Edward Thorp Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Edward Finnegan’s Selected Works on Paper, comprising approximately 30 works, most of which will be on view for the first time. This will mark the second solo exhibition for the artist with the gallery.

Finnegan, who is regarded as a master craftsman, is better known for his sculpture, which is characterized by seductive techniques, formal invention and color nuances. The artist draws from a diverse range of references and influences, both Western and Eastern.

Finnegan typically works in extended series. Here, he presents examples from six disparate bodies of work, which reveal a unique expansion of the vocabulary of drawing. The artist takes on a new approach each time introducing a variety of methods, thereby keeping the process fresh and new.

In the After the Operation series, pristine surfaces become damaged, due to tearing, and creasing, then punctured with holes, ultimately reassembled and taped. Simple geometric forms, colored with hand-made tints, reveal a direct relationship with his sculpture both in wood and stone.

Another series, Chaos, presents works in the negative. Black surfaces are first laid down then scratched and etched. A gradual revealing of the original surface is achieved by this repetitive physical gestures of erasure. A suggestion of violence emanates from the scarred traces, a black hole where the laws of appearance are reversed.

Finnegan’s deceptively simple and 'minimalist' Portrait drawings are a result of working for hours with his sitter without stopping, and drawing without ever looking at the drawing. Described is a formless configuration of a pattern of lines, that examine non-movement with movement, they are investigations into perception and composition.

In the Unnamed Constellations, building and shifting marks achieve a record and documentation of time, resulting in a choreography of atmospheric effects that skirts with the edges of perception.

His most recent works are represented with examples from both the Meditations on the Bats at Calakmul and Meditations on the Garden series.

Edward Finnegan was raised on Long Island. He began his formal art training at the age of sixteen at the San Alejandro School of Art in Havana, Cuba, where he lived for one year. From 1958 to 1961, he attended the Art Student’s League where he studied with Theodoros Stamos and Stephen Green. He has lived and worked in New York since 1958.

His sculptures and drawings have been exhibited at David Grob Gallery, London (1980); at the Parrish Museum in South Hampton, New York (July, 1984); at Edward Thorp Gallery in New York (January, 1984; January 1988; March 1989 and March 1993); and at Walter Randel Gallery in June 2006.