Bruno David Gallery will feature four new exhibitions. A new series of paintings and sculptures by Miami-based artist Kelley Johnson, three new series of paintings, sculptures, and collages by St. Louis-based, multi-disciplinary artist Charles P. Reay, several new photographs by St. Louis-based photographer Robert Pettus, a new video work by German-born Ghanaian artist Yvonne Osei, a sculpture by Kelley Johnson in the gallery’s vitrine space WINDOW ON FORSYTH.
Bruno David is pleased to present Rhythmic Patterns, an exhibition by Miami-based artist Kelley Johnson. This will be Johnson’s fifth exhibition with the gallery. In conjunction with the exhibition, Bruno David Gallery Publications will publish a catalogue of the works with an exhibition history and bibliography.
Kelley Johnson’s recent work is an exploration of the formal language of painting and the application of those concepts onto installation and sculpture. The relationship between the participant and the painted object are crucial to the practice. This body of work focuses on investigating the interaction between painting and viewer and their negotiation of movement with the additional sculptural aspects of the pieces. The merging of physical space and optical illusions function as a metaphor of a kaleidoscope’s effects.
The creative process begins with mapping: lines, geometric shapes repeated, form the foundation of a sculptural language for the work. A developed system emerges and allows for intuitive, meditative painting. Sometimes the work stays within the confines of the painted support, but more often it occupies the physical space. During the building of work, there is a constant editing and adding of elements concerned with the pictorial space and physical objects that interact with it, building optical tension within the exchange.
Each piece demands to be navigated, not simply absorbed from a single position. Viewers’ bodies engage as they make choices about how to circumnavigate the work. As observed and explored from multiple vantage points, areas create spatial relationships, functioning as a dance, and changes reveal optical interactions that create patterns. The work functions as an escape to an alternate reality, away from mundane daily distractions. A visual rhythm fuels the chromatic artwork, transforming it into a dialog about tension and vibrations between spaces.
Kelley Johnson was born (1973) in Houston, Texas and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He received an MFA from Indiana University and a BFA from Parsons School of Design. Growing up in the mid-west Kelley began working in construction at a young age, using materials commonly found in wood framed houses. He was influenced by the idea and process of framing, applying it to his structures and spaces. His work has been featured in publications such as The Miami Herald, Artnet, Art Zealous, New American Paintings, Miami Rail, WERKS and others.
Bruno David is pleased to present Trilogy, an exhibition by St. Louis-based artist Charles P. Reay. This will be Reay’s third exhibition with the gallery and, will include three separate series of works. In conjunction with the exhibition, Bruno David Gallery Publications will publish a catalogue of the works with an exhibition history and bibliography.
Trilogy is comprised of the titular in three parts: The Amendments series, built upon photographic images of found, wall-based assemblies of wheat-pasted posters and ephemera, amended, in each instance, through the addition of similar materials, to create three dimensional trompe l’oeil iterations of the original surfaces. In some instances, graffiti is an inherent part of the original photograph and brought into the amended work. Historic references to earlier works express suggestions discovered in the original prints. Words are provocative.
The Amazing Beetle Circus! series, is an amazing feat of artistry created by true Goliaths of the Arthropoda as they arrange themselves into inspirational tableaus expressive of world-famous artworks from the oeuvres of important minimalists resident in the pantheon of contemporary art. Within this magnificent convocation are over one hundred performing beetles, each and every one lovingly trained to perform in these extraordinary displays. It is an uncommonly performative and provocative, and not to be missed.
The Grand Menu Exceptional series offers an abbreviated taste of a Grand Tasting Menu at Wylie Dufresne’s now shuttered WD-50 Restaurant in New York. At his temple of molecular gastronomy, Dufresne served food that tested the binds of conformity as it ever opened new, exciting, always playful worlds of possibilities. Four courses are served, selected from a full menu for their sense of adventure and inventiveness: A simple poached egg starter, Quails with chartreuse yogurt and turnips, Lamb Loin on a bed of pickled chayote with red beans and rice and finally, a plurality of Meringues. The dishes are individually constructed bas-reliefs finished in Gouache and realized at a scale befitting a Grand Menu.
Bruno David is pleased to present 8 Min./20 Sec., an exhibition of new photographs by St. Louisbased photographer Robert Pettus. This will be Pettus’s second exhibition with the gallery. In conjunction with the exhibition, Bruno David Gallery Publications will publish a catalogue of the works with an exhibition history and bibliography.
Robert Pettus continues to investigate time, light and it’s source the Sun, in a new series of photographs 8 Min./20 Sec. as this is the time it takes for light to travel from the Sun to Earth. Much of Pettus’s work in inspired by an interest in the effects of time. Pettus uses a minimalist aesthetic that arrests the formal qualities of light as it falls upon and defines the forms in his photographs. His work not only alludes to the essence of time and memory, but also effectively encapsulates those fleeting moments that usually go unnoticed.
Robert Pettus was born in 1938. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis’s School of Architecture and currently lives and works in Tucson, AZ and St Louis, MO. Pettus’s photographic works have appeared in major architectural magazines including: Architectural Record, Architecture, Domus, Japan Architecture, and featured in The New York Times Sunday Magazine. His recent exhibitions include shows at: Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (2006), Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (2003), Chicago Architectural Foundation, Chicago (2002); Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis (2001), and Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona (2000). Pettus has contributed significantly to a number of publications for the Landmark Association of St. Louis and is the recipient of a grant from the Ford Foundation to photograph historic railroad stations throughout the nation. His work is found in several public and private collections including St. Louis Art Museum, MO, Library of Congress, The Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., and the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.

OPENING RECEPTION : Saturday, November 2. 6-8 pm

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