Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert

Utilizing alla prima technique used since the inception of oil painting and continually adapted by
painters including impressionists Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh, realist John Singer
Sargent, and abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning — Benjamin Cottam challenges himself to
master the inherent fragility and immediacy of the process in which the whole painting is
completed in a single sitting. The reward is the delicate line and fluid energy captured in the work.
As Cottam intentionally destroys the vast majority of these paintings before they’re finished, the
presentation of five paintings from this series is exciting and rare – the first time for the artist.
The two-floor exhibition has a quiet sparseness, an extension of Benjamin Cottam’s own monastic
life in his studio, exploring ideas of obliteration and obscurity, transparency and deception, mystery
and rediscovery for those who take time for an intimate experience with the art.
The Artist
Benjamin Cottam lives and works in New York City. He received his BFA from the San Francisco
Art Institute, and his MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.
His work has been shown and collected internationally, and recent major museum shows include
No New Thing Under the Sun, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2010; Stuff, Museum of
Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, 2007; Of Mice and Men, The 4th Berlin Biennial for
Contemporary Art, Berlin Germany, 2006, as well as gallery shows at Bartha Contemporary in
London, Galerie Von Bartha in Basel and solo exhibitions at Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert,
NY. Cottam’s work has been collected by The Museum of Modern Art, NY, and the Whitney
Museum of American Art, NY.
For information, contact the gallery: david@gassergrunert.net
For media inquiries: Maureen Sullivan, maureen@redartprojects.com