Stefan Zoller, Bone Memory Triptych, 2015-16, acrylic, ink, and Duralar on canvas mounted on panels, 96 x 40 inches.
Stefan Zoller, A Man Who Measured, 2016-2017, acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on panel, 48 x 60 inches.
Stefan Zoller’s artwork, on view at Sla307, is a perfect example of why seeing art in person is important. On a computer monitor, and even in hard copy materials, his work appears flat, and subtle detail is lost. As such, it came as a surprise to me to walk into the gallery and see extremely sculptural artwork.
The gallery features several types of Zoller’s artwork, all of which incorporate references to diagrammatic drawings made by J. Harold Zoller – a civil engineer and the artist’s grandfather to whom this series pays homage. Some pieces are rendered in high-gloss, while others are as matte as a marble sculpture. There are paintings that are textured due to heavy impasto, while others are super-smooth, appearing like majestic, stone slabs (see A Man Who Measured). Varying degrees of transparency and opacity are present in Zoller’s work, as in Bone Memory Triptych. Here, the lines of engineering diagrams peer through the white Duralar1 of the left and right panels, yet are hidden in the central, black panel. Instead, Zoller carves similar lines into the thick, black paint.
Stefan Zoller, Bone Memory Diptych, 2017, acrylic and charcoal on paper, (2) 16 x 20 inches.
This variety of artwork “types,” as well as Zoller’s art-making process, is clearly represented in Bone Memory Diptych. The left panel is painted in a high-gloss, smooth, black finish. Carefully plotted white lines are painted thinly onto its surface. The diagram is not yet hidden by layers of Duralar or acrylic. Over on the right panel, however, Zoller thickly applies the acrylic paint. If you peer around the edge of the canvas, you can see just how dense the application is. There are no visible diagram drawings peering through partially transparent layers, and even carved-in lines are hard to detect. Looking at the right panel from a distance, it almost appears like an attempt to smooth out a crumpled piece of paper. Unfortunately, any prior drawing is lost to the act of crumpling.
Stefan Zoller, Untitled, 2017, acrylic and ink on linen, mounted on panel, 8 x 10 inches.
Zoller again gives the viewer a glimpse into his art-making process in Untitled. Read from left to right, the viewer witnesses the step-by-step development of a Zoller painting, from raw canvas to relatively-thick impasto with incised line. One of the smaller works on view at Sla307, it can almost be mistaken as a study or preparatory sketch for the larger, all-encompassing canvases. However, with its strong narrative and diagonal composition, it is a successful work on its own.
As an art history post-graduate, after over five years of research and writing, I have generally chosen to focus my studies on the biographical and historical connections between artwork and artist; artwork and society. Formal analysis of art has never been something that I truly explored in my writing. Bone Memory has a strong autobiographical narrative, as it explores Zoller’s search for a late grandfather he had never met. Memory, longing, loss, and separation are all themes that are explored. However, in my viewing of the artwork, I found the formal elements of the paintings to be as compelling as the story, if not more so. In this exhibition, pattern, texture, line, process, and material speak for themselves.
To learn more about Stefan Zoller and his work, visit http://stefanzoller.com/. To find out more about Sla307, an arts initiative off-shoot of the Lithuanian Alliance of America (LAA), visit http://www.sla307.com/.
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Stefan Zoller, Bone Memory no.3, 2015-2016, acrylic on canvas, mounted on panel, 48 x 60 inches.
Featured Image: Stefan Zoller, Bone Memory Triptych, 2015-16, acrylic, ink, and Duralar on canvas mounted on panels, 96 x 40 inches
All images in this post are from Sla307 promotional materials available at the gallery, as well as Stefan Zoller’s website.
Stefan Zoller: Bone Memory
January 12 – February 3, 2018
Sla307 Art Space
307 West 30th Street, New York, NY 10001
Marina B. Nebro 