Ray Sell - with Parkers Box at Leo Kesting Gallery

[img]http://www.caplakesting.com/rs/mids/HiHoSilver.jpg[/img]
Ray Sell, Hi Ho Silver!, 72” x 52”, mixed media on canvas

Leo Kesting Gallery Presents:
GALLERY 1: RAY SELL - Raise 'Em To Be Cowboys
GALLERY 2: Parker’s Box artists: JASON GLASSER and JOSHUA STERN
Opening Night Reception: Thursday June 19th from 7:00 - 10:00 pm
812 Washington St (at the corner of Gansevoort) New York NY 10014
8th Ave A, C, E and L train Stop or 1,2,3 to 14th Street
Tuesday - Sunday from 11:00 am until 7:00 pm
Admission is free to the public
phone: 917-650-3760 / 917-292-8865 http://www.leokesting.com

GALLERY 1: Ray Sell - Raise 'Em To Be Cowboys

Men on horses carrying guns, fathers teaching their sons the joys of the opposite sex and the seductive curve of a confident woman are the subject of Ray Sell's first New York solo exhibition, Raise 'Em To Be Cowboys, a collection of mixed media collages and large format paintings.

In this exhibition, Ray Sell draws inspiration from pin up magazines, wild west frontiers and hot rod manuals, to illustrate the hey day of “the man's man.” One subject of focus is the relationship between father and son as exemplified in the paintings “Quality Time” and “Life Lessons”. In “Quality Time”, a father and son work side by side on a hot rod engine while televisions frame out imagery that is overtly masculine. This imagery resonates particularly well, as the engine can be viewed as a symbol of the young boy approaching manhood. While in “Life Lessons” a father and son work together on a science experiment while lovely ladies bounce up and down in a circular view finder, possibly from the microscope the duo are looking through. It is this imagery that emphasizes the masculine development leading to the early stages of puberty and male sexuality.


GALLERY 2: Parker’s Box artists: Jason Glasser and Joshua Stern

Trail-blazing is certainly part of the theme of Ray Sell’s Raise ‘Em to be Cowboys, affording both common ground and dialogue with the work and careers of Jason Glasser and Joshua Stern.

Jason Glasser was one of the founder members of the cult indy rock band, Clem Snide, and has continually oscillated between making paintings, videos and rock music. His subjects include recurring hunters, cowboys and motorbikes, for example, often reverse painted on auto-glass. Glasser explores a love-hate relationship with what might be the father figure, or the symbol of authority, government, or even planetary oppression…Joshua Stern first exhibited his paintings with Colin De Land at American Fine Arts, before beginning to photograph his own maquettes of bizarre yet familiar psychological worlds. Stern has recently returned to painting, and a monumental series of “Beaver” paintings, some of which are presented concurrently at Leo Kesting Gallery and at Parker’s Box. As Stern’s paintings testify, the beaver played a key role in American trail-blazing, as the US economy was founded on trading in beaver skins, a commodity far more important at the time than oil is today. The resulting resonance of beavers appears far more often than we may realize, gliding smoothly and surely into the masculine world that Ray Sell’s work inhabits.

Parker’s Box is proud to have been invited to jump aboard the latest anti-mainsteam commando operation to be organized by the Kesting/Capla/Leo trinity- originating of course, in Williamsburg, then hurtling through the L-train tunnel like a banshee on speed in order to infiltrate the Meat Packing site of the future Whitney museum- symbolically trail-blazing ahead of the establishment which will be bringing up the rear sometime circa 2012…The CK-LK work ethic of doing stuff in order to open up new territory (for art and artists) is based on generosity, motivation and passion, and can only be commended and admired.

Ray Sell's Raise 'Em To Be Cowboys and Parker's Box JASON GLASSER and JOSHUA STERN opens to the public with a reception for the artists at Leo Kesting Gallery on Thursday June 19th from 7:00 until 10:00 pm.

From its origins as Capla Kesting Fine Art in Brooklyn, the Leo Kesting Gallery launched in 2003 and developed an aggressive campaign to introduce new figurative artists to collectors and art supporters. Leo Kesting offers the art viewing public an opportunity to see forthcoming talents in an intimate setting where undiscovered, cutting-edge artists are presented to the contemporary art scene.

Leo Kesting Gallery is located at 812 Washington St at the corner of Gansevoort in Manhattan's Meat Packing District. A, C, E, or L train to 8th Ave and 14th Street or 1,2,3 train to 14th Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 11am until 7pm.