Conny Purtill: The Ground
February 12–March 26, 2022
Head-Image
Adams and Ollman is pleased to present the sixth iteration of Conny Purtill’s The Ground. Purtill makes group exhibitions that somehow never seem to lose the aroma of a solo presentation. Along with Purtill, the exhibition will include work by Edgar Arceneaux, Taylor Davis, Luc Fuller, Jay Heikes, Nick Herman, Adam Horovitz, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Pierre Leguillon, Ari Marcopoulos, Dianna Molzan, Todd Norsten, Jenelle Porter, Alex Slade, Oliver Strand, Ricky Swallow, Lesley Vance, Emmett Wilkins, and Keith Wilkins. There will be painting, drawing, sculpture, collage, sound, photographs, and a levitation.
Everything that the artist makes is called "The Ground", which could reference several things—gravity, flight, surface, support. His incredibly personal project, first exhibited at Midway Contemporary Art in 2009, is informed and fed by his practice as a book designer and one that nurtures relationships with fellow artists and friends. The artist’s reverence for community and connection leads him to engage different modes of collaboration and exchange to charge friendships, challenge the speed of production, and reassess value in art. He complicates the idea of authorship, ownership, value and progression, and even the basic tenet of art as something that must be seen or have an audience.
Central to his work is an ongoing system of exchange in which Purtill gifts “grounds” to fellow artists. He prepares these grounds, all uniform in size, with alternating layers of white and toned gesso. After eleven layers have been applied, Purtill uses the surface to create his own paintings, each of which are sanded down after completion. When the canvas is exhausted, the artist neutralizes it with graphite creating a rich and varied monochromatic gray surface. They are beautiful objects that become the substrate on which others create a new work. Eight of these works will be included in the exhibition by Edgar Arceneaux, Taylor Davis, Jay Heikes, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Pierre Leguillon, Dianna Molzan, Todd Norsten, and Lesley Vance.
Also on view will be a table constructed by Keith and Emmett Wilkins, from an Enzo Mari design, which will display photographs, drawings and objects by Alex Slade and Luc Fuller, as well as Purtill’s moveable collages and drawn-in books.
The Ground continues in the second gallery with a small group exhibition organized by Purtill that explores the concept of time. Sculptures and objects by Taylor Davis, Ricky Swallow, Jay Heikes, Nick Herman, Pierre Leguillon, Luc Fuller, as well as a photography by Ari Marcopoulos and a poem by Oliver Strand, contemplate the origins of the universe to the rhythm of the sun to the mundane rituals of everyday life.
Conny Purtill (b. 1969, Arizona) is an artist and book designer who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Purtill has exhibited most recently at Fondazione Giuliani, Rome; CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; Florence Loewy, Paris; Ecole D’art et de Design, Geneva; Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis; Vox Populi and Temple Gallery at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, both in Philadelphia. Select performances have been presented at Renwick Gallery, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and WIELS, Brussels.
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Putty Must, 2021
watercolor and graphite on found paper
12h x 7 3/4w in
30.48h x 19.69w cm
CP_2021_10
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Putty Must, 2021
watercolor and graphite on found paper
12h x 7 3/4w in
30.48h x 19.69w cm
CP_2021_11
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Landscape, 2021
watercolor and graphite on found paper
12h x 7 3/4w in
30.48h x 19.69w cm
CP_2021_12
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Smoker, 2021
watercolor and graphite on found paper
12h x 7 3/4w in
30.48h x 19.69w cm
CP_2021_13
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Lanscape, 2021
watercolor and graphite on found paper
12h x 7 3/4w in
30.48h x 19.69w cm
CP_2021_14
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Landscape, 2021
watercolor and graphite on found paper
12h x 7 3/4w in
30.48h x 19.69w cm
CP_2021_15
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Juggler, 2021
watercolor and graphite on found paper
12h x 7 3/4w in
30.48h x 19.69w cm
CP_2021_16
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Landscape re-drawing, 2021
graphite on found paper with nail
8 3/8h x 5 3/8w in
21.27h x –13.65w cm
CP_2021_17
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Landscape, 2022
watercolor and graphite on found paper
12h x 7 3/4w in
30.48h x 19.69w cm
CP_2022_05
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Sunshine on the Backside, 2020
oil, gesso, India ink, and pencil on canvas
22h x 17w in
55.88h x 43.18w cm
CP_2020_06
Jessica Jackson Hutchins and Conny Purtill
The Ground: Too much talking, 2022
flasche, acrylic, ink, paper mache, paper cups, gesso, India ink, and pencil on canvas
22h x 17w in
55.88h x 43.18w cm
JJH_CP_04
Jay Heikes and Conny Purtill
The Ground: Sniff, 2021
oil, gesso, India ink, and pencil on canvas
22h x 17w in
55.88h x 43.18w cm
JH_CP_04
Pierre Leguillon and Conny Purtill
The Ground (as saké bar), 2022
sake, oil, gesso, India ink, and pencil on canvas
22h x 17w in
55.88h x 43.18w cm
PL_CP_001
Edgar Arceneaux and Conny Purtill
The Ground: Skinning the Mirror #39, 2022
acrylic, glass, silver, silver nitrate, gesso, India ink, and graphite on canvas
22h x 17w in
55.88h x 43.18w cm
EA_CP_001
Dianna Molzan and Conny Purtill
The Ground: Melrose Bouquet, 2022
oil, pumice, gesso, India ink, and pencil on canvas
22h x 17w x 1d in
55.88h x 43.18w x 2.54d cm
DM_CP_02
NFS
Taylor Davis and Conny Purtill
The Ground: Untitled, 2022
oak, magnets
dimensions variable
TD_CP_03
Lesley Vance and Conny Purtill
The Ground: Untitled, 2022
oil, gesso, India ink, and pencil on canvas
22h x 17w in
55.88h x 43.18w cm
LV_CP_2022_01
NFS
Todd Norsten and Conny Purtill
The Ground: Finger Eight, 2022
oil, gesso, India ink, and pencil on canvas
22h x 17w in
55.88h x 43.18w cm
TN_CP_05
Alex Slade
LACMA Japanese Pavilion
edition 2/6, 2021
archival pigment print
10h x 8w in
25.40h x 20.32w cm
AS_001
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Kite 1, 2022
drawing on found paper, bamboo
12h x 9w in
30.48h x 22.86w cm
CP_2022_04
Ari Marcopoulos
Pina Bausch, 1985
silver gelatin print
16 3/16h x 12w x 1 3/8d in
41.12h x 30.48w x 3.49d cm
AMar_03
Ricky Swallow
Horoscope #10, 2017
painted bronze
6 3/4h x 7w x 1 1/2d in
17.15h x 17.78w x 3.81d cm
RS_2022_01
NFS
Nick Herman
On Earth (erratic), 2006-2007
mixed media paint on cast polyurethane, dried grass, brass
40h x 30w x 5d in
101.60h x 76.20w x 12.70d cm
NH_2022_01
Taylor Davis
Untitled, 2022
milled red or sugar maple
5h x 84w x 108d in
12.70h x 213.36w x 274.32d cm
TDavis 04
Jay Heikes
Minor Planet, 2022
iodine on canvas
9h x 9w x 9d in
22.86h x 22.86w x 22.86d cm
JH_001
Oliver Strand
Already Traveled, 2022
INT transfer
20h x 21w in
50.80h x 53.34w cm
OS_2022_01
Conny Purtill
33 drawings in Emmett Williams “Sweethearts”, 2020
graphite on book pages
7 3/4h x 5 3/8w in
19.69h x 13.65w cm
CP_2022_09
NFS
Conny Purtill
2 drawings in “Ad Rock”, 2013
graphite on book pages
9h x 6 1/4w in
22.86h x 15.88w cm
CP_2022_08
NFS
Conny Purtill
1 drawing in “Not Quiet”, 2020-21
watercolor and graphite on book pages
11 3/4h x 8 1/4w in
29.85h x 20.96w cm
CP_2022_07
NFS
Conny Purtill
1 drawing in “Tamayo”, 2021
watercolor and graphite on book pages
24 3/4h x 16w in
62.87h x 40.64w cm
CP_2022_06
NFS
Conny Purtill
4 drawings in Karl Martens “Tokyo Papers”, 2020-21
watercolor and graphite on book pages
12h x 8 1/2w in
30.48h x 21.59w cm
CP_2022_10
NFS
Jenelle Porter and Conny Purtill
The Ground: Ah Curtain, 2022
pencil on fabric
144h x 48w in
365.76h x 121.92w cm
CP_JP_01
NFS
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Ah Levitation, 2022
performance
duration: 21 minutes 34 seconds
CP_2022_03
NFS
Jay Heikes
Tongue Tied Theater (feet), 2008
hydrocal and latex and burlap and steel and foam and eye hooks and string
22h x 13w x 21d in
55.88h x 33.02w x 53.34d cm
JH_002
NFS
Conny Purtill
The Ground: Handheld prints, 2022
plywood, gesso, India ink, pencil
1/4h x 15w x 21d in
38.10w x 53.34d cm
CP_2022_12