JOHN BOROWICZ
"Sprawling Conglomerates"
June 17 - August 4, 2010

.......Adam Baumgold Gallery .presents. an. exhibition. of. graphite drawings by John Borowicz, "Sprawling Conglomerates," from June 17 through August 4, 2010.. In .his first New York solo exhibition, John Borowicz uses a vocabulary of deceptively simple. shapes.to .construct. saturated fields of architectural forms, completely filling the drawing surface. In other drawings, single .structures .stand .alone .on .an .otherwise. blank. page.. One. is. never. certain .if the forms are man-made, naturally occurring, or some bizarre combination of the two - a crop of modernist cave dwellings run amok.

.......In the large drawing titled "A Plausible Result of Sustained Spontaneity", 2010, the artist obsessively stacks layer upon layer .of .seemingly. infeasible.architecture .upon. the .page. without. the. space. ever. receding.. In .a sea of undulation, the specificity .of .each .form .is. neutralized. like .snowflakes .in .a .blizzard. The terrain itself, although filled with a multitude of dimensional shapes, is flipped upward before us, reconciling the opposition between volume and flatness. At close range the units. are. at. once. generative. and. parasitic,. growing .out .of. and .into the environment they themselves are creating. At a distance the overall busy quality of the piece seems to quiet and reassert itself in a more minimal way - as a constant layer of static or white noise.

.......Also. included .in. the .exhibition .is. the. drawing ."The Tower of Babel", 2010, .one. massive .structure,. composed .of thousands of painstakingly drawn blocks, is presented in the middle of the paper. The tower is surrounded by what seems to be. much .smaller. outbuildings. and detritus from the construction process which in turn imply a more normal spatial plane. The same simple building blocks used in "A Plausible Result of Sustained Spontaneity" are employed here but to a radically different end.. One of the many pieces of architecture from the horror vacui field drawings has been plucked from the context of .flattened. infinity. and. dropped into a void. Here, the building's chaotic framework and massive volume are on full display. Along with the obvious nod to Bruegel, other references would be the real life examples of the walled city of Kowloon and the Brazilian favela of Rocinha.

.......A suite. of .self portraits will also be exhibited. If the architectural drawings become meditative as acts of repetition and endurance, these figurative works are also, but as slow observations. The artist stares straight at the viewer, the intensity of his gaze and distortion of his face are the cumulative result of many hours of close looking.

.......John .Borowicz. .was. born. in. New. Bedford,.. Massachusetts. in .1968.. .He. studied. painting. at .The. University. of Massachusetts. at. Amherst..His. work. has been included in several previous group exhibitions at the gallery and has been featured .in .the .periodicals .New. American. Paintings .and .Tema. Celeste.

.......Summer hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11:00 - 5:30 P.M. during June, Tuesday through Friday 11:00 - 5:30 P.M. during. July. and. August.. A. preview .of. the. exhibition. can.be. seen .at .www.adambaumgoldgallery.com.. For. additional information please contact Adam Baumgold at (212)861-7338 or abaumgold@aol.com.

Tower of Babel, 2010
Graphite on paper
38" x 50"

Tower of Babel, 2010 (detail)
Graphite on paper
38" x 50"

Tower of Babel, 2010 (detail)
Graphite on paper
38" x 50"

Tower of Babel, 2010 (detail)
Graphite on paper
38" x 50"

Tower of Babel, 2010 (detail)
Graphite on paper
38" x 50"

Man in Striped Shirt, 2009
Graphite on paper
14" x 11"

Man in a Rust Colored Tee Shirt, 2009
Graphite on paper
14" x 11"

Dream of an Obsolete Future (detail), 2009
Graphite on paper
22" x 30"

Dream of an Obsolete Future (detail), 2009
Graphite on paper
22" x 30"

Generative Structure, 2010
Graphite on paper
9 1/4"" x 7 1/4"

Incidental Monument, 2009
Graphite on paper
9 1/4" x 7 1/4"

A Pliable Framework, 2009
Graphite on paper
7 1/4" x 9 1/4"

Untitled, 2009
Graphite on paper
7 1/4" x 9 1/4"

Aqueous Interval, 2010
Graphite on paper
9 1/4"" x 7 1/4"

Aqueous Interval, 2010 (detail)
Graphite on paper
9 1/4"" x 7 1/4"

Indiscreet Ubiquity, 2009
Graphite on paper
9 1/4" x 7 1/4"

Indiscreet Ubiquity, 2009 (detail)
Graphite on paper
9 1/4" x 7 1/4"

The Volatile Surrogate, 2010
Graphite on paper
9 1/4" x 7 1/4"

The Volatile Surrogate (detail), 2010
Graphite on paper
9 1/4" x7 1/4"

Germinal Outpost, 2009
Pencil on paper
9 1/4" x 7 1/4"

Model for a Resiliant Structure, 2009
Pencil on paper
9 1/4" x 7 1/4"