October 26 – December 2, 2023
New York
Ricco/Maresca Gallery present Evidence for Contact, a retrospective exhibition organised on the occasion of the release of a major book by the same title. Published by Anthology Editions (October 24, 2023), this volume is entirely devoted to the life and 40-year career of Ken Grimes.
Ken Grimes, Throw the Switch, 2010. Acrylic on Masonite, 48 x 36 in. / 121.9 x 91.4 cm)
Grimes was born in New York City in 1947 and grew up in Cheshire, Connecticut. For several decades, he has diligently maintained a stark palette of black and white, which he believes is the most direct way of showing the contrast between truth and deception. Only recently, he ventured into a new series of works that incorporate basic colours to the same end.
Ken Grimes, Summit on Mars, 2009. Acrylic on panel, 48 x 36 in. / 121.9 x 91.4 cm
The artist’s paintings and works on paper, which oscillate between whimsical and stern – but are often both – are conceptual, never-ending variations on the themes of extra-terrestrial intelligence and cosmic coincidence.
Ken Grimes, Untitled (Asteroid Bombardment of the United States Capitol), 2011. Acrylic on Masonite, 48 x 36 in / 121.9 x 91.4 cm
Grimes's work is in the permanent collections of the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the American Folk Art Museum.
Ken Grimes, Untitled (Alien Landscape), 2008. Acrylic on Masonite, 48 x 108 in. / 121.9 x 274.3 cm
In 2018, the artist's work was selected as one of the exhibitions in a six-part yearly series titled “Field Station” at Michigan State University’s Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. In 2019, he was invited to participate in the deCordova Museum Biennial.
View online at riccomaresca.viewingrooms.
Ken Grimes was featured in Raw Vision #50 and Raw Vison #109.
