GREG HABERNY

BAD PAINTINGS

SHOW DATES: 10.16 - 11.09

Reception: 10.16 | 5-9pm

CATALOG OF WORKS

BAD PAINTING, a term popularized in the 1970s by the late critic and curator Marcia Tucker, described artists whose work discarded classical art making modes in order to present a humorous, often sardonic, intensely personal view of the world.

Greg Haberny exemplifies the expressive and emotive fundamentals of Bad Painting. Sourcing his assemblage materials from the refuse dumps, yard sales, and repurposed household items. Combining readymade objects with oils, acrylics, varnishes, clay, glaze and aluminum foil. Mixing pop symbology & cartoon imagery with high art all the while blurring your perceptions on art and commodity. Haberny’s process is one of transformation, wherein objects are re-contextualized interrogating the very systems of valuation that rendered them obsolete. The pieces themselves are deliberately dichotomous; their uncanny familiarity creates a palpable tension between attraction, apprehension, sorrow and joy.

"The freedom with which these “Bad Painters” mix classical and popular art-historical sources, kitsch and traditional images, archetypal and personal fantasies, constitutes a rejection of the concept of progress per se... It would seem that, without a specific idea of progress toward a goal, the traditional means of valuing and validating works of art are useless. Bypassing the idea of progress implies an extraordinary freedom to do and to be whatever you want. In part, this is one of the most appealing aspects of "bad" painting - that the ideas of good and bad are flexible and subject to both the immediate and the larger context in which the work is seen." - Marcia Tucker

Greg Haberny is a contemporary artist known for his intricate assemblage works that explore themes of consumer culture, nostalgia, and obsolescence. His work has been exhibited in galleries and institutions internationally and is held in numerous museums and private collections. He lives and works in New York, Connecticut and Bombay Beach, CA.

GALLERY HOURS

WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY

12PM - 6PM