Charles Burchfield and Conny Purtill
March 2–April 21, 2018

Adams and Ollman is pleased to announce a two person exhibition with works on paper by Charles Burchfield and Conny Purtill. The exhibition is on view from March 2 through April 21.

Burchfield and Purtill draw from the landscape. Both artists make masterful pencil drawings that can be read as emotions, energies, dynamics and patterns that spring from the ground. The works seek out a deeper understanding of the connectedness of all things.

Time figures prominently in both bodies of work. While Burchfield attempted to capture the changes in the weather, light and energy of the landscape throughout the day, Purtill implicates time in several ways—including the peculiar speed of his drawing, the use of found paper, and the siting of his marks, often tucked away in the space of books.

Purtill’s drawn forms, much like Burchfield’s, are like pieces of language—”roots”—each with its own consistent structure, logic and meaning. Purtill’s drawings carry content and possibility in various contexts. Burchfield’s early investigations and symbols became the basis for his “conventions for abstract thought”, which linked specific shapes with feelings or moods.

The small-scale of the works, coupled with the understanding that each artist is quietly sharing a discovery of details, forgotten or overlooked, sets up a personal dynamic between the artist, the viewer and the image. Further reinforcing the experience of intimacy in Purtill’s work is the attempted removal of any distance between audience and object. In many of the artist’s works, the viewer must touch the books in which the artist has drawn and so experiences the work at a personal pace and as a progression through time and space.

On view will be a selection of works by Burchfield, delicate pencil drawings of clouds, trees, flowers and sunlight that the artist called “all day sketches.” In conversation with Burchfield will be graphite drawings by Purtill. While many of Burchfield’s works are dated to the year 1915, Purtill's drawings, in an echo that spans a century, appear on pages removed from an antique book given to the artist by his wife in 2015.

installation view: Charles Burchfield and Conny Purtill


installation view: Charles Burchfield and Conny Purtill


installation view: Charles Burchfield and Conny Purtill


installation view: Charles Burchfield and Conny Purtill


installation view: Charles Burchfield and Conny Purtill


installation view: Charles Burchfield and Conny Purtill


installation view: Charles Burchfield and Conny Purtill


installation view: Charles Burchfield and Conny Purtill


Conny Purtill
The Ground: Landscape, n.d.
graphite on found paper
6 x 7 1/2 inches
CP_2018_09


Charles Burchfield
Untitled, c. 1915
pencil on paper
17 x 11 inches
CEB 25


Conny Purtill
The Ground: Landscape, n.d.
graphite on found paper
6 x 7 1/2 inches
CP_2018_08


Charles Burchfield
Untitled, c. 1915
pencil on paper
17 x 11 inches
CEB 23


Conny Purtill
The Ground: Landscape, n.d.
graphite on found paper
6 x 7 1/2 inches
CP_2018_02


Conny Purtill
The Ground: Landscape, n.d.
graphite on found paper
6 x 7 1/2 inches
CP_2018_07


Charles Burchfield
Untitled (Sunflowers patterns II), c. 1915
pencil on paper
17 x 11 inches
CEB 14


Conny Purtill
The Ground: Landscape, n.d.
graphite on found paper
6 x 7 1/2 inches
CP_2018_06