“Turns of Phrase” Exhibition at Heather Gaudio Fine Art

Heather Gaudio Fine Art is pleased to present its upcoming exhibition “Turns of Phrase” featuring sculpture by John Clement and paintings by Matthew Heller. The exhibition will be held June 4-July 9, with an opening reception for the artists on Saturday, June 11 from 5-7pm.

John Clement brings color and monumentality to three-dimensional curvilinear forms made of steel. A disciple of Mark di Suvero and John Henry, two of the most renowned sculptors of our time, Clement learned the art of welding, rigging and engineering, and developed a keen understanding for large-scale public artworks. He skillfully coils and welds long steel pipes to form deceivingly simple yet elegant ellipses, accentuating surrounding architecture or landscape with pops of bright color. Arcs, angles and intersecting lines imply movement and create playful doodles on positive and negative spaces. Based in New York City, Clement has had numerous exhibitions and public commissions across the United States and abroad. The exhibit will showcase sculptures in different sizes that can be placed in or outdoors.

Also included in the show is the language-based artwork of Mathew Heller, an artist who resides in Los Angeles. Heller draws from a personal narrative for inspiration, using a visual form favored by Conceptual artists during the 1960s. His paintings replace imagery with poems or lyrics, words painted on canvas in the form of printed text. Some of the prose comes from his own writings, others from poems or songs by cultural legends such as John Lennon and David Bowie. The language gets re-contextualized and can be interpreted not only for what it states but how the typography occupies the space on the canvas. Other works in the show focus on a particular word, either repeated multiple times on the canvas, or painstakingly painted to deceive the viewer into thinking it is done with materials other than paint.