Hard-Edged: Geometric Abstraction

NEW YORK, NY - Upsilon Gallery is pleased to announce a group exhibition of seminal works titled Hard-Edged: Geometric Abstraction, on view from June 24 to August 13, 2022. An opening reception will be held at 23 East 67th Street on Friday, June 24th, from 6:00-8:00 PM.

Hard-Edged explores the evolving practice of hard-edge geometric abstraction in contemporary art, illustrating the rich interplay of tradition and innovation among 10 artists. The exhibition offers an exploratory appreciation of geometric abstraction in painting, sculpture, and print.

The term hard-edge abstraction was coined in 1959 by art historian Jules Langsner to characterize the non-figurative work of four artists from California in an exhibition called Four Abstract Classicists. The term gained broader currency after British critic Lawrence Alloway used it to describe American geometric abstract painting featuring an “economy of form,” “fullness of color,” “neatness of surface,” and the nonrelational, allover arrangement of forms on the canvas. This style of geometric abstraction referred back to the work of Josef Albers and Piet Mondrian.

The artists' approaches in this exhibition vary and cross boundaries from perceptual to conceptual explorations of form. Some are minimalist, whilst others celebrate color and texture more exuberantly, but for all, their use of geometry and its three-dimensional function deny the supposed flatness of the modernist space. The play of color with these works both confirms and confuses our sense of perception, creating a constant shifting between presence and the ambiguity of space beyond our grasp.

Hard-Edged considers the vibrant work of a new generation of artists pushing the genre forward, alongside significant works by a more established generation of painters and sculptors including Alberto Burri, Ellsworth Kelly, Willard Boepple and Vanessa Jackson. For some of these artists—for example Willard Boepple—an exploration of the connection between thing and person becomes a key subject of his works, whereas others focus on the reflective potential of painting, as in Vanessa Jackson’s immersive canvases that invite the viewer to look at slowly, to as she puts it “unravel or ‘unconceal’.” Considered in totality, Hard-Edged, which consists of major new works brought to the gallery straight from the artists’ studios as well as important loans from estates and private collections, gives us a deeper understanding of our place in the world while further reinforcing the ongoing potency of contemporary abstraction.

Hard-Edged draws widely from local sources, including private collectors, galleries, and the artists themselves, and it includes Edward Avedisian, Willard Boepple, Anna Bogatin Ott, Alberto Burri, Vanessa Jackson, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Kelly, John Opper, Theodore Roszak and Larry Zox.

Upsilon Gallery is located at 23 East 67th Street, New York, NY 10065. Exhibition hours are Monday to Friday 10:00 AM-6:00 PM, Saturday by appointment. Please contact the gallery at (646) 476-4190 or email at info@upsilongallery.com for further details.

Cover Image: Willard Boepple, Quartet, 2022.

For additional information and media inquiries, please contact:

Carter Williams
tel +1 (646) 476-4190
email press@upsilongallery.com