CRUSH CURATORIAL is pleased to present a two person show with New York artists, Charlotte Hallberg and Taro Suzuki who each share a desire to aggress the eye optically. Charlotte’s work is born from observation; watching someone take a selfie with the sunset, or the way car lights move through a puddle. Taro’s palette, however, is entirely artificial, using fluorescents and a printer’s palette of cyan, yellow and magenta.
Starting a conversation via email, they pondered Goethe’s quote: “Every decided color does a certain violence to the eye, and forces the organ into opposition.” “Something about this idea resonates with me”, commented Charlotte, “even if its slightly hyperbolic. As a painter of highly saturated and sometimes extreme palette, I find there is a kind of visual obstacle in looking at the paintings, even as their maker.” “I consider my work phenomenological” adds Taro, “I definitely consider the viewer’s retinal action as part of the content. I consider aggressing the eye optically, a form of transgressive narrative.” Their conversation continues at the gallery.
Charlotte Hallberg is a painter who currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. In 2010 she received an MFA in painting from Yale University. She was an Annenberg Fellow of Visual Arts from 2010-2012, and recently completed a residency at The Corporation of Yaddo. Her work has been shown at TSA NY, CRUSH CURATORIAL and most recently MASS Gallery in Austin, TX.
Taro Suzuki has been showing his work since the 1970’s and credits being schooled by light show companies in the 60’s for giving him an affinity for assaultive color. At 13 he did the liquid projections for the first Grateful Dead concert in New York City. While he was lead singer for the punk band "Youthinasia," he gained notoriety for his light installations. Harnessing the power of questions and contrasts in traditional optics, he has used painting and sculpture to further pursue his interest in visual dissonance. A two time Pollack-Krasner Grant recipient, Taro Suzuki works have been exhibited at MoMA, NY and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
CC: Charlotte Hallberg in conversation with Peter Halley
Taro Suzuki in conversation with Mary Heilmann and friends