annex14

annex14 | Raum für aktuelle KunstHardstrasse 245 | CH-8005 Zürich | T +41 (0)44 202 44 22 / info@annex14.com | www.annex14.comOpening hours: We-Fr 12-18h, Sa 12-16h, or by appointment

Bret Slater

<The Stuff What Don‘t Get Spoke>

2.4. - 14.5.2016

Bret Slater, Installation View, annex14, 2016

Bret Slater, Installation View, annex14, 2016

Bret Slater, ‘Erf‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, 190 x 190 x 4 cm

Bret Slater, ‘Bad Card‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, Ø15 x 2.5 cm

Bret Slater, ‘Partition‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, Ø17 x 2.5 cm

Bret Slater, ‘Skurt Cobain‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, Ø20.5 x 2.5 cm

Bret Slater, ‘Left Pocket: Lettuce, Right Pocket: Relish‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, Ø25.5 x 3 cm

Bret Slater, ‘Scrimage on Schermerhorn‘, 2015Acrylic on linen, 35 x 45 x 4 cm

Bret Slater, ‘The Importance of Being Ernidge‘, 2014Acrylic on canvas, Ø25.5 x 2.7 cm

Bret Slater, ‘Dark Rites‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, Ø20.5 x 2.5 cm

Bret Slater, ‘Nortegna‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, Ø16 x 2.8 cm

Bret Slater, ‘Darkened Heart, Enlightened Mind‘, 2015Acrylic on canvas, Ø17 x 3.5 cm

Bret Slater, ‘The Vision‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, Ø16 x 2.5 cm

Bret Slater, ‘Läufer‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, 77.5 x 39.5 x 4 cm

Bret Slater, ‘White Iversion‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, 18.5 x 18 x 2.5 cm

Bret Slater, ‘Dope in the Bushes‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, 18.5 x 18.5 x 2.5 cm

Bret Slater, ‘Barbados‘, 2016Acrylic on canvas, 15 x 10 x 2 cm

Bret Slater

THE STUFF WHAT DON’T GET SPOKE

2.4.-14.5.2016

Opening 1.4.2016, 6pm

Two years after the double exhibition “Bret Slater – Otis

James”, annex14 is delighted to be showing Bret Slater

(*1987) in a representative solo exhibition.

Bret Slater links up with previous figurative and abstract

painterly traditions in his search for individual solutions

within an increasingly mediatised context. His affinity

to pop culture is evident here, although he does not refer

directly to its iconography. It is more because his paintings

seem superficially bold and therefore have a direct impact

on our perception. Or else because among the things he uses

for his titles are lines from his favourite songs, citing his

idol’s name, “Skurt Cobain”, or a text from a Marvel comic,

“The Stuff what Don’t Get Spoke”.

Bret Slater’s conceptual painting is in the tradition of Ame-

rican Minimal Art, Color Field and Hard Edge painting, both

formally and aesthetically. He is involved in a kind of revi-

sion of their rhetorical tools. He focuses on the issue of new

paths and possibilities for communicating with his audience.

Slater manages, without becoming figurative or narrative, to

develop narrative qualities out of the abstract vocabulary

which then has a strong impact at the psychological level. It

is difficult, if not even impossible, for viewers to be in-

different to his works. This also has to do with the haptic

qualities of his painting, which lend the works, particularly

the small formats, something object-like, even an almost ma-

gical presence which invites instantly to dialogue.

Bret Slater always draws on his personal experience, his in-

dividual cosmos of images, for his work, and at the same time

on a reality that is conveyed in various ways and that is not

just representative of his generation. He is also concerned,

therefore, to define the general conditions that facilitate

empathy and connectedness.

Elisabeth Gerber

Bret Slater

*1987 Bronx, NY (USA)lebt und arbeitet /lives and works in New York

2005-2009 BFA, School of Art + Design at Purchase College, SUNY, Purchase, NY2009-2011 MFA, Meadows School of the Arts at SMU, Dallas, TX

EDUCATION2011 MFA, Meadows School of the Arts at SMU, Dallas, TX2009 BFA, School of Art + Design at Purchase College, SUNY, Purchase, NY

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS2016 The Stuff What Don’t Get Spoke, annex14, Zürich, Switzerland2015 Louis B. James, New York, NY Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX2014 OTIS JONES + BRET SLATER, annex14, Zürich, Switzerland OTIS JONES + BRET SLATER, Louis B. James, New York, NY OTIS JONES + BRET SLATER, Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX2013 Morgan Lehman, “The Study”, New York, NY2012 An Amulet that Natters, Thomas Robertello Gallery, pro ject space, Chicago, IL Elaine Lévy Project, Brussels, BE Marty Walker Gallery, Dallas, TX2011 Thomas Robertello Gallery, Chicago, IL2010 Pump Fake, Thomas Robertello Gallery, project space, Chicago2009 Five Color Flag Machine, Purchase College, Purchase, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS2016 Only Lovers, Le Coeur, Paris, France2015 Cult of Personality, David Shelton Gallery, Houston, TX Colors, Louis B. James, New York, NY2014 Weiß - Aspekte einer Farbe in Moderne und Gegenwart, Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg, D Unbounded, Root Division, San Francisco, CA (November) Pouring it On, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA2013 Touch the Moon, Louis B. James, New York, NY Diff’rent Strokes, Louis B. James, New York, NY Bret Slater, annex14, Zürich, Switzerland Maximum Overdrive, University of Texas, Dallas, TX2012 Bret Slater + Jeff Zilm, et al Projects, Brooklyn, NY Oliver Francis Gallery, Dallas, TX2009 Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY2008 9 : 5 :: Jessica Sugerman : Bret Slater, Purchase College, Purchase, NY State University of New York Selected Students Exhibition, State University Plaza, Albany, NY

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN

SELECTED WORDS2014 Pagliasso, GianCarlo. Fiere e Artisti in Fieri, Campanot to Editore, June. TO, Italy Corris, Michael. How to Look at Style and Substance: The Paintings of Otis Jones and Bret Slater, Glasstire, July. Texas Bourbon, Matthew. Critic’s Pick, Artforum online, June. McKinnon, Luanne. Form & Matter Redux: The Art of Otis Jones and Bret Slater, San Francisco, CA Cole, Jeanette. Pouring it On, catalog, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA Mora, Patricia. Worldly Goods, Patron, February/March. Dallas,TX Goings On About Town: Art. The New Yorker, January. New York, NY Killary, Katie. Bushwick Daily, January. Brooklyn, NY 2013 Russeth, Andrew. 11 Things to do in New York’s Art World Before December 14, Gallerist NY, The New York Observer, December. New York, NY Highlights: The Americas: New York, Modern Painters, December. Henkes, Alice. Kunstbulletin, September. Switzerland 2012 Simek, Peter. Paint, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll, D Magazine, December. Dallas, TX Dubois, Collette. <H>Art, September. Belgium Steverlyn ck, Sam. Agenda, September, Brussels Simek, Lucia. Glasstire. Texas Carter, Steve, Modern Luxury, June, Dallas TX Rees, Christina. Glasstire, May. Texas 2011 Indrisek, Scott. Modern Painters, December. Klein, Paul. The Huffington Post, September. Chicago, IL 100 Best Shows of Fall. Modern Painters, September.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS2014 Ontogenesis, annex14, Zürich, Switzerland OTIS JONES + BRET SLATER, catalog, Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas,TX Pouring It On, catalog, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA2012 New American Paintings no.1022010 New American Paintings no.87

TALKS2014 Artists on Artworks, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY2013 Curator’s Choice, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX2012 Michael Corris in conversation with Bret Slater, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX

RESIDENCIES2010 Artist-in-Residence, Les Subsistances, Lyon, FR

CURATORIAL2014 Visceral Integrity, et al Projects, Brooklyn, NY

AWARDS2012 Fashion Group International, Dallas, TX2009 Katherine Rigsbee Dougan Scholarship, SMU, Dallas, TX