Devening Projects + Editions presents Songs from a Room: Joshua Abelow and Blonder Tongue Audio Baton: Alexander Valentine, opening Sunday, January 29, 4-7 PM.
Released in 1969, Songs from a Room was Leonard Cohen’s seminal second album; it’s also the title of New York-based artist Joshua Abelow’s first solo exhibition at devening projects + editions. Cohen’s release set the stage for a long career as a poet, lyrcist and vocalist with a sound and attitude that was spare and circumscribe. Like the songs on this ablum, Abelow’s paintings have a similar quality of efficiency and use a melodic thread as the foundation for cutting subject matter. At the root of Abelow’s modestly scaled paintings is a prodigious, career-long reconsideration of Modernist idioms. Filtered through a lens of wry self-deprecation, these tough canvases are produced with highly specific chromatic systems and suggest a historical reverence to artists as diverse as William Copley, Francis Picabia and Rene Magritte (particularly works from his Vache period). We are very pleased to show Joshua’s work at this important time in his career; please join us for the opening on Sunday, January 29 from 4 - 7 pm.
