Lawrence Markey Inc.

ERNST CARAMELLE Recent Works

at Lawrence Markey
October 14–November 25, 2000

We are pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition of recent works by Ernst Caramelle.

The exhibition will include recent panel paintings and works on paper which Caramelle refers to as gesso- pieces, and sun-pieces.

Caramelle's gesso-pieces are painted with watercolor on wood panels, primed with gesso. Successive layers of watercolor are applied and removed. The element of time is an important part of these works, as evidence of this often lengthy painting process is left clearly visible.

Time is perhaps the central element of Caramelle's sun-pieces. Cut-out stencils are placed over areas of a sheet of common, colored construction paper, which is then left in Caramelle's sun-drenched window sill for months at a time. The exposed parts of the paper are gradually faded by the sun, while the color of the unexposed areas (now brighter) is preserved. Caramelle then rearranges the covered and uncovered areas, and allows the natural fading process to resume. Different periods of exposure create a range of "faded" colors. Because Caramelle may make these adjustments three or four or more times for a single work, each work can take up to a year or more to realize, as multiple colors and shapes are created and revealed.

Ernst Caramelle's gesso-pieces and sun-pieces balance two-dimensional, geometric abstraction with illusions of three-dimensional, architectural space.

It has been three and one-half years since Caramelle's last New York exhibition, also at Lawrence Markey. In recent years Caramelle has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Städtische Galerie Nordhorn (1998), Portikus, Frankfurt (1993) and the Vienna Secession (1993). Other one person museum exhibitions include the Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld (1990) and the Kunsthalle Bern (1986).