2015 Catalogue Archive

Repurposing building materials to create his abstract compositions, New York-based artist Isaac Brest constructs simple raw paintings that challenge the contemporary art object and the continuous urban redevelopment and construction of New York City. The scale, industrial materials, and simplicity of Brest’s work in Please Stop Renovating ties it to the minimalist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The drywall’s field of purple is interrupted by lines and dabs of joint compound, the rough application of which could be read as functional and unconcerned with aesthetics, or as inherently gestural. When displayed in contemporary art spaces, this series appears to reveal the underlying structure of the gallery walls, suggesting the ubiquitous white walls are the artifice, and the work itself is the honest portrayal.