JOSIAH MCELHENY | BLUE PRISM PAINTING V

Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York

Acquired from the above by the present owner

New York, Andrea Rosen Gallery, Paintings, September – October 2015

Primarily know for his sculptural glass blown objects, mirrored assemblages and chandeliers, Brooklyn based artist Josiah McElheny combines precisely blown glass shapes with text, photographs, mirrors and museological displays creating a play between reflection, space and light. His works aim to involve the viewer physically using their own reflection, as is the case with Blue Prism Painting V. As McElheny has stated, “If 'the reflective' can be described as a medium, it is one in which the viewer becomes the author, because without the viewer it is impossible to discern the something, or even the nothing, that is there." (Josiah McElheny, Cabinet Magazine, 2004) 

“The six [Prism Paintings] still in process here in the studio are based on Kandinsky and Malevich through the lens of the work of Hilma af Klint—they are called “Crystalline Prism Paintings.” These consist of a field of black oil paint behind a piece of glass—the glass sheet is in fact the “surface” of the painting. Through the glass surface one can see the brushstrokes within the field of black, and embedded in the field are crystalline prismatic shapes of different colors. The idea is that from a distance the paintings, and the prisms within, will function as images—they look completely flat or two-dimensional—but as you get closer or move side-to side they become three-dimensional and you understand that you are seeing through the

surface and also into the depth of the prism shapes.” (Jarrett Earnest, “In Conversation: Josiah McElheny with Jarrett Earnest”, The Brooklyn Rail, September 2015, p. 34)