New exhibit to open Wednesday at PSU

“Real Abstraction” – an exhibit by artist Nick Gadbois – will open at the Harry Krug Gallery in Porter Hall, home to the Pittsburg State University Department of Art, on Feb. 15.

Gadbois, a Kansas City-based contemporary artist, has had worked included in numerous private and corporate collections and has been exhibited across the U.S.

His CNC router paintings are MDF boards known as “spoil boards.”

These cutting boards are castaways from commercial projects and contain a matrix of lines and shapes that overlap. Made through robotics, the boards combine systems of order and randomness.

“I repurpose the boards into works of art,” he said. “The channels and surface layers are colored differently to accentuate the designs in the boards. The works have associations with the all over technique of Pollock and the automatic writing of the Surrealists.”

Gadbois says his approach to abstract painting is completely new because his process rejects the old view of defining abstraction as a product of the imagination. He believes such a view constricts the possibilities of abstraction and disconnects it from anything in the real world.

The exhibit may be seen when Porter Hall is open: 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The building is closed on weekends.

A reception and artist’s talk are planned for April 5 at 5 p.m.