Damon Freed: Obstacle and Void

DAMON FREED

Obstacle and Void

bruno david gallery

DAMON FREED

Obstacle and Void

September 7 - October 28, 2023

Bruno David Gallery

7513 Forsyth Boulevard

Saint Louis, Missouri 63105, U.S.A.

info@brunodavidgallery.com

www.brunodavidgallery.com

Founder/Director: Bruno L. David

This catalogue was published in conjunction with the exhibition “Obstacle and Void” at Bruno David Gallery.

Editor: Bruno L. David

Catalogue Designer: Kennedy Austin

Designer Assistant: Claudia R. David

Printed in USA

All works courtesy of Damon Freed and Bruno David Gallery

Photographs by Bruno David Gallery

Cover image:

Obstacle and Void, (Installation view - detail) 2023

Copyright ©2023 Damon Freed and Bruno David Gallery

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of Bruno David Gallery

CONTENTS

SPACE AND ENTITY: OBSTACLE & VOID BY DAMON FREED

AFTERWORD

BY

BRUNO L. DAVID

CHECKLIST AND IMAGES OF THE EXHIBITION

BIOGRAPHY

SPACE AND ENTITY: OBSTACLE & VOID BY DAMON FREED

Space as an entity is what I am most interested in within my recent nonobjective works: in obstacle and void space. For when one places planes side by side as the Egyptians would depict figures, there are spaces between the planes that create space. Space as an entity is to say space as a totality. Composition is foremost significant to creating the space I am after. To achieve void space in a painting one must at least place a full field of painted color, or one of neutral or achromatic color, against a wall. The Color Field artists achieved pure void space without interruptions to the space. Hans Hofmann, on the other hand, is known for his pushand-pull space which predates color field space. Push-and-pull space is when at least two planes or the plane and the void interchange: that is, when one element comes forward the other recedes and vice versa. And I would say Malevich accomplished it long before Hofmann did. In 1913 with Malevich’s black and white Suprematist drawings on paper, and more specifically and deliberately with his drawing entitled, “Movement of the Suprematist Square, producing a new bi-planar suprematist element.” But how does one create a space where the planes are static, and the void is not? In other words, how does one create a new space that is not the space already achieved by the Color Field artists or by the Action Painters of the 40’s and 50’s, or by Malevich in 1913? Well, it would seem that William Perehudoff did so as early as the 80’s in Toronto.

By now, it seems to me that push-and-pull has already been surpassed by Robert Ryman as well, who moved beyond this kind of space with a rougher planar surface that keeps you interested in the surface itself without the illusion of moving into void space. So, moving beyond Ryman too, I accomplished what I am calling Obstacle and Void space for the first time

when I was 19 years old, intuitively and by accident. Or at least I came close to it. I had no conception of it at the time, verbally, but I do now. I created a painting that at this moment hangs in a Catholic School Library in Kansas City, Bishop Miege (As seen in the picture following the essay.) There, in this painting, you can see a textured rectangle of color that is an elevated surface in three dimensions, a relief component in and on the painting, not totally unlike Ryman’s use of texture, except that I exaggerated the elevation of the rectangular relief to a degree beyond what Ryman tended to do in his paintings. The space behind the rectangular relief created the illusion of void space. But I have, in my pursuit, created a cleaner and flatter example of this kind of space. Finally, I have reduced the space I am describing to its essence, and it now may function wherein the Obstacle and Void are each flat within the painting existing on the same two-dimensional plane. No interchange occurs between the two spatially; this is to say the red “Obstacle” is fixed and appears floating just above the turquoise “Void” that you can illusionistically move into. Like a boulder blocking your path, the red “Obstacle” stands in front of the turquoise “Void,” which is akin to the area behind the boulder. It doesn’t look like much because it’s such a natural phenomenon in the world, but in artwork it is very rare to see a plane (the red and white column) that does not interchange or flipflop spatially with its background (the turquoise). There are many naturalistic landscape paintings where it seemingly occurs but, through nonobjective means, it has taken me since 2006 (when I coined the terminology to better articulate this kind of space) to reduce it to its most direct means. You would be surprised how difficult it was to do. And, in 2019, I became acquainted with William Perehudoff’s works which, to me, would be the very first inklings of it. I saw hints here and there until now, but they weren’t what I wanted. Nonobjectively it’s very difficult to get beyond push-and-pull or surface space, like Ryman’s use of space, without using representation or cheap tricks, like drop shadows in nonobjective paintings. It’s taken me hundreds of paintings and works on paper to achieve it.

Another good example of Obstacle and Void space, for the sake of clarity, comes in the movie The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio. If you’ve seen the movie, you will likely recall the cloud scene when the director is trying to get airplanes to look as if they are moving in a sky scene. DiCaprio’s character discovers that when filming the airplanes flying without clouds, there appears to be no movement or depth to them at all. He discovers that, without the counterforce of the clouds, everything gets flattened out and appears unnatural, unlike in real life. Well, Obstacle and Void space works similarly. It helps to have an active field of marks behind the Obstacle to demonstrate movement and depth. It also helps to have color resonance between the two, the Obstacle and Void, wherein the two elements appear united but separate.

Now, as for a more prescient historical grounding of space I would like to mention the intellectuality of Barnett Newman’s vertical stripes he called “zips” with their hard edges that spanned his canvases from edge to edge, top to bottom, and acted to divide the paintings into planes of space that go back and come forward. And I would also like to mention Mark Rothko’s more atmospheric void spaces. The “zips” in Newman’s paintings hold you out as well as in. The push and pull as it was, interchanges spatially. And in this way, they never really got beyond Malevich’s idea of bi-planar suprematist elements or Hofmann’s same idea of push-and-pull in color. Nor do the works of Blinky Palermo who never, from what I’ve seen and can tell, used atmosphere to his advantage. In a different way, Rothko’s voids let you in; they are complete spatial infinity and atmosphere. Newman’s paintings are akin to push-and-pull on a larger scale than Hoffman’s.

In essence, what I have done is to isolate Newman’s “zips” in such ways as to not divide my canvases, stopping them short on each end, floating them over Rothko’s voids in standalone pieces. But it’s not that simple. I am not quoting art history directly or parodying its styles. The pieces have a feel unique to themselves, unique to me, sincere, and have come about naturally,

spontaneously, and slowly within my practice.

I’m bringing in color theory as well. In so far as I’m indebted to Itten and Albers, as well as to my dad for his thorough understanding of naturalistic color palettes. The Obstacles and Voids are working together in beautiful and surprisingly sensual ways. Their qualities feel different but together. This, thankfully, softens the otherwise intellectual nature of the works. There is an emotive quality from them so far, and this emotive quality seems to be stemming from the centering and placement of the Obstacles atop the Void spaces. A very wholesome feeling is achieved by them, yet, of course, there is a mystery to them as well. There is a union at work, among them, a satisfying one. Was I less versed in color, the Obstacles and the Voids would be less connected to each other and more anonymous or arbitrary in feeling.

One thing that I have found out about making the paintings is that buffering the pure color of the Voids with a little earth tone has helped. It knocks the edges off the purity of the manufactured colors straight from their jars and subdues the acidity of the pure colors. It helps to create a deeper space. Also, I am layering them. Their surfaces are built up in three to four coats of paint by using transparent layers of acrylic and interference colors. The interference colors are suspended between a surface coat and an outer coat of paint. This helps to calm the artificiality of the interference layer yet creates depth and reflectivity beneath the outer layer. Also, the sides and edges are left raw on the pieces.

This text is one in a series of the gallery’s exhibitions written by fellow gallery artists and friends.

AFTERWORD

BY BRUNO L. DAVID

I am pleased to present, Obstacle and Void, an exhibition by Missouri-based artist Damon Freed. This is his eight-solo exhibition with the gallery.

Damon Freed states “The inspiration for this new series of paintings, is tied to a spiritual place from within deeply resonating color harmonies registering below the level of sound mostly, and beyond our vocabulary of spoken words. Then, aesthetically, I work it out compositionally and color-wise, finding balance through harmony and the proper scales. The work is involved with science to a slight degree; experimentally using color ratios, I move forward. All these aspects come together in my paintings. I’m calling them Obstacles and Voids because of their connection to my spatial thinking for them. There are lessons here to be learned.

The marks that sit on the surfaces of some of the paintings are painted on top of, therefore you go into the fabric of the pieces, the surrounds, metaphysically with a gaze. Like boulders in your way on paths, the obstacles are realized, the marks that are abutted to the surfaces. The fabric surrounds are like the sky behind the boulders, you go into them, metaphysically. The color penetrates the fabric with a palette knife process. This I do first. I press the pure colors into the weaves of the canvases with my palette knives. Like obstacles in life, you see them first, recognize them second, and then can rest into the void spaces of life.”

Damon Freed works and lives in Missouri. He received an M.F.A. from Hunter College, New York, and a B.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts, New York. He recently published “Twonism II (Thoughts, Essays, and Poems on Life and Art)”.

Support for the creation of significant new works of art has been the core to the mission and program of the Bruno David Gallery since its founding in 2005. I am deeply grateful to Kennedy Austin, who gave much time, talent, and expertise to the production of this catalogue. Invaluable gallery staff support for the exhibition was provided by Jenny Rong, Hazel Tao, Kenya Mitchell, Kalli Brown and Kennedy Austin.

CHECKLIST & IMAGES OF THE EXHIBITION

Obstacle & Void 2-A 2020

Acrylic on canvas

20.5 x 14.5 inches

(52.07 × 36.83 cm)

Obstacle & Void 2

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 27

2021

Acrylic on canvas 16 x 16 inches

(40.64 × 40.64 cm)

Obstacle & Void 25 2021

Acrylic on canvas 16 x 16 inches

(40.64 × 40.64 cm)

(Detail)

The Racetrack of Love 2021 Oil on canvas 16 x 16 inches

(40.64 × 40.64 cm)

Obstacle & Void 32 2022

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 17

2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 18 2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53× 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 11

2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 6

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void-The Ghost 2021

Acrylic on canvas 16 x 16 inches

(40.64 × 40.64 cm)

Obstacle & Void 16-Judgement

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 4A 2020

Acrylic on canvas

20.5 x 14.5 inches

(52.07 × 36.83 cm)

Obstacle & Void 21For Adam Lister 2021

Acrylic on canvas 21.5 x 20 inches (54.61 × 50.8 cm)

Obstacle & VoidAncient Orange 2021

Acrylic on canvas 16 x 16 inches

(40.64 × 40.64 cm)

Inspiration 54 2023

Acrylic and oil on canvas

21.5 x 21.5 inches

(54.61 × 54.61 cm)

Obstacle & Void 4 2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 16 inches

(49.53 × 40.64 cm)

Obstacle & Void 1

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void : Cross 2019

Acrylic on canvas 24 x 24 inches

(60.96 × 60.96 cm)

The Hatchet Man 2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 16 inches

(49.53 × 40.64 cm)

Obstacle and Void-9-11 2019

Acrylic on canvas 24 x 24 inches

(60.96 × 60.96 cm)

The Fix It Man

2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 16 inches

(49.53 × 40.64 cm)

Obstacle & Void-Echo, after Indigo Sparke 2021

Acrylic on canvas

21.5 x 20 inches

(54.61 × 50.8 cm)

Obstacle & Void-How Much Blood is Worth A Drop 2023

Acrylic on canvas 24 x 24 inches (60.96 × 60.96 cm)

Inspiration 56-Nightlight 2022

Graphite and Acrylic on canvas

21.5 x 21.5 inches

(54.61 × 54.61 cm)

Untitled 1 2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void-Teardrop 2021

Acrylic on canvas 16 x 16 inches

(40.64 × 40.64 cm)

55-Accomplished,

Inspiration

for Doug Freed 2022

Graphite and acrylic on canvas 15 x 15 inches (40.64 × 40.64 cm)

Obstacle & Void 29

2023

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Reoccurrence

Obstacle & Void 10The

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Dead Fish 2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 16 inches

(49.53 × 40.64 cm)

Inspiration 53-Love Letter, for Betsy Baker 2022

Graphite and acrylic on canvas 15 x 15 inches (40.64 × 40.64 cm)

The Chartreuse 2022

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 9 2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void-Red Star 2021

Acrylic on canvas

21.5 x 20 inches

(54.61 × 50.8 cm)

Obstacle & Void-First 2023

Acrylic on canvas 24 x 24 inches (60.96 × 60.96 cm)

Obstacle & Void 3

2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 7 2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 5 2021

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 12

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 30 2023

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

Obstacle & Void 31 2023

Acrylic on canvas

19.5 x 18 inches

(49.53 × 45.72 cm)

1010-For Betsy Baker 2022

Acrylic on canvas 116 inches (octagonal) (294.64 cm)

DAMON FREED

Lives and works in Sedalia, Missouri

EDUCATION

M.F.A. Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY

B.F.A. School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 Bruno David Gallery, “Obstacle and Void,” Saint Louis, MO (catalogue)

2022 Bruno David Gallery, “Town & Country,” Saint Louis, MO (catalogue)

2020 Bruno David Gallery, “Structure and Void,” Saint Louis, MO (catalogue)

2019 Fisher Gallery-LLCA, “Piss and Vinegar”, Sedalia, MO

2018 Bruno David Gallery, “The Correspondence of Color,” Saint Louis, MO (catalogue)

2017 Bruno David Gallery, “Landscapes,” Saint Louis, MO (catalogue)

2016 Sager-Braudis Gallery, “Damon Freed,” Columbia, MO

2015 Bruno David Gallery, “Obstacle and Void,” Saint Louis, MO (catalogue)

2014 Daum Museum of Contemporary Art “Four Point Perspective,” Sedalia, MO

2012 Bruno David Gallery, “Damon Freed: En Plein Air,” Saint Louis, MO (catalogue)

Three Rivers Community College, “Damon Freed: Grid Games,” Poplar Bluff, MO

Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, “Damon Freed: Cadence,” Kansas City, MO

2011 Bruno David Gallery, “Damon Freed: Life Saver,” Saint Louis, MO (catalogue)

2009 Bruno David Gallery, “Damon Freed: Calm, Cool, Coherent,” Saint Louis, MO (catalogue)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 Visual Dialogue, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO

2022 Among Friends, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO

2021 Bilingual: Abstract & Figurative, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO (catalogue)

2020

2019

2018

2017

OVERVIEW_2020, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO

OVERVIEW_2019, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO

OVERVIEW_2018, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO

OVERVIEW_2017, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO

2015 AND / OR, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO (catalogue)

In Good Company, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

Paperworks, Liberty Center Loft Gallery, Sedalia, MO

2014

OVERVIEW_2014, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO

2013 Summer Invitational, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

Blue, White, and Red, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO

2012 December Group Show, Liberty Center Loft Gallery, Sedalia, MO

October Group Show, Liberty Center Loft Gallery, Sedalia, MO

2010 RECESSION REJUVENATIONS, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO

2009

OVERVIEW_09, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO

Gallery Selections: Small Scale Works, Tobey Fine Arts, New York

2006 Correspondence to a Single Point: A Survey of Geometric Abstraction, Tobey Fine Arts, New York

Hum, Curated by Shinsuke Aso, Tobey Fine Arts, New York

2003 The Wild Bunch, Curated by Tim Rollins, White Box Gallery, New York

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Freed, Damon. “Space and Entity: Obstacle & Void”, Esssay, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2024

Freed, Damon. “On my Landscapes”, Esssay, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2022

Pickering, Dustin. “Damon Freed”, Parrot Literary Corner TV, New York, September 8, 2021

Bemiss, Faith “Freed, artist and poets, publishes new book”, Sedalia Democrat, Missouri, April 15, 2021

Marks, Kerry. “Damon Freed”, HEC-TV, January 24, 2020

Meersohn, Rayan E. V. “Leslie Laskey”, Wall Street International Magazine, January 2020

Exilus, Yves A. Video Interview, YouTube, (9:32 minutes, December 3, 2019. https://youtu.be/Uh_4nO2kE_k

Rick Jey

“Damon Freed: Interview”, Mid-Missouri Art News, Missouri, June 25, 2019

Freed, Damon. “The Correspondence of Color”, Esssay, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2018

Marks, Kerry. “The Bruno David Gallery’s Continues to Promote Contemporary Art”, HEC-TV, February 26, 2018

Johnson, Timothy “Twonism (Thoughts, Essays, and Poems)”, Art Book, 2018 & Freed, Damon. Helsel, Dennis. “Damon Freed’s Landscape”, Esssay, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2017

Marks, Kerry. “Damon Freed: An Interview”, HEC-TV, January 17, 2017

Schwartz, Martin. “It’s All Relative”, Missouri Life, December 9, 2016

Hartman, Tanya. “Selfless: The Work of Damon Freed”, Esssay, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2015

Bemiss, Faith. “SFCC art instructors show variety of work at Daum”, Sedalia Democrat, October 3, 2014

Bemiss, Faith. “How Paperworks”, Sedalia Democrat, July 19-20, 2014

Baran, Jessica. “Life Saver at Bruno David gallery”, Riverfront Times, December 15, 2011

Cooper, Ivy. “Winter wondering at Bruno David Gallery”, St. Louis Beacon, December 5, 2011

Gordon, Kara. “Calibration”, Esssay, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2011

Siegel, Kyle. “SNJ Community Profile”, Sedalia News Journal, September 6, 2011

Cooper, Ivy. “Damon Freed”, St. Louis Beacon, March 19, 2009

Baran, Jessica. “Damon Freed: Calm, Cool, Coherent”, Riverfront Times, March 25, 2009

Weant, Nancy. “Damon Freed: Calm, Cool, Coherent”, Essay, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2009 Nail, Sarah. “Easy on the Eyes”, Sedalia Democrat, September 18, 2008

PUBLICATIONS

“Douglass Freed: The Correspondence of Color”, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2018

“Douglass Freed: Landscapes”, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2017

“Douglass Freed: Reflective Landscapes”, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2015

“Damon Freed: Obstacle and Void”, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2015

“Kelley Johnson: New Paintings”, Essay, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2013

“Damon Freed: En Plein Air”, Poems, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2012

“Damon Freed: Life Saver”, Poems, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2011

“Damon Freed: Calm, Cool, Coherent”, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2009

GRANTS/AWARDS

2003 Honors—School of Visual Arts, New York

2002 Juan Gonzales Award—School of Visual Arts, New York

2001 Fine Arts Departmental Grant—School of Visual Arts, New York

2000 Silas H. Rhodes Merit Scholarship—School of Visual Arts, New York

Dr. Tony Racela Grant—State Fair Community College

BY DAMON FREED

“The Thin Gray Line, for Taylor Swift”, Damon Freed, 2024 (188 pages)

“Space and Entity: Obstacle & Void”, Esssay, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2023

“An Alchemical Fulcrum: Sublimation”, Damon Freed, 2023 (177 pages)

“The Fighter”, Damon Freed, 2023 (150 pages)

“On my Landscapes”, Esssay, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2022

“Twonism II (Thoughts, Essays, and Poems on Life and Art”, Damon Freed, 2020 (238 pages)

“Structure and Void,” SoundCloud podcast, (7:32 minutes), 2019

“The Correspondence of Color”, Damon Freed, 2018 (40 pages)

“The Correspondance of Color”, Damon Freed, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2018

“Twonism (Thoughts, Essay & Poems)”, Damon Freed, 2017 (98 pages)

“Poems”, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2012

“Poems”, Bruno David Gallery Publications, Exhibition catalogue, 2011

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ARTISTS

Antonio Ainscough

Sara Ghazi Asadollahi

Barry Anderson

Laura Beard

Heather Bennett

Lisa K. Blatt

Michael Byron

Ben Brough

Quinn A. Briceno

Bunny Burson

Lisa Bulawsky

Judy Child

Carmon Colangelo

William Conger

Alex Couwenberg

Terry James Conrad

Jill Downen

Damon Freed

Yvette Drury Dubinsky

Douglass Freed

Adrian Gonzalez

Richard Hull

Mee Jey

Kelley Johnson

Chris Kahler

Leslie Laskey

Justin Henry Miller

James Austin Murray

William Morris

Arny Nadler

Yvonne Osei

Patricia Olynyk

Charles P. Reay

Daniel Raedeke

Tom Reed

Frank Schwaiger

Eric Minh Swenson

Char Schwall

Christina Shmigel

Thomas Sleet

Buzz Spector

Andrea Stanilav

Cindy Tower

Mario Trejo