Serendipitous self portraits
Stanley casselman (b.1963)
AP Space is delighted to announce the representation of Stanley Casselman (b. 1963) and his collection Serendipitous Self Portraits, works by the New-York based artist who’s always pushing to reinvent and find new boundaries for painting. Casselman shares a range of explorations over the past eight years, and this exhibition from September 5th through October 5th, will spotlight a scintillating spectrum of vibrancy, serenity, tension, opposition, and entropy endemic in his works.

The artist’s work is informed by a wide range of subjects, including astronomy, physics, sound and words. Casselman’s paintings, where often intricate or sometimes sweeping fading forms collide with graphic precision such that it’s not only an uncanny juxtaposition but importantly to Casselman where one element informs the other that it’s different or special.

Alongside the exhibition, a short documentary Process to Possibility: the Art of Stanley Casselman will be debuted. Casselman, a technician and a pioneer of painting on silkscreen, reveals many of the processes to create his works. Art historian Dr. David Anfam and acclaimed artist, Ray Smith both weigh in on Casselman’s practice.

Casselman’s distinction and notoriety as an artist through his technical precision arose in 2012 when New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz posed the challenge for any artist to fake a Gerhard Richter abstract. Given Casselman’s history with a squeegee, and although he had little interest in emulating his predecessor, he embarked to take the notion of Richter somewhere it had never been. Saltz, being overly impressed by what Casselman had achieved, wrote an article in NY Magazine, December 2012.

Moreover, after receiving his Bachelor of Arts at Pitzer College, Claremont, CA, Casselman had his solo exhibition debut at The Exhibition Space in New York City, curated by Maurice-Heyman Fine Art in 1986. Following this, Casselman’s works have been exhibited in numerous galleries across the US and Europe and in museums and public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, Georgia Museum of Art, the Flint Institute of Arts, Borusan Contemporary, Coral Springs Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of art, and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation.

Most recently Casselman embarked on collaborating with esteemed fashion designer and Halston protégé Naeem Khan. Together they call themselves, KACE. In their union of two distinctive worlds, KACE bridges the gap between art and fashion, and ultimately transcends that gap. They thrust the viewer into a novel experience that defies simple definition.

Casselman’s work toes the lines of Abstract Expressionism and Pop, showcasing gestural strokes across a delicate mesh to examine the depth and visceral nature of the human condition. As he interrogates the metaphysics of our reality through color, line, and form, Casselman seeks to find and inspire the sublime.