Between the Earth and Sky
Curator Nick Olney
Consultant Damon Brandt
January 21 through February 27, 2021
Kasmin Gallery, New York City
“It is the function of art to carry us beyond speech to experience.” - Joseph Campbell
Following the untimely death of Paul Kasmin whose namesake gallery has been a fixture in the international contemporary art scene for well over 30 years, Nick Olney and Eric Gleason were compelled to take over the reins and legacy of this storied establishment. They and their hard working staff have done an admirable job under difficult circumstances and have maintained the highest level of academic and aesthetic standards with a robust and expanding roster of artists and prestigious artist estates.
It was therefore with great pleasure that I had the opportunity to work closely with the gallery on the exhibition Between the Earth and Sky, an exploration of the phenomenological and transcendental experience of totemic sculpture. Nick Olney had the exhibition well underway when I was brought on as a consultant for the PreModern component of this ambitious and deeply inspired large gathering of sculpture. The gallery features twenty skylights in a symmetrical grid pattern which were used as a curatorial impetus to organize a diverse group of works across centuries, geographies and genres. It is always invigorating to animate and give further dimension to the potent aesthetic and conceptual dialogue that ricochets between PreModern, Modern and Contemporary art. Authenticity and provenance were of specific concern when finding the ideal PreModern works to include. The result was an exhibition transcendent in breadth and quality with well deserved attention by the New York Times Review and other art publications.
For an immersive experience click here for the Virtual Exhibition