ARTISTS
Bette Blank: How High the Moon
Kapp Kapp is very pleased to present How High the Moon, an exhibition of the unique multimedia artist Bette Blank (b. 1940), to inaugurate its New York location. Bette Blank鈥檚 paintings and sculptures invite us in with rich colors, lively narratives, iconic imagery, and a signature sense of humor. There is no detail omitted in Blank鈥檚 work. For the artist, a bust of George Washington must be accompanied by his wooden teeth, as in The Fathers, 2019. Or in Groucho Pajamas, 2007, a painting of a pair of pajamas is surrounded by Groucho Marks鈥� famous joke: 鈥淚 killed an elephant in my pajamas鈥︹��
The detail in Blank鈥檚 work is never generic. In her Marilyn Refrigerator, 2012, a look inside the pink Frigidaire reveals a carton of Horizon milk, Hellmann鈥檚 mayonnaise, a caffeine-free Diet Coke, and on the freezer, a postcard of the unmistakable Marilyn Monroe. Inside and out are nostalgic reminders of an America of the past. Bather in Florida, 2015, a bathroom-scape of a woman soaking in her tub; the tropical palm trees and skies are just visible through the small window. We see the patterned walls and bathmat, the perfectly imperfect tile grids, the electric blue egg tempera stripes. As Blank puts it, she is fascinated by the 鈥済eometry of bathrooms.鈥� In Bathroom Cabinet, 2019, Blank uses a weathered found bathroom cabinet and instead of bottles of pills usually found in it, there is a small sculptured bathroom: a ball and claw foot tub, pedestal sink with painted mirror, commode, and a hand-painted tile floor. A bathroom in a bathroom cabinet; that is her joke.
Blank鈥檚 oeuvre is singularly witty and sharp, but not unaware of its art historical connections. Blank鈥檚 boxes wink to Joseph Cornell, her drawings and paintings nudging Bonnard with his upended perspectives, and the Reverend Howard Finster with his in-plane text. Time and Tide, a 2019 assemblage, combines a miniature replica of Hokusai鈥檚 famous Great Wave with a handless clock face, a seashell, a cycle of the moon, and a Roman marble bust. This puzzle-like six-by-six inch box alludes to a narrative but allows the viewer to collect and piece together the ending themselves. There are clues, surprises, jokes, histories, and stories hidden within all of Blank鈥檚 work; the beauty is being along for the ride.
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Kapp Kapp is very pleased to present How High the Moon, an exhibition of the unique multimedia artist Bette Blank (b. 1940), to inaugurate its New York location. Bette Blank鈥檚 paintings and sculptures invite us in with rich colors, lively narratives, iconic imagery, and a signature sense of humor. There is no detail omitted in Blank鈥檚 work. For the artist, a bust of George Washington must be accompanied by his wooden teeth, as in The Fathers, 2019. Or in Groucho Pajamas, 2007, a painting of a pair of pajamas is surrounded by Groucho Marks鈥� famous joke: 鈥淚 killed an elephant in my pajamas鈥︹��
The detail in Blank鈥檚 work is never generic. In her Marilyn Refrigerator, 2012, a look inside the pink Frigidaire reveals a carton of Horizon milk, Hellmann鈥檚 mayonnaise, a caffeine-free Diet Coke, and on the freezer, a postcard of the unmistakable Marilyn Monroe. Inside and out are nostalgic reminders of an America of the past. Bather in Florida, 2015, a bathroom-scape of a woman soaking in her tub; the tropical palm trees and skies are just visible through the small window. We see the patterned walls and bathmat, the perfectly imperfect tile grids, the electric blue egg tempera stripes. As Blank puts it, she is fascinated by the 鈥済eometry of bathrooms.鈥� In Bathroom Cabinet, 2019, Blank uses a weathered found bathroom cabinet and instead of bottles of pills usually found in it, there is a small sculptured bathroom: a ball and claw foot tub, pedestal sink with painted mirror, commode, and a hand-painted tile floor. A bathroom in a bathroom cabinet; that is her joke.
Blank鈥檚 oeuvre is singularly witty and sharp, but not unaware of its art historical connections. Blank鈥檚 boxes wink to Joseph Cornell, her drawings and paintings nudging Bonnard with his upended perspectives, and the Reverend Howard Finster with his in-plane text. Time and Tide, a 2019 assemblage, combines a miniature replica of Hokusai鈥檚 famous Great Wave with a handless clock face, a seashell, a cycle of the moon, and a Roman marble bust. This puzzle-like six-by-six inch box alludes to a narrative but allows the viewer to collect and piece together the ending themselves. There are clues, surprises, jokes, histories, and stories hidden within all of Blank鈥檚 work; the beauty is being along for the ride.
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