporaneo, Lissone, IT.