January 6 - February 10, 2007

David Herbert
"I (heart) New York"

Diana Cooper
New Work

opening reception for both shows: Saturday, January 6, 6-8 pm

Postmasters Gallery is pleased to announce two exhibitions to open on Saturday January 6, 2007: David Herbert's "I (heart) New York" show of sculpture and drawings and Diana Cooper's exhibition of new wall based works.

David Herbert is a recent graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. In his first solo exhibition in New York he explores the idea of great metropolis (and by extent of civilization as a whole) in final stages of collapse and disintegration. The show centers around 14 feet tall sculpture of the Empire State Building in a state of progressive decay; other sculptures represent equally iconic landmarks of New York City: Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and a collapsed subway car, all deceptively colorful and visually striking like a carnival mask on a terminal patient. A related series of drawings reaches into US history to further emphasize the apocalyptic Americana: KKK member with a burning flag, women taking over men's jobs during WWII, depression era speaker at the base of George Washington statue - these images are psychedelically frenetic on the surface and dark inside. Although not topical to current events Herbert works reflect our moment in time, full of doubt, pessimism one one side and decadent irrational exuberance on the other. If there will be anybody left to discover our ruins centuries from now, they may indeed look like Herbert's sculptures.

Diana Cooper's exhibition presents a series of new wall based mixed media works, her unique take on expanding the format of drawings on paper. Known for dense layering and spatial constructions, in this show Cooper often incorporates her own photographs as building elements - an organic representational departure point leading towards geometric meanders and viral dissemination of lines. Even though essentially abstract, Cooper's works suggest a process of growth and accumulation, narrative of cause and effect in which apparent chaos and randomness develops inherent logic, or conversely, orderly structures turn paradoxical.

This exhibition is concurrent with Cooper's large scale installation in "Burgeoning Geometries, Constructed Abstractions," on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria up through March 4, 2007. A large mid-career survey show of Cooper's work curated by Margo Crutchfield is planned for September 2007 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA Cleveland) in Ohio.

You can see more of Diana Cooper's work at www.dianacooper.net.

Postmasters Gallery, located in Chelsea 459 West 19th Street (corner of 10th Avenue), is open Tuesday through Saturday to 11 - 6 pm. Please contact Magdalena Sawon at 212-727-3323 with any questions or image requests.