by Andrew Beckerman

We can break a discussion of Steven Krueger's artwork down into three areas of investigation: precedent, attractor space, and phenomenology. Precedent is concerned with touchstones we can look for in order to create some kind of boundary conditions for Krueger's artwork. We use the term "boundary conditions" in order to avoid setting up a line of influence, as if explaining the artists that Krueger enjoys or is inspired by gives actual insight into his own art. It's obviously not tangential, but that's why they must be seen as inhabiting an analogical network. Krueger is like this person or that person; his form is similar. To use analogy rather than causality (influence is a causal schema) is to respect the evolution of artistic forms.

by Eugene Hwang

The way technology changes art's production will always cause much unease. Technology means starting the process of extinction of something always held dear. It also keeps artists from getting complacent and forces redefinition, which is exciting to some and terrifying to others. John Ruby's images capture both the scintillation of excitement and the chaos of terror. "Collapse" is an apt image for the cosmic rubble out of which a discernible, coherent galaxy will emerge, although it would be a mistake to wait in anticipation: something worthwhile is already occurring.

by Eugene Hwang

Individuality gets blurred and the subjects can get all but inextricably incorporated into the background in Robert Louie's works, which are done in black and white. When dealing with two disparate colors, one which reflects the entire spectrum, the other which absorbs it, the slightest error is glaring, especially when a dizzying multitude of interdependent parts are involved. Louie is a scrupulous artist. With a watchmaker's precision and a chess grandmaster's vision and anticipation he arranges his numerous pieces: curved lines and barbed shapes one might find in a tribal tattoo.

by Andrew Beckerman

We can begin to look at Luis Velasquez' art from two vantage points that are perhaps incommensurable, or at least incommensurable from a single rigid outlook, and this is perhaps what is interesting about his artworks. On one hand, there are the figurative components to his paintings which - with flourishes here and there, say the expressionistic colors of "Sleepless Dream" or the cutout quality of the woman in "Vigil in Unity" - very much come out of a long tradition, and thus have ties that go back hundreds of years. The figurative elements of his works, the women and the cats, establish themes that tentacle their way backwards through romanticism and primitivism.

Steven Krueger

"From Three Continents"
January 5th-30th

Opening Reception: January 9th
8:00-10:00pm

Ico Gallery is pleased to present "From Three Continents", a solo exhibition of work from international artist Steven Krueger. The American-born, New Delhi-based artist has been influenced by his travels as well as the countries he has visited and lived in. Having resided in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, his collected body of work is truly a product of three continents.

Krueger does not limit himself to one style or subject matter, but does borrow from his influences as needed to make his own. Hints of abstract expressionism, cubism, and even pop art can be found in all of his works. The marks of his brush are fluid and energetic, yet do not overpower the work. He adjusts his style as necessary to each particular piece so as not to limit his creativity. When asked if he knows how a painting will turn out, he replied, "Never. Whenever I create, the outcome is as much of a surprise to me as to anyone who may see one of my works in progress." The paintings in this exhibition are all uniquely Krueger's, however, no matter the look of the final product.

Critic Andrew Beckman states, "Krueger himself has an interiority to his style; as he comments in a piece about his art in State Magazine, 'My painting is strictly emotional.' The question then for us the audience must be the translation of those emotions."

A native of New Jersey, he originally studied at the ICS School of Art in Pennsylvania and the Art League of Alexandria Virginia. Throughout his life he has resided in Austria, Guatemala, Finland, and currently lives in New Delhi, India. Having lived in so many countries, it can be said that perhaps Krueger's greatest influence is the world itself.


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"Metamorphosis"
January 5th-30th

Opening Reception: January 9th
8:00-10:00pm

Ico Gallery is please to present "Metamorphosis", a group exhibition of work from artists Azlan Adam, Robert Louie, Toshiko Nishikawa, Sharon Park, and John Ruby. Dealing with abstraction, the artists present their own views of altered reality.

Whether the collected work represents recognizable forms or expression through lines and colors, the artists are able to bring differing viewpoints to a style of art that is nearly limitless in terms of what can be accomplished. Adam and Park both utilize themes dealing with nature in their art. Adam's jungle-themed series show a mass of vines and branches, creating energetic compositions, while Park creates calmer pieces with imagery dealing with flowers. Louie's pieces are built up with stark black and white shapes which when observed closely reveal faces and bodies. Nishikawa uses similar techniques, but creates very minimal works that show energy and a natural flow in a subtle manner. Ruby bridges the gap between the representational and the unconscious, with works showing both the recognizable and the completely abstract without a loss of meaning in either style.

The artists featured in the show hail from all parts of the globe: Adam from Malaysia, Nishikawa from Japan, and Louie, Park, and Ruby all hailing from the United States. Each artist brings their own unique perspective to the style of abstract art, with this exhibition showing the scope of the genre and what can be accomplished within its realms.

by Andrew Beckerman

To try and link Toshiko Nishikawa's ethnicity and her aesthetics may very well be a red herring in contemporary times. Yes, indeed, traditional Japanese art is very much about minimalism, silence, stillness, and subtlety - or at least that's a facet, and the one most often exploited as stereotype. To try and link Nishikawa causally though, as some timeslice in a temporal succession, constrains the way we can understand her art - excising from the discussion, for example, abstract expressionism - and unnecessarily boxes in the discussion.

by Eugene Hwang

The work of Sharon Park could perhaps be summed up in the phrase "no two snowflakes are alike." The differences, which occur between formations sharing the same category, Park shows, are largely dependent on space and time. The conditions in which a new petal germinates, or is glued, is always different from the conditions of its predecessors. The space occupied, for example, is unavoidably different. As time passes, minute differences become more and more evident in the organic. A single petal might be indistinguishable from another, but a collection of a dozen petals will be discernibly different from another collection of a dozen petals.

by Eugene Hwang

Lush and generous, Adam Azlan's paintings depict prelapsarian jungles in perpetual celebration. The vibrant color and spontaneity of the festive flora suggest a lineage shared with jazz. Azlan makes use of forms inspired by reality, but also incorporates the abstract. Some plant life seems invented, improvised as the plant life of the deepest parts of the ocean sometimes seems. For Azlan, it is not enough to show lots of vegetation. There is a spiritual and emotional quality to the jungle, which he undoubtedly values greatly, and some of his trees a more like flowing souls.

by Andrew Beckerman

Trying to pin down Emin Guliyev is, as far as can be discerned, a mistake. To say this is not to criticize Guliyev, as if to reduce his sculptures to a flighty, wavering variability. This is wrongheaded anyway, for his art has a definite style. This style, however, is not something easily recognizable, but rather follow along the lines of a family resemblance. A family might have a grabbag of features - a nose that three members share, eyes that four do, ears for a few - such that any two members together reveals little. However, when an array is beheld, certain themes become apparent.