FOR 5-18

DON GUMMER, STEPHEN CONROY AT MARLBOROUGH GALLERY

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NEW YORK CITY — “Don Gummer: New Sculpture” and “Stephen Conroy: Recent Paintings” are on view at Marlborough Gallery through June 5.

Featuring a recent body of work in bronze, steel and wood, this will be Gummer’s first show with Marlborough. Recognized as a “deconstructive constructivist,” Gummer’s most recent large scale project, “Primary Separation,” was permanently installed at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA), North Adams, in 2005.

Gummer’s sculpture, whether freestanding or wall relief, is organically conceived based on a thorough comprehension of the “isms” of abstract art, specifically inspired by George Rickey’s Constructivism, and informed by a lifelong dedication to building objects.

As seen in “Lift,” 2006, a steel sculpture that measures 76 by 36 by 19 inches and on view here, Gummer’s work evokes a dynamic interplay between positive and negative space, and the mobile and the stationary, as two towerlike forms, connected at the hip, form a grid-based alliance forever held in flux.

Complementing the works in metal, Gummer will exhibit a number of wall relief in polychromed wood based on architectural plans of domestic structures. Gummer’s artistic process with this group is radically different from his structures in metal. Here, he draws copies of specifically chosen architectural floor plans, layering one on top of another and tweaking them into a desired composition, then in turn building the whole into three-dimensional wooden forms, each with its own color.

“Stephen Conroy: Recent Paintings” comprises new work by the contemporary Scottish painter, Stephen Conroy. Conroy’s last New York show took place in 2003.

The show features 31 oils on canvas. There will be 18 large canvases measuring 72 by 48 inches, others measuring 60 by 48 inches, and several small studies of heads measuring 12 by 10 inches. For the most part, the large paintings present a single male figure — this series includes several self-portraits — posed in various standing positions.

The allure of Conroy’s work is partly derived from the figures’ imposing and silent presence, but also from a faculty of introspective mood that the artist imparts to his painting. It is compelling in the way that one’s interest and attraction to the images can not be easily formulated.

If one looks for antecedents to Conroy’s work, one could find an influence in Francis Bacon, whom Conroy knew personally and revered, not only in the size and scale of the canvases but also in the way they are framed using glass to enhance the works’ remove from reality.

Conroy’s work can be found in many public collections, including Aberdeen Art Gallery, England; Birmingham Art Gallery, England; The British Council, London; Contemporary Art Society, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the National Portrait Gallery, London.

A fully illustrated catalog will be available at the time of the exhibition.

The gallery is at 40 West 57th Street. For information, www.marlboroughgallery.com or 212-541-4900.