Grid List
Center Galleries
College for Creative Studies
301 Frederick Douglass
Detroit, MI 48202 USA
T: 313-664-7806
Jan. 27- Mar. 3, 2012
Opening reception: Fri. Jan. 27, 6-8pm
Artists included: Patrick Morrissey, Hanz Hancock, Mick Frangou,
Francis Farmer, William Hughes,
Paul Corio,
Karen Schifano,
Mark Sengbusch,
Stacy Fisher, Jeffrey Mathews, Nate Ethier,
Allie Rex,
David E. Peterson,
Joseph Bernard,
Linda Francis,
Tracy Thomason,
Ian Swanson. The grid is the mother of all things terrestrial – birthed from outer space.
Gravity = Vertical. Land = Horizontal.
The two combined form a right angle. Multiply to form a grid.
This natural geometry existed billions of years before man.
Man stands upright in defiance of gravity, though is grounded by it.
He realized the equation "vertical + horizontal equals a right angle"
and applied it to everything from architecture to fashion.
Grid List presents 16 artists, 13 working in geometric abstraction, and three working quite "gridless"
(Can the grid be active behind the image?). Their conceptual fodder ranges from sports, math, science,
film, graphic design and video games.
The grid has been passed down from early man: from cave walls to stone tablets to Papyrus -
from agriculture, architecture and weaving to the roadways and computers of today. We feel it
directly as well, gravity still drops a vertical line – rain, apples and basketballs all fall to meet
the horizontal land. The right angle is alive and well today as it was at the earth's birth.
The artist draws from the imbedded and inherent grid.
Grid List explores the influence of the grid on artists. We trace back the source of geometric abstraction
past Albers and LeWitt to a more personal and direct place. Nature, music and sports are just a few of the square wellsprings these artists draw their right angles from.
The Exhibition was conceived in January 2011 when Patrick Morrissey contacted me via Facebook.
We became fast friends and the Grid List grew naturally. Four artists are from London, one from Atlanta,
one from Detroit and ten from New York City. Four of the artists have shown at Minus Space Gallery
(Schifano, Francis, Ethier, Peterson) and four hold MFAs from Cranbrook's Painting Dept. (Mathews, Rex,
Thomason, Sengbusch). Peterson, Mathews, and Sengbusch met in 1997 at the College for Creative Studies
in Detroit where they studied under Joseph Bernard.
Thus the threads of the Grid List entwine. We hope to present a new take on Geometric Abstraction with
a focus on the individual artist's idiosyncratic relationship with the Grid.
In addition to the Artists in the show there will be "Non-Art" examples of the grid. (i.e. A live spider and
its web, a loom, a Nintendo (Tetris), Photos of the grid in Cave Art (Lascaux) and a stone or crystal.
There are non-circuitous correlations between the grid in Nature, pre-history, technology and the artist's mind.
Grid List will travel to New York City after Detroit. Allegra LaViola, in Manhattan's Lower East Side will host
Grid List NYC in their project space opening March 14.
About the Co-organizers:
Mark Sengbusch received his MFA in Painting from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2008. His work has been
equally influenced by early video games like Tetris and ancient Peruvian weavings. From 1997-2007 Sengbusch was an active member of the Detroit Art scene and curated numerous shows. Sengbusch lives and works in New York City.
Patrick Morrissey is a reductive artist working in London as part of a two man collective with Hanz Hancock.
Together they have curated an ongoing series of Exhibitions focusing on their genre. Saturation Point forms an
International survey of contemporary Reductive art. Morrissey attended Goldsmiths College in South London where
he achieved an Honours Degree in Fine Art. He was born in South London and grew up there. Whilst at Goldsmiths,
he developed an interest in sculpture and installation work. Film also played a role in his practice at that time.
His interest in film as object originated from his childhood fascination with film and the phenomenon of projected
imagery and light.