11.05 — 12.23.23
We’re pleased to present A Net for Catching Days, the first exhibitions in Chicago for New York artist Sean Noonan and Danish sculptor and metal worker Alberte Tranberg. The exhibition opens with a reception for the artists on Sunday, November 5th from 3 – 5pm and continues until Saturday, December 23rd.
Although the studio practices of Alberte Tranberg and Sean Noonan suggest dissimilar paths, there are clear affinities in the emotional and conceptual results of both. An insistent sensitivity to material tactility and a sensual feeling for line are evident in both artists’ work. Their individual moves reveal a desire to communicate through the language of structure and gesture. Tranberg exploits the cool, smooth perfection of the polished steel; Noonan exposes the beautiful patina of his found panels with additions made with daring marks in oil stick and brush. These are artists who not only love the haptic possibilities of their materials, but thrive on how the subtle manipulation of those materials leads to an experience of visual wonder and mystery.
Sean Noonan synthesizes his interactions with the outside world- moments, forms, impressions and fleeting visuals- as gestures and marks that make their way into small-scale paintings. He paints with oil and enamel on found and often weathered wood, embracing the inherent history within the materials, and conversing with the existing evidence in the surface of past human interactions. Paint is applied to storied foundations, following the same channels that deliver the illusion of familiarity when recalling a landscape from a dream, or a memory; only able to provide focus to what lies on the periphery, bringing clarity to nothing the eyes fall directly on. Seeking to capture marks singularly his own, similar to the cultivation of a person’s own handwriting developed through years of use, these motifs exist in a fluid state, with the artist anchoring them through methods and traditions of historical painting. Flaws are embraced and his process left out in the open within the painting and its construction, striving to harmonize as a whole upon completion.
Alberte Tranberg’s practice is an exploration of fusion in domestic space. Works presented highlight Tranberg’s craft-based research at the intersection of industry and the home. Her manufactured weld fittings are skillfully assembled into dynamic structures that mimic the inner workings of interior spaces.
These meticulously connected parts undergo a transformation, emerging as seamless, silvery surfaces that occasionally reveal the inherent tension and intricate process behind each individual piece. As a result, these forms resemble growths sprouting from a single pipeline, converging seemingly congested.
Tranberg primarily works with structural steel, drawing inspiration from both the built environment and domestic settings. Her pieces respond to the conventions and properties of her craft. The presented tubular structures symbolize physical infrastructure while attempting to capture moments of softness and to disrupt the rigidity of the everyday. Her practice engages the viewer by subverting our expectations of weight, gravity, light, and movement, inviting us into a world where the boundaries of these fundamental aspects of our reality are redefined.
Sean Noonan (b.1986, Brooklyn, NY) lives and works in Kingston, New York. He has exhibited nationally and internationally since graduating from Pratt University with a BFA in 2009. Recent exhibitions include: LKIF Gallery, Seoul, Korea; Resort, Baltimore, MD; Galleri Kai, Copenhagen, Denmark; Poker Flats, Williamstown, MA; Teffia Gallery, Kingston, NY; Ortega Y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY; Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY; Marc Straus Gallery, New York, NY. Noonan is the co-founder of Teffia Primary , Kingston, NY, an ongoing curatorial project.
Alberte Tranberg (b. 1990, Copenhagen, DK) lives and works in Detroit, MI. Tranberg’s work has been featured in a multitude of exhibitions and design collaborations including Design Miami with Ornamentum Gallery, Materia; Detroit, Charlottenborg Kunsthal; Copenhagen, Talente 2019; Munich. Most recently Tranberg has designed a series of kitchen cabinet handles for Reform CPH’s Atelier Collection, which launched June 2023. With an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Metalsmithing and years of professional experience in the metal fabrication trade, Tranberg has honed her practice as an exercise in disrupting traditional craft narrative. Tranberg is a Fulbright Scholarship grantee and has been supported by numerous foundations, including the Danish Arts Foundation and Merchant LF Foghts Foundation.
