October 14 – November 10, 2021

Moments in Time…: Robert Braczyk & Carol Massa
Departures: Karin Bruckner
On the Wall: Mary Rieser Heintjes

Carter Burden Gallery presents three new exhibitions: Moments in Time… featuring wooden sculptures by Robert Braczyk and recent abstract oil paintings by Carol Massa; Departures featuring printmaking composites, works on paper, and wall sculpture by Karin Bruckner; and On the Wall featuring the large-scale painting In Search of City Trees by Mary Rieser Heintjes. The reception will be on Thursday, October 14 from 3 – 7pm; proof of vaccine and masks are required. The exhibition runs from October 14 – November 10, 2021 at 548 West 28th Street in New York City. The gallery hours are Tuesday - Friday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

In adherence with the NYC Safety Mandate Program, Carter Burden Gallery requires proof of vaccination or a recent/within 72 hours negative PCR COVID-19 test result, and masks are mandatory for all at exhibition receptions. This is in effect as of August 16, 2021, until further notice.

Exhibition List

Robert Braczyk

Robert Braczyk presents meticulously crafted, wooden sculptures from his series A Vocabulary of Trees in the exhibition Moments in Time…. As an environmentalist Braczyk calls attention to climate change through carved, dynamic sculptures that are inspired by the origin of the material they are created from, the tree. The branches that are used in the pieces provide a variety of long gently tapering rods, sweeping curves, jogs and forked joints. Though selection, recombining, and mutability are the artist’s strategy, these characteristic growth patterns assert themselves making sculpture from such components a direct dialogue with nature. Braczyk states, “The material itself is a subject.”

Crux, 25.5 x 11 x 9 in., maple, 2020, 1.jpg

Karin Bruckner

Karin Bruckner presents a range of works from printmaking composite pieces to assemblage wall sculptures in Departures. The majority of the pieces in this exhibition evolved during the extended period of lockdown and the early hopes of reemergence from the threat of global disease. Beginning with the work GoingInCircles, a pre-pandemic work preoccupied with the machinations of ‘normal life’ and the concern of history repeating itself, the artist’s practice gave way to the piece ComingOutTheOtherSide. These works are punctuated by pieces concerned with uncertainty, upheaval, and fragility; all themes Bruckner’s work is urging to express. The course between these two pieces led to explorations away from the two-dimensional world of work on paper and into sculptural expressions of internal processes and revolutions. Bruckner describes, “The outward strictures of confinement lead to hitherto unknown worlds of inner artistic avenues, facilitating a capacity to maximize material and color and revealing silver linings. Arrivals depend on Departures and the journey taken, wherever it may lead us.”

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Carol Massa

Moments in Time... features recent oil paintings from the series Dots = Moments in Time... by Carol Massa. Since the early 1980’s the artist explored the use of dots as a metaphysical representation of their energy. Massa explains, “I began feeling every dot as a heartbeat…”. This new series was inspired by a trip to Mexico the artist took last year. She was deeply influenced by the culture, the colors, and the freedom in their art making. Upon returning to New York City she was filled with joy and life, which she poured into her process. As this is an ongoing series, the work was also influenced by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and current events. As you view the paintings a balance between joy and sorrow, darkness and light becomes evident.

Early Primitive 52Hx54W%22 section one : two parts 1983.JPG

WITHIN THE RHYTHM, 52x54%22 oil:canvas.jpg

Being Connected 36 x 36%22 oil:canvas.png

Broken city 36x36%22 oil:canvas 2020.png

Magical Path 36 x 36%22 oil:canvas 2020.jpg

Moving and Shifting 36x36%22 oil:canvas 2020.png

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Rabbit N Turtle 36 x36 %22 oil:canvas 2020.png

Van Goga's Pipe 36 x36%22 oil:canvas 2020.png

Mary Rieser Heintjes

Mary Rieser Heintjes presents a monumental five-foot-tall by twelve-foot-long painting entitled In Search of City Trees in On the Wall. The encompassing piece is inspired by the artist’s experience rescuing, raising, and releasing a Praying Mantis. After finding an egg case under a bush where her frisbee landed, Rieser Heintjes decided to bring it home knowing that the area was scheduled for demolition. In a vivarium in her Brooklyn home the artist cared for them as they grew from egg, to nymph, to adult Praying Mantes. The painting reflects the last one of them, that they named Tickles, leaving home. Reacting to the environment has always encompassed all aspects of Rieser Heintjes’ work. Grasping onto sites in nature that an inner desire to weld, paint, fuse glass, draw, and photograph fuels her artistic practice.