Cadence

Works by:

Frank Badur
Daniel Hill
Pat Lipsky
Tad Mike
Heidi Spector
Venske & Spänle
Andrea Way

Margaret Thatcher Projects is pleased to present the group exhibition, Cadence. More than a straight representation of music, it is a nod to the special relationship between certain artists, the music that inspires and helps them work, and the influence of said music on the artwork they produce. Including works by a multigenerational group of artists working in varying modes of abstraction, the gestures, shapes and color choices observed demonstrate careful attention and heightened sensitivity to pattern, rhythm, and tone. 

A strong sense of organization directs works such as Groove is in the Heart by Montreal-based artist Heidi Spector. Highly concentrated bars of color are stacked, recalling scales of music. Sitting atop one another, the intervals evoke a musical pulse with a reference to techno beats and club life from era past. Nearby, a hand-carved white marble sculpture incorporating a retro case player by Munich based duo Venske & Spänle plays the pop rock music of Drupi. In Daniel Hill’s paintings, self-imposed rules and modulations harmonizing with the artist’s intuition determine the waves of his “brushstroke,” bringing to mind wavelengths, sound waves and measures of volume.

Scroll drawings by Frank Badur visually reference musical scales as well. In his drawings, the lines waver and vary in strength. Never static, his lines have an improvisational quality, carefully reacting to one another as a record of his hand. This sensitivity is also felt in the soft edges surrounding Pat Lipsky’s areas of color, which carefully rub against one another in a manner that is constantly buzzing.

For Tad Mike, who uses local materials while working outdoors, such as a blade of grass or nearby flower, as his applicator, immediacy and the unique moment are central. Mike’s poetic compositions organize his seemingly dissonant mark-marking, accumulating his marks as an ordered ensemble. A shared interest in drawing is seen in works by Andrea Way. Filled with layers of detail, their depth of is meant to be discovered over time with close inspection. Like the multilayered and rich compositions of Bach, Tad Mike and Andrea Way’s works constantly reveal patterns and systems lying beneath the scale of a larger one beyond it.