Keith Sklar exhibit opens Friday at Giampietro Gallery

Giampietro Gallery—Works of Art
315 Peck St., New Haven, (203) 777-7760
Keith Sklar: A Good Egg
Nov. 18—Dec. 16, 2011.
Opening reception: Fri., Nov. 18, 5—8 p.m.

Press release

Fred Giampietro Gallery is pleased to present Keith Sklar: A Good Egg, an exhibition of recent paintings opening November 18 and on view through December 16.

Keith Sklar's paintings present multiple situations in flux. Echoes of the diverse languages of global visual culture are folded into Sklar's work—from digital, folk and pop sources to historical art references. The topographical surfaces of the paintings are built up from layers of oil over found objects and molded acrylic paint. Yet the visual field appears flattened, confounding the viewer's sense of dimension and creating a dislocated perspective. This effect challenges a true spatial reading of the work, causing the viewer to question the assumptions of the 3D versus the 2D image. Key to Sklar’s work is the heightened tension between the illusionistic image and the haptic sculptural surface.

Sklar’s first exhibition at Giampietro Gallery, A Good Egg, offers new paintings in his on-going de-lux series. de-lux explores issues of wealth and loss, power and subordination, as well as the very process of seeing itself. Imagery based on late 19th century Faberge eggs, reoccurs throughout the series. Sklar places these bejeweled icons of luxury, exclusivity and cultural escape afloat within a new context; a tragicomic network of violence, sex, media, abstract brushwork and material debris.

Keith Sklar lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. His paintings have been shown in group exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and the UC Berkeley Art Museum, as well as in Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Solo exhibitions include Dorsch Gallery in Miami, Rosamund Felson Gallery in Santa Monica and P.P.O.W. in New York. His work is in the collections of SFMoMA and the UC Berkeley Art Museum.

Sklar has received numerous commissions and awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Visual Arts (Painting). Commissioned works include the Institute of Contemporary Art (Portland, ME), the University of Texas, San Antonio Art Gallery, and the San Jose Museum of Art.