ROBERT GUTIERREZ: fever atlas

FEBRUARY 4 - MARCH 11, 2006
Reception: Saturday, Feb 4, 6-8

Sixtyseven is pleased to present the opening of 'fever atlas', the first New York solo exhibition of the California based painter Robert Gutierrez.

Gutierrez's work is usually intimate in scale, intensely colored and finely detailed. A combination of landscape painting, figurative work and abstraction, Gutierrez's paintings tend to invoke open-ended narratives with a nod to Filipino-folk supernaturalism.

Gutierrez's paintings lie in-between naïve and sophisticated, where spiritual imagery can be mistaken for childlike sci-fi fascination. His figures are flat and folksy while the landscapes are rocky and futuristic. His painting process is playful, where a paint blob might take the shape of a figure, reemerge as a flower and flatten back again.

The all-seeing eyes in 'Untitled' (Frog) peer from underneath the budding flower, adding a sense of disquiet to the scene, which might otherwise be overlooked by the lush surroundings. Just when the viewer might recognize a form, the edges bleed like watercolors into the background. In 'Night Swim', a profile dips into a reflective pool of water, with leafy shadows looming overhead. It's hard to tell whether the subject is emerging from or descending into the water, leaving the viewer with a notion of deadly calm and silence.

Robert Gutierrez's work was exhibited in museums and galleries nationally and internationally. Most recently in Bay Area Now at The Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco and in solo shows at AMT Gallery, Como, Italy; Ratio3, San Francisco; Irvine Contemporary, Washington DC; and Sister, Los Angeles CA. Gutierrez's work was also exhibited at White Columns, Deitch Projects, Jeff Bailey, and Cohen and Leslie in New York, as well as at Gregory Lind, New Langton arts, and Southern Exposure in San Francisco. His work is part of the collection of the DESTE Foundation, Athens, Greece, and The New Museum of Contemporary Art's "Altoids Curiously Strong Collection". His work has been reviewed by The San Francisco Bay Guardian, Art in America and Flash Art.

Robert Gutierrez was born in Manila, The Philippines. He currently lives and works in San Jose, CA. He has received his B.F.A. from Otis College of Art and Design in 1994. His first showing at Sixtyseven was part of 'Things of that Nature', in 2005. 'fever atlas' will be on view from February 4 through March 11, 2006. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, from 11:00 am. to 6:00 pm For further information please contact Claire Lemetais or Ron Segev at 212.967.2260.

Sixtyseven
547 West 27 Street #309
(bet 10th & 11th ave)
New York, NY 10001