Home Artists Gudrun Mertes-Frady

Kooness

Gudrun Mertes-Frady

1939
Cologne, Germany

10 Works exhibited on Kooness

Current location

New York City

Represented by

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Works by Gudrun Mertes-Frady

The Secret Life of Plants

2022

Paintings , Ink

91.5 x 63.5cm

2026,00 €

Love Letter

2022

Paintings , Ink

50.8 x 66cm

1728,00 €

Shooting Stars

2022

Paintings , Ink

91.5 x 63.5cm

2026,00 €

Tide meets the River

2022

Paintings

55.8 x 76.2cm

1728,00 €

City moves II

2022

Paintings

55.8 x 76.2cm

1728,00 €

Fire and ice

2022

Paintings

76.2 x 50.8cm

1848,00 €

Clouds

2021

Paintings

48.2 x 60.9 x 0.1cm

1609,00 €

Opposing Currents no.III

2021

Paintings , Oil , Acrylic

61 x 61 x 3.8cm

3218,00 €

Opposing Currents no.II

2021

Paintings , Oil , Acrylic

61 x 61 x 3.8cm

3218,00 €

Opposing Currents no.I

2021

Paintings , Oil , Acrylic

61 x 61 x 3.8cm

3218,00 €

Gudrun Mertes-Frady is a New York-based abstract artist whose work blends geometric structure with intuitive, painterly explorations of color and line. Education Mertes-Frady was born in Cologne, Germany. She studied painting and art history at the Cologne Academy of Fine and Applied Arts.  She has lived and worked in New York City since 1981. Technique Mertes-Frady shifts her practice between painting and drawing. Her processes for the two are quite different.  Her drawings manifest quickly and intuitively as she applies multiple layers of Conte crayon, graphite, charcoal and metallic crayon to hand-made sheets of Japanese paper, such as Kozo (made from mulberry trees) or Gampi (made from the gampi bush).    Her work on mylar evolve over a longer period of time. Using a mixture of ink and water based media, she creates layered, expressionistic, abstract compositions, often using both the front and back of the semi-translucent surface in order to add dimensionality and depth.  Her paintings are all oil on canvas, linen and sometime wood panel. She frequently includes pigments of aluminum and graphite. This metallic media becomes activated by ambient light, creating a kinetic effect when the work is viewed from different angles. (All the white appearing lines in some of her paintings are actually metallic oil paint and change from soft grey to a luminous silver.) Inspiration Raised in a family of architects, Mertes-Frady learned early on to appreciate the visual language of the grid.  Her background led her to appreciate the structure of paintings by Constructivist artists like Malevich and Bauhaus artists like Mondrian. Throughout her career she has experimented with many different mediums and techniques, but has always relied on the geometry of the grid for stability. Even her more lyrical, “all-over” drawings are underpinned by an architectonic arrangement of space.  Despite their structured appearance, however, Mertes-Frady never plans her compositions in advance. She is inspired by instinct and intuition. By freeing herself to react in the moment to arbitrary choices about color, texture, and line, unexpected and beautiful contrasts are allowed to develop between the architectonic structure of the work and its painterly spirit. Relevant Quotes In an essay about the work of Mertes-Frady, acclaimed art journalist Lilly Wei writes, “Her work continues to radiate a light.....an illumination that is almost seasonal, from reticence of a pale wintry day to the glow of spring, the glare of summer to more sombre casts, the sensation shifting from a crystalline delicacy to a slow sonorous rumble....There is also what lies beneath, which comes up like pentimenti: history, genealogy, archaeology, traces that are both process and poetics.” Exhibitions Mertes-Frady has had more than 20 solo exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. Collections Her work is in many public, private, and corporate collections, including that of Rockefeller University, Universal Music, The Busch Reisinger Museum, Gwynneth Paltrow, the American Embassy in Dubai, and many others.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2018  Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY  2016  Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, Bridgehampton, NY  2015  Cynthia Reeves, MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA  2014  Michael Trierweiler Contemporary Art, Weimar, Germany  2013  Mark Wolf Contemporary, San Francisco, CA  2010  Piquion+Trierweiler, Weimar, Germany  2010  ART Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany  2009  Maud Piquion, Berlin, Germany  2009  Cynthia-Reeves, New York, NY  2007  Reeves-Contemporary, New York, NY  2007  Spheris Gallery, Hanover, NH  2005  Reeves-Contemporary, New York, NY  2003  Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, NY  2002  Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, NY  2000  Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, NY  1999  Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, NY  1997  Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, NY  1995  Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, NY  1994  Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York, NY  1992  Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York, NY  1991  Galerie Lommel, Cologne-Leverkusen, Germany   SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2016  “Metalpoint and Graphite” Cynthia Reeves, Walpole, NH  2015  "August Geometry”, Maria Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA  2015  Art in Embassies, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei  2015  Sideshow Nation III, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn 2015  Paperazzi, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2014  Paper Show, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY  2014  Sideshow Nation II, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY  2013  Sideshow Nation, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY  2012  “Paper Bands”, Jason MCCoy Gallery, New York, NY  2012  Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY  2012  “Mic : Check”, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY  2011  Mark Wolf Contemporary, San Francisco, CA  2011  “Divergent Affinities”, Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, curated by Barbara Harberger  2008  Nuture Art Benefit, curated by Lilly Wei, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY  2008  “Small Works Show”, 80 Washington Square Galleries, New York, NY 2007  Reeves-Contemporary, New York, NY  2005  Spheris Gallery, Hanover, NH  2003  “A Common Thread”, Hennepin County Government Center, Saint Paul, MN  2002  “Here is New York”, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC  “Here is New York”, Les Recontres d’Arles, Arles, France  “Here is New York”, Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany  “Here is New York”, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY  “Here is new York”, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL  “Here is New York”, University of California, Berkley, CA  2001  “Synopsis”, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, NY  2001  “Art 2001”, e1 Gallery, London, England  2000  “Sun Signs”, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, NY  2000  “(Un)Resolved”, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, NY  1996  Art Initiative Gallery, New York, NY Group exhibition, curated by Stephen Rosenberg  1994  “Summer Solstice”, Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York, NY curated by Fran Kaufman  1993  "Cadavre Exquis", The Drawing Center, New York, NY  1993  "The Tenth Summer", Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York, NY

2016 

Charles A, Riley II, Hamptons Art Hub, August 31 

2015 

Jerry Cullum, Arts Atlanta, Atlanra, GA, August 26

2011 

Edith Newhall, Phil adelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA, January 17 

2009 

Martin Stolzenberg, TLZ, Weimar, Germany, December 9 

2009 

Andrea Hilgenstock, Die Welt, Berlin, Germany, November 17 

2009 

Jens Hindrichsen, Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin, Germany, November 3 

2007 

Constance Wyndham, Artnews, May 

2007 

Mario Naves, Catalogue Essay, Reeves-Contemporary

2007 

Joseph Wallentini, Review, Abstract Art On Line, April 

2004 

Edward Leffingwell, Art in America, May 

2003

Ann Landi, ARTnews, December 

2003 

Mario Naves, New York Observer, October 1 

2002 

Lilly Wei, Catalog Essay, Rosenberg+Kaufman Fine Art, NYC 

2000 

Ken Johnson, The New York Times, November 3 

2000 

Joseph Wallentini, Review, Abstract Art on Line, November 

1999 

Joseph Wallentini, Artist Profile, Abstract Art on Line, June 

1999 

Jeannie Wilkinson, Catalogue Essay, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, NYC 

1999 

Joseph Wallentini, Artist Profile, Abstract Art on Line, June 

1997

 Lissa McClure, Review Magazine 

1997 

Arlene Raven, Catalog Essay, Rosenberg+Kaufman Fine Art, NYC