Press Release

NEW ORLEANS - Heriard-Cimino Gallery presents, Koosh, paintings by Paul Campbell. This exhibition will be on view from April 2 -30, 2011. A reception to meet the artist will be held on Saturday, April 2nd from 6 until 8 p.m. The public is invited. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 until 5, or by appointment.

Paul Campbell’s new paintings from the Koosh Series begin with exquisite, subtle variations of layered paint on canvas. Upon these painted layers, Campbell thwacks onto the canvas paint-soaked koosh balls and string saturated in paint - the result surprising in both its elegance and randomness. Campbell likens the use of ordinary string to Duchamp’s Three Standard Stoppages, in which Duchamp eliminates the idea of repeatability. The concept is repeated, the results are not. Campbell explores through his paintings both the philosophical idea and the visual results of what happens at the juncture of control and chaos. Campbell steps aside from the painting just enough for the materials themselves to actively participate in the expression and interior investigation of the piece. In this way, Campbell choreographs a delicate dance of formal composition and spontaneous chaos.

Paul Campbell received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Massachusetts College of Art, and has exhibited in New York City, Brooklyn, Toronto, Santa Fe, Barcelona, and Singapore. His work has also been shown at the Rose Art Museum, the Danforth Art Museum, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, among other venues. Campbell has resided and worked in New York for more than 20 years, in 2003 he received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. This is Campbell’s second solo exhibition at Heriard-Cimino Gallery.