NEW YORK, NY.- Nicola Vassell Gallery announced the representation of Alteronce Gumby, a contemporary abstract artist known for his vivid interstellar paintings that emerge from his profound fascination with the cosmos and theories of energy. His prismatic fields add new perspectives to the history of abstract painting by proposing deliberate connections between color, society and the universe. His solo exhibition with the gallery will open this September.
Alteronce’s desire to interpret unknown territory is enhanced by his query into how societal conditions impact life on our planet. His practice serves as a portal into untouched worlds. It is in this context that Alteronce develops his extraterrestrial vistas.
The physical and aesthetic properties of material, as well as its conceptual implication, inform Alteronce’s practice. His use of resin's performative elements, tempered glass, fractured into innumerable pieces and painterly landscapes, populated by a myriad of gemstones, remind us of the exertion and time required to generate these dynamic outcomes.
Alteronce conducts extensive research on his materials, examining their historical uses, kinetic abilities and ocular qualities. Once coalesced, these materials form unpredictable surfaces, alluding to the greater forces at play in the universe.
Vassell, the gallery’s founder, says, "I’m thrilled to welcome Alteronce Gumby to the gallery and look forward to supporting the development of his career blueprint. Alteronce’s work, at its core, harnesses principles of energy. It is as fundamental and scientific, as it is cosmic and profound. His journey is faceted and insightful and one that I am electrified to partake in."
Alteronce Gumby was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and resides in New York City. He received his BFA from Hunter College in 2013 and his MFA in Painting & Printmaking from Yale School of Art in 2016. He was a resident artist at the Rauschenberg Foundation in Captiva Island, Florida, in 2019. In 2017, he completed a residency as the Harriet Hale Woolley scholar at the Foundation des Etats-Unis in Paris. Solo exhibitions of his work include Cross Colours, Bode Projects, Berlin, 2021; Somewhere Under the Rainbow/The Sky is Blue and What Am I, at Charles Moffett Gallery, New York and False Flag, New York, 2021; Alteronce Gumby: My Favorite Color is a Rainbow, Parrasch Heijnen Gallery, Los Angeles, 2020; When the Nightmare Comes – I Believe, Long Gallery, New York, 2019; Black(ness) is Beautiful, the Fondation des Etats-Unis, Paris, 2017 and Reading Rainbows, Long Gallery, New York, 2017. Alteronce’s work is held in the collections of the Studio Museum of Harlem and the Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, among others.
