Heather Gaudio Fine Art is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition “Leah Durner/Paul Bloch” to be held January 9-February 20th, 2016. The show will feature Durner’s series of poured latex enamel paintings alongside Bloch’s marble sculpture, highlighting different approaches to improvisation. All are invited to attend a public opening reception for the artists to be held on January 23, from 3-5 pm.

Spontaneity and deliberation come together in Leah Durner’s poured enamels, a series of exquisite abstract compositions of framed and unbounded color. Mixing enamels into containers with intended purpose, Durner prepares pre-meditated arrays of color themes and palette combinations. This ruminant process gives way to chance the minute she pours the enamels onto the canvas in a spontaneous spill motion. Completely saturating the surface, pigments improvise their paths and compete for space as they flow and swirl to form new contours and unexpected palette juxtapositions. Not an inch of canvas is exposed as the enamels push the composition over the edges and sides of the work. Even when the pigments have fully dried they maintain a deceivingly wet surface and continue to suggest infinitesimal flow. The titles of these engaging works reference this gestural performance, with colors named in order of predominance, as in Bluebeigegreen Pour.

Durner’s work has been critically reviewed by scholars of note in the United States and abroad, and her work is in many private collections. In addition to showcasing her paintings in numerous solo and group exhibitions in various venues, Durner is also a curator and a published writer and lecturer on art theory and history. She lives and works in New York City.

Paul Bloch’s improvisational approach requires a longer time to execute, as each marble sculpture can take up to two years to create. He takes a classical approach when carving Carrara marble, using traditional manual tools to incise, chisel and sand large quarried blocks. Without the use of a model or preparatory drawings, Bloch approaches his sculpture with the spontaneity of a jazz musician, bending and extending the potential of the material to the edges. Beautifully formed and balanced abstractions emerge from his creative process. Bloch apprenticed with West Coast sculptor James Pristine in the 1970s and received a grant form the Athena Foundation in 1994 to sculpt at the Mark di Suvero studio in New York City. He has had numerous exhibitions in Italy and Switzerland as well as in California, New York and Santa Fe where he currently resides. His work is also in many private collections here and abroad.

Heather Gaudio Fine Art specializes in emerging and established artists, offering works on paper, photography, painting and sculpture. The gallery offers a full range of art advisory services, from forming and maintaining a collection, to securing secondary market material, to assisting with framing and installation. The focus is on each individual client, selecting art that best serves his or her vision, space, and resources. Offering six shows per year, the exhibitions are designed to present important talent and provide artwork appealing to a broad range of interests. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday; 10:30am to 5:30pm; and by appointment.