Paul Swenbeck and Joy Feasley: Midnight Sun
Nada House
Governors Island, New York
May 2–August 4, 2019

Adams and Ollman, in collaboration with Fleisher/Ollman, is pleased to announce Midnight Sun, an installation by Paul Swenbeck and Joy Feasley for NADA House on Governors Island, New York. Together Swenbeck and Feasley experiment across a variety of media to create otherworldly installations rooted in craft and folk traditions. Midnight Sun creates a symbolic space where the historic architecture of Governors Island is imbued with elements of science fiction and magic.

Sculptural interventions centered around the hearth mix the uncanny with hand-crafted domestic objects. A series of cast metal works will be on view, including Notes Grimoire, 2017, which implies texts and codes used for spells or charms, and The Last Bell, 2017, which can be rung by viewers. Symbolically carrying information or the intent of the artists, Feasley's brass sculpture functions like traditional bells: to carry messages, exile spirits or mark an occasion.

Centrally placed on a rug made by the artists in collaboration with the Fabric Workshop and Museum from wool braids given to Feasley by her grandmother is the animistic sculpture Glimmung, 2018. The title of the work references an alien character from Phillip K. Dick’s 1969 science fiction novel The Galactic Pot-Healer, while the sculpture's surface and form resemble the seaweed covered rocks along the New England coast, a nod to Swenbeck’s interest in the fossil record and the mysteries and of the sea, as well as maritime history and alien life forms. On shelves built into the hearth will be collaborative redware bowls which feature marbleized glazes reminiscent of Colonial American pottery traditions. Swenbeck and Feasley’s contemporary versions incorporate text hidden in the surface patterning. These small-scale works are on view alongside other symbolic ceramic and glass pieces made by the artists, which reference traditional and arcane tools such as mager discs and sundials. Allegorical paintings with a lexicon that includes abstract geometric line work, color wheels and candles line the walls and transport the viewer to realms beyond everyday experience.

Paul Swenbeck (b. 1967, Massachusetts) graduated with a BFA in ceramics from Massachusetts College of Art in 1991. In 2018, the artist collaborated with Joy Feasley to present Out, Out Phosphene Candle at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI. His work has also been exhibited at The Institute of Contemporary Art, The Morris Gallery, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Fleisher/Ollman, Vox Populi, all Philadelphia; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston. Swenbeck was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 2013.

Joy Feasley (b. 1966, New York) studied at Massachusetts College of Art, Cooper Union, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Most recently, Feasley and Paul Swenbeck presented Out, Out Phosphene Candle at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI. Her work has also been exhibited at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Moore College of Art, the Temple Gallery, the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Vox Populi, all Philadelphia; Columbia College, Chicago, IL; LUMP Gallery and Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, NC. Feasley's work is included in the collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the West Collection. She has been in residence at the Acadia Summer Arts Program, Bar Harbor, ME and at the 18th Street Arts Center Santa Monica, CA. In 2011, she was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts.

NADA House, New Art Dealers Alliance's second off-site exhibition on Governors Island, features 45 artists from NADA Member galleries and non-profits across 34 rooms in three historic, turn-of-the-century Colonial Revival houses.

installation view: Midnight Sun


installation view: Midnight Sun


installation view: Midnight Sun


installation view: Midnight Sun


installation view: Midnight Sun


installation view: Midnight Sun


installation view: Midnight Sun


installation view: Midnight Sun


Joy Feasley
The Last Bell, 2017
brass
14 x 10 x 10 inches
JF 53


Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck
Glimmung, 2018
resin and pigment
31 x 54 x 40 inches
WWH 30


Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck
Kippy’s Rug, 2013
wool braids from Joy’s grandmother, Adeline Feasley, in collaboration with the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Kate Abercrombie, Luca Bokulich, Tim Eads, Andrea Landau, Abby Lutz and Nami Yamamoto
1 x 74 x 74 inches
WWH 31


Paul Swenbeck
Gimmung’s Daughter, 2017
cast iron
14 x 19 x 16 inches
PSW 349


Joy Feasley
A Hatchet to Kill Old Ugly, 2014
flashe on panel
18 x 23 1/2 inches
JF 21


Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck
Thrice and Twice, 2017
cast iron
18 x 4 x 5 inches
WWH 25


Paul Swenbeck
Notes Grimoire, 2017
cast iron
14 x 18 x 14 inches
PSW 348


Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck
Self Esteem, 2016
redware
2 1/2 x 11 x 11 inches
WWH 26


Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck
Hex Hex, 2016
redware
2 1/2 x 11 x 11 inches
WWH 28


Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck
Smile, 2016
redware
2 1/2 x 11 x 11 inches
WWH 29


Joy Feasley
Fireball on Odom Ledge, 2017
flashe on panel
18 x 23 1/2 inches
JF 38


Paul Swenbeck
Pots, 2017
porcelain
5 x 4 x 4 inches; 6 x 5 x 5 inches
PSW 344


Paul Swenbeck
Gnomen, 2017
brass and 19th Century sundial
12 x 12 x 12 inches
PSW 342


Paul Swenbeck
Alchemist’s Tools, 2017
brass
2 x 21 x 5 inches, variable
PSW 343


Joy Feasley
Halycon Fire, 2017
brass
5 x 20 x 14 inches
JF 54


Paul Swenbeck
Polypore Bell, 2017
brass
15 x 7 x 7 inches
PSW 347


Joy Feasley
High Altitude Orb Weavers, 2017
flashe on panel
15 x 20 inches
JF 36