four artists: two painters, two sculptors 

Kathleen Maximin - Michael Filan
Gerard McCarthy - Gunnar Theel

Co-curated by Charlotta Kotik + Hanne Tierney

On view: January 16 – February 21, 2021
Opening Reception: Saturday January 16, 5:30-8pm

This un-dogmatic exhibition presents work by two sculptors and two painters for the pleasure of seeing the physical manifestation of the process of art making. This is especially apparent with the carefully worked small sculptures by Gunnar Theel and Gerard McCarthy. The two painters, Kathleen Maximin and Michael Filan, explore abstraction in full. Their work is informed by heroic gestures as well as by the poetic line in calligraphy.

Kathleen Maximin, a largely self-taught painter, equates her painting method with music making. “I’m creating music on a canvas, while I focus my thoughts on color.” Her paintings show an unerring sense of when to stop her hand and herself from applying yet one more stroke.

For Michael Filan architecture’s shapes and forms influenced the creation of this series of paintings. The planes and intense colors expressed on each painting’s surface form a three-dimensional feeling  and express spaces that only exist in my imagination. 

Gerard McCarthy’s work in the exhibition consists of several groups of monochromatic stoneware sculptures, dense, solid and small in scale. The figures have a monolithic heft to them, and a sturdy Paleolithic look. People gossip, dancers sway, and some others might be engaged in political protest. It is impossible not to be aware of the hand-built in the work.

Gunnar Theel’s Beach Houses reveal his long-standing interest in architecture. This series of small welded and painted steel sculptures is partly inspired by de Chirico’s cityscapes and partly adheres to the artist’s vision of habitable sculptures. Hi work is guided by the Bauhaus economy of “simplification of design and refinement of proportions”.

about the artists:

Kathleen Maximin was born on the island of St. Lucia and raised in St. Croix.  She began drawing and painting at the age of five. As a young child she was overawed by watching a man paint beautiful landscapes of the island and decided to be an artist. Her work has been show at Berkely College 2012, YMCA Group Exhibition 2009, Next Thursday Live Art Show 2013, Terra Firma Live Art Show, Sonoma, CA 2016, Chelsea Art Exhibition, New York, NY 2017

Michael Filan’s paintings have been featured in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums, including the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum of Rutgers University, the JMS Gallery in Philadelphia; the Nicholas F. Rizzo Gallery in Chatham, New Jersey; and the Berlin Kunstproject in Germany. In New York City he has had exhibitions at Artist Space; the Bronx Museum of the Arts; the Atrium Gallery of LaGuardia Community College; the Landmark Gallery, the Lobby Gallery of the Durst Corporation; the Mary Anthonly Gallery; and the Shirley Eitteman Gallery of City College University of New York.

Gerard McCarthy studied at Goldsmiths College, London and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. He has most recently exhibited at The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Skoto Gallery/New York and at Capella Orsini, Rome and Galerie Punto G, Pietrasanta, Tuscany, Italy. Additionally he has written numerous catalogue essays as well as articles for various publications including Art in America.  He has worked with clay for many years.  

Selected shows for GunnarTheel exhibitions at New Hope Arts, New Hope, PA; A New Leaf Gallery, Berkeley, CA; the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA; the Shanghai Spring Art Salon, Shanghai, China; The Madison Mile at The Hollycroft Foundation, Madison, CT; Pier Walk, Chicago, IL; ART/OMI, Omi, NY; Pratt Institute Sculpture Park, Brooklyn, NY; and Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA.

GALLERY HOURS:

Thursday - Sunday, 1 - 6pm, or by appointment. Please email hanne@fivemyles.org, or call 718-783-4438.
Please wear a face mask to visit the gallery. Visitors without masks cannot be let inside. Thank you for your cooperation.

DIRECTIONS:

Take 2, 3, or 4 trains to Franklin Avenue. Walk two blocks against the traffic on Franklin. Walk ¾ block to 558 St. Johns Place. FiveMyles is within easy walking distance from the Brooklyn Museum.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

FiveMyles is in part supported by the New York State Council for the Arts, Public Funds from the New York City Dept. of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Council Member Laurie Cumbo, the Greenwich Collection, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, and the Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason Foundation.