Greg Drasler
Greg Drasler
Stratocaster Suite, 2014
Oil on linen
70 x 400 inches
GD15756
Greg Drasler
Bates, 2015
Oil on linen
11 x 99 inches
GD15761
Greg Drasler
After Day, 2015
Oil on linen
11 x 99 inches
GD15764
Greg Drasler
Last Stop, 2015
Oil on linen
11 x 99 inches
GD15765
Greg Drasler
Tavern, 2014
Oil on linen
11 x 14 inches
GD15780
Greg Drasler
Eat and Sleep, 2014
Oil on linen
80 x 44 inches
GD15781
Greg Drasler
Reservations, 2014
Oil on linen
40 x 44 inches
GD15782
Greg Drasler
Road Trip
June 15 – August 5, 2016
Opening Reception: Wednesday, June 15th, 6-8 PM
From the joining of shadowy constructed atmospheres of big sky vistas to the crazy quilt inspired grounding of vernacular architecture, cloud computing mixes it up with carousing of local color. I have stepped out of fluid interior places into the determined synthetic landscape produced by the car.
~ Greg Drasler 2014
Betty Cuningham Gallery is pleased to open Road Trip, an exhibition of new paintings by Greg Drasler. This will be the artist’s fourth exhibition with the Gallery, located at 15 Rivington Street, New York, NY. The artist will be present for an opening reception on Wednesday, June 15th from 6-8 PM.
Included in the exhibition is Stratocaster Suite, a six panel painting, stretching 70 x 400 inches. This major work echoes the vastness of the American landscape, punctuated by familiar landmarks. Also included are nine paintings, collectively named “Piling up the Miles”. Each measures approximately 11 x 90 inches. These long horizontal works trace Drasler’s lengthy drive across the Midwest, with its boundless vista dotted by places where one stops for necessities– service station, motel, drive-in cinema, diner or bank.
Born in Waukegan, IL, Greg Drasler received a BFA and MFA from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. He has exhibited regularly in the US since the mid 80's. Widely collected privately, Drasler’s work can be seen in the collections of Dow Jones, Inc., New York; Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL; University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana, IL; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; The Fisher Landau Center for Art, Long Island City, New York.
Drasler has been the recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2015), National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1993) and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship (1991). He is currently a Professor at Pratt Institute and previously taught at Princeton University.
The result manifests in “Stratocaster Suite,” a series of six luminous 70 x 400 inch oil-painted panels Drasler created for the show. Stretching across the length of a room, “Stratocaster Suite” is an ode to the open road.
Drasler is fond of metaphors. For instance, he once noted in an interview, “I think about the car as a camera, and painting as a vehicle.” But a vehicle for what? In a conversation, condensed and lightly edited below, Drasler expanded on this metaphor and other symbols contained within his work.
Entering the Castle Gallery at the College of New Rochelle, visitors encounter an arrangement of cherry blossoms in a glass vase. At least that’s what it appears to be. Closer observation reveals that the branch holding the flowers is actually a segment of plumbing pipe and that each delicate bud is a tiny pink toilet made of urethane foam.
