Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is delighted to present a solo exhibition of new work by New York-based artist collective The Bruce High Quality Foundation. Baroque, from the Portuguese barroco, meaning "a rough or imperfect pearl," characterises a stylistic turn, quite pronounced at the turn of the 17th century, away from the order of the Renaissance and toward theatrical narrative. Caravaggio's chiaroscuro, Rubens' saturated colour and sweeping lines, and Poussin's narrativised landscape space all interfere with static geometric hierarchies to lead a viewer through the emotional experience of a story.
With their new exhibition, Pearls, The Bruce High Quality Foundation appropriates images of several exemplary works of the Baroque style by these three masters. Areas of colour have been designated by an algorithmically determined stepped contrast scale, and move from dark to light through pigment saturation and the hue spectrum at a fixed rate. Meanwhile, automatic writing, drawing and scrawling – as though the paintings were used as chalkboards by various interlocutors in the Bruce's free university – interfere with the order of the universe, drawing a parallel between the mythological and religious drama of the Baroque masterpieces and the psychodrama of collaborative learning.
Subversive, provocative, and firmly tongue in cheek, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, 'created to foster an alternative to everything,' is an anonymous art collective based in Brooklyn, New York. Creating events, performances, installations, paintings, sculptures, videos and mixed-media projects, the collective aims to scrutinise the institutional framework which underpins the art world, using their anonymity to extricate themselves from its restrictions.
Alongside its own practice, the collective has instigated numerous educational projects, including The Bruce High Quality Foundation University, which provide experimental learning opportunities and residencies for artists. A non-profit organization, BHQFU offers tuition-free courses on a variety of subjects throughout the year whilst also operating cost-free artist studio residency programs. In 2017, the initiative will expand to Miami, where a new twelve-week residency has recently been launched in collaboration with ArtCenter/South Florida. This passion for collaboration and learning drives BHQF’s own work, inciting discussion about the role of the artist in today’s market-driven society.
Recent solo exhibitions include Brooklyn Museum, New York; Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin; Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels, Lever House Art Collection, New York; Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich and Vito Schnabel Gallery, New York. Recent group exhibitions include Parrish Art Museum, New York; MoMA PS1, New York and Centre Pompidou, Paris. The Bruce High Quality Foundation was included in the Whitney Biennial (2010) and the Lyon Biennale (2013). BHQF was ranked 99 in Art Review’s 2010 guide to the 100 most powerful figures in contemporary art. Their work can be found in the collections of Brooklyn Museum, New York; Lever House Collection, New York and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.