Bruce Pollock and Renee Van Der Stelt

Interval, May 2014 

Grizzly Grizzly is excited to announce its upcoming May exhibition, “Interval” a two-person show of Philadelphia-based artist Bruce Pollock and Baltimore artist Renee van der Stelt. “Interval” brings together two artists who are fascinated by liminal spaces, whether it be overlapping lines or intersecting polygons, the shadow created between paper and wall or the vacancy of an open window. Through their intense explorations of line and space, each artist relies on a personal set of rules to generate intricate and nuanced structures in paint and graphite.

Bruce Pollock’s paintings explore the spectrum of values in indigo to create luscious and shimmering illusions of spatial depth. Inspired by his interest in “generative self-organizing geometric patterns”, these formal explorations evoke a range of associations from the sub-atomic and the celestial.

In Renee van der Stelt’s graphite drawings, optical rhythm and vibrations emerge from layers of repeated lines. Gradations of values, cast as shadows from the pages, extend the drawings to the wall. She says of her folded constructions, “the cadence of making line after line serves as reminder to slow down, to reconsider what is overlooked: this includes the possibilities and complexities within simple choices made for each work within a day.”

Artist Bios

Renee van der Stelt has investigated drawing both on and off the page for over twenty years, beginning with an MFA in Drawing from the University of Iowa. Drawings and installations have been exhibited at venues through the U.S. and abroad. She was resident artist at the MacDowell Colony, Roswell Artist in Residence program, Philadelphia Art Hotel, and Kaus Australis. Grants include the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Baltimore Office for the Promotion of the Arts, Maryland State Arts Council, and the TKF Foundation. Renee van der Stelt is currently faculty mentor for the Studio Art MFA program at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore MD.

Bruce Pollock has exhibited his abstract paintings and drawings in numerous solo exhibitions in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Shenzhen and Beijing, China, Vancouver, BC and other locations. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, MacDowell Colony Fellowship and Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballinglen, Ireland. Pollock received his MFA in Painting from the Tyler School of Art, and BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art. He has been teaching at Drexel University in Philadelphia for 20 years where he is currently the Studio Head of Painting, a position he has held since 2003.

All installation photographs courtesy of Jaime Alvarez