September 21 – November 22, 2006 July 17, 2006 – Mitchell-Innes & Nash will present the first New York exhibition of German artist Norbert Schwontkowski from September 21 through November 22 in their Uptown space. The exhibition will include a number of new paintings by Schwontkowski, paired with a selection of paintings and drawings by modern and contemporary masters including Forrest Bess, Arshile Gorky, Philip Guston, Alex Katz, Pablo Picasso, and Willem de Kooning. Schwontkowski has selected artists whom he considers especially influential to his work, and the exhibition will demonstrate his affinities with a range of 20th-century traditions. Schwontkowski’s loosely rendered paintings combine dark humor and naïve whimsy. Although simple in their composition, the paintings are painstaking in their fabrication and paint-handling. Schwontkowski mixes his own paints and glazes using linseed oil, ground pigments, metal oxides, and bone glue to create his signature muted tones and lush surfaces. The result is pictures with elusive narratives, in which isolated figures and sparse landscapes are given equal weight as the abstract, painterly background. Norbert Schwontkowski was born 1949 and grew up in Bremen, Germany. He is a professor of painting at the Hochschule für Bildende Künst at Hamburg. He has regularly exhibited in galleries and public institutions throughout Europe since the late 1970s. His recent retrospective “Kino” traveled to Brandenburgische Kunstsammlungen Cottbus, Kunsthalle Erfurt, and Kunsthalle Bremen (2004-2005). He was also the subject of a special exhibition at the Rubell Collection in Miami in December 2005. He is represented in Germany by Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin and Produzentengalerie, Hamburg. Listing Information: Mitchell-Innes & Nash Uptown is located at 1018 Madison Avenue, between 78th and 79th Streets. Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat, 10am to 6pm T: (212) 744-7400 www.miandn.com An opening reception will be held at Mitchell-Innes & Nash Uptown on September 21, 2006, 6-8pm. Press Information: Stacy Bolton Communications T: 212.721.5350 E: Mamie@StacyBolton.com On view at Mitchell-Innes & Nash Chelsea: Jessica Stockholder, September 8 through October 14.