BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN | The Austrian conceptualist Ernst Caramelle, who resides in New York part-time, is known for his geometrically based abstractions — which often employ non-traditional materials, such as wine and sunlight. This particular exhibition (“Ernst Caramelle: serious candy revisited”) will feature a selection of exactly these so-called “Sun Pieces,” for which Caramelle uses sunlight and stencils in order to discolor construction paper to varying degrees. In addition, a variety of the artist’s “quasi-paintings,” which usually involve gesso, will be on display. In fact, “quasi” — the idea that something can resemble rather than be categorized as something specific — is a big theme here.
Along these lines Caramelle will also create a “quasi-fresco,” a large-scale watercolor wall painting. This work will share characteristics with his stunning site-specific installations, in which the artist reacts to an exhibition space by turning its doorways, walls, and floors into a blank, three-dimensional canvas. In these works, which count among the artist’s finest, geometric compositions become an environment that can be entered and physically experienced. For over four decades, Caramelle has confidently navigated between abstraction and illusion. Drawing from a visual vocabulary based on dichotomies, he skillfully plays with the opposition of flatness and depth, or transparency and opacity.
Through Oct. 29, at Peter Freeman, Inc. (140 Grand St., btw. Crosby & Lafayette Sts.). Hours: Tues.–Sat., 10am–6pm. Call 212-966-5154 or visit peterfreemaninc.com.
