The opening line of John Ashbery’s poem “Spring Light” serves as inspiration for a gallery show of artists Anton Ginzburg and Christina Kruse called “The Buildings, Piled So Casually.”. The complete poem can be found in Houseboat Days, Ashbery’s 1977 collection. Here are the first four lines of the complete poem:
The buildings, piled so casually
Behind each other, are “suggestions
Which, while only suggestions,
We hope you will take seriously.”
BITS & BYTES: New exhibit at Carrie Chen Gallery
BY AMY KRZANIK
POSTED ON FEBRUARY 11, 2022
Carrie Chen Gallery announces Anton Ginzburg and Christina Kruse exhibit
Christina Kruse’s “Lunapark.” Photo: Carrie Chen Gallery
GREAT BARRINGTON — The Carrie Chen Gallery will present the exhibition “The buildings, piled so casually” from March 5–April 3. This exhibition unites Anton Ginzburg’s abstract paintings with Christina Kruse’s imaginary worlds and layered constructions under the poetic title taken from the late poet laureate John Ashbery of Hudson, New York. A public reception will be held Saturday, March 5 from 3–5 p.m. A series of poetry readings by Massachusetts- and New York-based poets will take place throughout the month of March.
In conceiving of this exhibition, Ginzburg and Kruse refer to Ashbery, whose unharnessed approach to style and composition inspired them and is reflected in their work. The show borrows its title from the first line of Ashbery’s poem “Spring Light,” an example of the poet’s fractured style and fluid approach to constructing prose. Each coming from a European Modernist tradition, the artists share Ashbery’s aesthetic and describe their formal interest in construction, balance, and composition itself as central to their practice. Anton Ginzburg’s paintings are from his recent “Translucent Series” (2020–21), a collection of views of New York City and the Berkshires that collectively read as a pictorial montage of the landscape. Christina Kruse’s sculpture explores the ever-present dichotomies in human existence, the limits of balance, and the facets of consciousness and perception.
Chief Curator and Gallery Owner Carrie Chen said, “I find the relationship between Anton and Christina’s work striking and unexpected, it emerges through their imaginative engagement with space, objects, and form. Anton’s use of color and composition draws the viewer into a contained, but deeply evocative, interpretation of landscape and architecture. Christina invites us to openly explore without boundaries while still grounding the viewer with detail and a sense of place.”
—A.K.