DOYLE GERTJEJANSENreception december 6t h 6 – 9 pm

MAPPING PANGAEA

Is it possible to balance gravitas and levity, conceptual sophisticationand unabashed sensual delight? Yes, is the answer Doyle Gertjejansen’spaintings and sculpture unequivocally demonstrate. With their juxtaposi-tions of smooth and nubby textures, contrived and spontaneous gestures,deep Renaissance perspective and flat modernist space, the works inMapping Pangaea superimpose jaunty, Stuart Davis-like rhythms againstthe impulsivity of Abstract Expressionism and the witty, self-referential pas-tiche of the postmodernist era.

For more than three decades, Gertjejansen, chair of the fine artsdepartment at the University of New Orleans and recipient of a NationalEndowment for the Arts Fellowship in painting, has been a fixture in presti-gious private, corporate, and institutional collections around the UnitedStates and the world. His works are richly nuanced meditations on art his-tory, the relationship between authentic and metaphoric experience, andthe human compulsion to superimpose order upon the chaotic amoralityof nature. The paintings are born of a fascinating dualistic process thatbegins with the artist making arbitrary marks on his canvases—sometimeswith his eyes closed to heighten the sense of Dadaist spontaneity—thenlayering structural motifs on top, pivoting between randomness and rigoruntil the dischord between the two coalesces into harmony. The com-pleted artworks open up their thematic petals like lotus flowers, revealingfresh interpretive possibilities upon each viewing. Their robust conceptual-ism notwithstanding, these are lushly colorful works that offer the eye nolack of voluptuary pleasures.

An immaculately sanded 16-foot fiberglass sculpture entitled Frames ofReference will cap the show, offering a smooth, minimalist counterpoint tothe gestural and chromatic maximalism of the paintings. The sculpture fea-tures an interactive sound component, which expresses the artist’s endur-ing fascination with the dark mysteries of nature and the methods by whichwe attempt to fathom them.

RICHARD SPEER

december 1st – 30th, 2008reception saturday december 6th 6 – 9 pm

Front Cover: Latitude/Longitude48" x 48" acrylic on canvas, 2008

Mapping Pangaea, 88" x 88" acrylic on canvas, 2008Frames of Reference, 42" x 204" x 44" fiberglass, wood, pvc

Africa48" x 48" acrylic on canvas, 2008

Nova Scotia45" x 45" acrylic on canvas, 2008

Mapping Pangaea II45" x 45" acrylic on canvas, 2008

Collections30" x 30" acrylic on canvas, 2008

518 julia street, new orleans, la 70130

504.525.0518 www.gallerybienvenu.com

True North/Magnetic North30" x 30" acrylic on canvas, 2008ARTWORK © DOYLE GERTJEJANSEN 2008CATALOG © GALLERY BIENVENU 2008