PANEL DISCUSSION ON GABRIEL LADERMAN, UNCONVENTIONAL REALIST, AT NYAA: 4/10/09 @ 6PM.

Have you ever read Kurt Vonnegut’s “Bluebeard?”  It’s about an abstract expressionist, Rabo Karabekian, living in New York in the early 20th century. While reflecting on his life and works, he reminisces about his childhood, his time in the army, and the many nights in bars with fellow artistic greats such as Jackson Pollock.

Real-life New York painter Gabriel Laderman is not Rabo Karabekian. His style is commonly described as postmodern figurative or sometimes new realisism, a style for which he gets credit for starting. (This would likely be an outrage to abstract Rabo!) But their stories are similar. Laderman grew up in New York, studied at Brooklyn College, and had one artistic approach before joining the army and another when he came back. Laderman fraternized with the greats (mostly abstract expressionists) including Hofmann, de Kooning, and Rothko.

Laderman’s earned his praise, as over the years his works have only improved. This month his exhibit, “Unconventional Realist,” will hang at the New York Academy of Art, to the delight of many. The collection glides from figurative to abstract in a way original to Laderman’s movement. The irking stillness and panicked pallet elicit tones of a discontentment and a fated outcome, amongst otherwise calm scenes.

This Friday join the panel discussion to muse over Laderman’s works.

Gabriel Laderman “Unconventional Realist”
New York Academy of Art 
Panel Discussion
 Friday, April 10, 6 PM
Exhibition through April 28th, 2009

Tuesday through Sunday, 2 - 8 PM
The exhibition will be closed Sunday, April 12th and Sunday, April 19th, and open Monday, April 20th.
111 Franklin Street
212.966.0300