HOT SPOTS
Brooklyn, New York, Zurich

HOTSPOTS
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ZÜRICH

>URBAN LANDSCAPES BY

Karin Batten, New York

Ralph Raphael Fleming, Brooklyn

Eugen Meier, Zürich

Josette Urso, Brooklyn

WESTBETH GALLERY

55 Bethune Street Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Sunday
New York, NY 10014 1pm – 6pm

Show Dates: March 31st-April 15th
Reception: March 31st 6-8pm

The artists in this diverse group share a lineage to 1990’s Switzerland with their connection to the artist Fred Engelbert-Knecht who ran Galerie A-16 in Zürich. Karin Batten, Eugen Meier and Josette Urso had solo exhibitions at Galerie A-16 and Ralph Raphael Fleming joins the extended family via Al Loving. Each artist also shares unique impressions from their immediate urban environment. Working with abstraction and representation, these artists reveal stories of city life through their involvements with the urban setting.

Karin Batten explores the city from unique perspectives and vantage points. Witnessing the city from above, she sees the cohesive unit of the fragmented city emerge. Using oil sticks she constructs deep textures that capture the magnificence of New York City’s skyline and terrain.

Ralph Raphael Flemming creates intricate collages from urban billboards and commercially printed advertisements. Although his process involves the tearing, cutting and manipulating of found paper, he refers to his pieces as “paintings”.

Eugen Meier is an architect and painter currently living and working in Zürich and the South- West of France. His city-reliefs, made with remnants of paper, plywood and iron are cut, painted and polished and reference the tangled flow of city streets, railway connections and skyscrapers.

Josette Urso makes paintings, drawings and collages. She sees the city less as a series of architectural forms and more as a living, breathing entity – literally a buzzing environment made up of layers upon layers of human history and mystery.