paul kotula projects is pleased to present The faintest fragrance of fields featuring recent paintings by John Maggie (Ann Arbor, MI) and photographs by Amy Vogel (Chicago, IL). In this first pairing of the artists’ work, the exuberant and tender nature of nature is explored through the genre of still life. The exhibition title, taken from the poem, Cut Flowers, by Cynthia Huntington, recalls the abundance of nature particularly at the peak of summer and our ritual of bringing flowers indoors.
While the figure dominates much of John Maggie’s work, he has also explored the subjects of landscape and still life, all with his defiant and absurd approach to his subject matter. Paint, in all its physical possibilities, converges with his imagery to disrupt notions of beauty and sensuality. Like his other work, the paintings featured in this exhibition extoll a degree of fetishism. Details abound in the tactility of paint, which is as much about the peculiarities of each bloom (tabletop and wall), as it is about the paint itself.
For those that have attended previous exhibitions of Amy Vogel’s work at paul kotula projects and Revolution Gallery, they will note the artist’s continual engagement with landscape and its evolving nature at the hands of culture. In this series of photographic work that began in 2018, Vogel chronicles simple bouquets of cut flowers whose lifespan is exhausted while beauty remains. Removed from their domestic context, her portrayal of them against a neutral ground allows the blooms a nuanced read like botanical studies, further illuminating their poetic ethereality.
John Maggie (b.1978, Ann Arbor, MI) is a painter, sculptor, bookmaker and animater. He earned a BFA with a concentration in printmaking from Eastern Michigan University in 2004. After graduating college, John studied painting under the realist painter Mingshi Huang. Maggie’s work was featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit as part of their Detroit Affinities Series (2014-215). Other exhibitions include those at Jack Hanley Gallery (New York), Simone DeSousa (Detroit) and Spaysky Fine Art Gallery (Detroit). His art books reside in such public collections as the Museum of Modern Art Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Thomas J. Watson Library, and the New York Public Library Spencer Collection. This is the first time Maggie’s work is featured at paul kotula projects.
Amy Vogel (b. 1967, Washington, DC) works across numerous media. She earned her BFA from University of Colorado, Boulder in 1990 and her MFA from California College of Arts, Oakland, in 1995. She has had solo exhibitions at Larissa Goldston Gallery (NY), paul kotula projects (Detroit), Edward Mitterand (Geneva) and Air de Paris (Paris). In 2014 she had a survey of 15 years work, entitled Amy Vogel: A Paraperspective, at the Cleve Carney Gallery, College of Du Page. Vogel has participated in group shows at Western Exhibitions (Chicago), White Columns (New York), The Suburban (Oak Park), FRAC Haute-Normandie (Soeville-lès-Roue), Francesca Pia (Zürich), and other venues. She has collaborated with Joseph Grigely on many projects, including exhibitions at the Orange County Museum of Art; The MCA, Chicago; The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin; the Berlin Biennial; the Yokohama Triennial Mathildenhöfe, Darmstadt; the French Academy in Rome, and other international venues. Vogel is currently Associate Professor and Interim Director of Contemporary Practices at School of the Art Institute, Chicago.
In tandem with the faintest fragrance of fields the gallery presents Gathering featuring work by Chakaia Booker, Brenda Goodman, Zemer Peled, Paul Schwarz, and Anne Wilson.
Paul Kotula projects is open Thursday – Saturday, 11 AM to 5 PM during exhibitions and by appointment. For further information or to schedule an appointment, please call 248 544-3020 or email info@paulkotulaprojects.com
