Buster Levi Gallery is pleased to present The Persistence of Memory-Panel Paintings, selected works from 2009 to 2019 by Grey Zeien at 121 Main Street in Cold Spring, New York. The exhibition will run from December 6 through December 29, 2019. The opening for the show will be on Friday December 6, 2019 from 6-8:30 pm.

This show is a compilation of several large paintings, acrylic on panel, made over the last decade. They are layered, altered and severely redacted over time. Some of the paintings have over thirty layers of paint. Surfaces range from crusted to smooth and the application of paint is as varied as the shapes in each painting.

The origins of the paintings are walls and billboards that Zeien has been photographing overseas for almost twenty years. Similar to da Vinci’s often-cited quote related to the invention of subject matter from stains in walls or stones of various colors: “in which, if you consider them well, you may find really marvelous ideas.” Instead of subject matter, Zeien sees the billboards and walls as an inspiration to his methods of painting. He has stated: “Like the walls and billboards themselves, they are processed oriented pieces. The painting on, scraping/tearing off, re-layering and redacting builds up a plastic surface related to those worked over, torn down and re-plastered walls and re-posted kiosks.” These paintings are physical. The application of paint appears unlimited. Despite their assertion of the two-dimensional plane, they have both physical and visual depth. A color or shape that advances in one area recedes or is overlapped in another as they weave in and out of each other actively across the paintings. There is really no one place to focus and similar to torn billboards, there is an arbitrariness that is both exciting and visually stimulating. Portions of words that suggest a specific source for the painting do not seem out of place among the multitude of ‘found’ shapes as they tumble into each other. These paintings are challenging, they force interaction with the viewer enlivening both the eye and the mind.

Buster Levi Gallery is open Friday through Sunday from 12-6 pm.

For more information: busterlevigallery.com