ART BIZ | Fireplace Project–Meckseper and Troemel

Josephine Meckseper  - five mirror-and-mixed-media creations on terry cloth, all 72"x55", 2014. 
(L to R) Outdoor Store (Budweiser), Outdoor Store (JB), Outdoor Store (Sunset Palm Black), Outdoor Store
 (Bud Light), Outdoor Store (Rainbow Cheetah). Priced at $35,000 each. The artist appears in these 
works not only to be informed by Andy Warhol but to be paying hommage to him.

Yesterday I attended an exhibition of work by Josephine Meckseper and Brad Troemel at The Fireplace Project.

This is located near to Springs Pizza, a stone's throw from the Pollock-Krasner House on Springs Fireplace Road, and is not far down Springs Fireplace Road from Ashawagh Hall, which is at the intersection with of Old Stone Highway.

I was encouraged to attend by Alex and Michele Heinrici, who are both in the art business. Alex specializes in translating art to media and explained to me yesterday that almost all of his products are unique and are signed by the artists he works for. Michele, among other activities, consults with top art galleries and museums on the organization and display of their exhibitions.

The Fireplace Project

The Fireplace Project seems to have a strong following among young artists. There was a good crowd at the show last night.  The gallery is owned by a single person, Edsel Williams, who makes the decisions on what to show, in contrast with Ashawagh Hall down the road, which is rented by artists or groups of artists.

Williams rents the space. He lived nearby for ten years before he undertook to open a gallery.  He says:

The history of this area as an artist colony is centered around Springs. Every day that I’m at the space, four or five artists stop by to see what’s going on. This is a very special building. I’ve driven by as long as I’ve been out here and always thought it would make a good gallery space.

The building is a former plumbing and auto repair shop built in 1951 by the late Richard Talmage, who was a friend of Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. Williams remembers:

I talked to the family four years ago. They were already talking to the Pollock-Krasner House about them leasing it, but that ultimately didn’t work out, partly because the Talmages didn’t want to sell the property.

Keeping itThe Fireplace Project opened its doors in June 2013. The doors lead to a space that has changed little from the original shop.

Josephine Meckseper

Meckseper, Untitled (Lawn Chair), mixed
media and acrylic on denim, 2014.

Josephine Meckseper was born in 1964, in Lilienthal, Germany. ) She studied at Berlin University of the Arts in Berlin from 1986 to 1990, and received the MFA degree from the California Institute of the Arts in 1992. She has been publisher of the FAT Magazine, a Finland-based art magazine. She engages in issues such as protests against war.

Her work has been exhibited at the Oldenburger Kunstverein and Kunsthalle Nuernberg in Germany, the Museum fur Gegenwartskunst in Zurich, Switzerland, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Royal Academy in London, and the 2005 Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, France. In 2007 a retrospective on her work was shown at the Museum of Arts in Stuttgart. She is represented by Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York, ARNDT in Berlin, Timothy Taylor Gallery in London, and Galerie Reinhard Hauff in Stuttgart.

The five terry-cloth-based art works collectively called Outdoor Store are priced at $35,000 each. I was advised by the gallery owner that the painter would like to see the set kept together and would therefore be open to a discount to someone who purchased all five.

Meckseper has several artworks in the exhibit that appear to be inspired by Jackson Pollock, for example the deckchair shown above left.

Brad Troemel

Brad Troemel, ELF Image Archive - TOON Edition, #1.
Hommage to Disney, Peanuts, Homer Simpson...

Troemel, Three Original Vivienne Westwood SEX Shop
sweaters (c. 1975) and Punk Rock Belts, 46x96, 2014