In a catalog essay for a solo exhibition of Ron Mehlman, Brook Barrie, former Grounds For Sculpture Director/Curator wrote, “Ron Mehlman’s sculptures come alive with light…luminosity is fundamental to his sculptures.” As paradoxical as it may sound, Mehlman joins light-an ephemeral, intangible phenomenon-with stone. By incorporating the first and sculpting them together, the usual inherent characteristics of stone, its weight, density and solidity, are questioned by the viewer. In Compression and Expansion, Mehleman cut away at the onyx, layer by layer, on one side to allow it to become translucent and to also expose the inner, glowing golden color. Plates of glass, placed on end and compressed by the onyx on both sides, form another conduit for light, further adding to the work’s luminosity while contrasting with the natural hues and the wide variety of unique textures of the stone’s untouched surface areas. About this work Mehlman has stated, “I juxtapose the warm translucency of the stone against the cold watery transparency of the layered glass. The textured edges, the strict verticals, and the naturally occurring surface drawing are remindful of the paintings of some abstract expressionists.” Prior to its arrival at Grounds For Sculpture, Compression and Expansion was on view in Pietrasanta, Italy, for the artist’s one-person exhibition in 2002, which was organized by Galleria La Subbia. Several other examples of his stone and glass sculpture were on view at Grounds For Sculpture for the Fall/Winter 1998-1999 Exhibition, and during the following summer, a bronze work by Mehlman was featured in the The Sculptors Guild: A Group Exhibition. Exhibiting since the 1970s, Mehlman has participated in numerous solo and group shows at venues along the East Coast, especially in New York City, and has frequently exhibited in Italy. He opened Ron Mehlman, Sculptures at Kouros Gallery in New York City in 2003. Other sculptures have been commissioned by private corporations and by city and government agencies in this country and abroad. A native New Yorker, Mehlman divides his time between a studio in Pietrasanta, the famed stone and marble center of Italy, and the Gowanus Canal area of Brooklyn. | | 
Compression and Expansion, 2000
onyx, glass
51" x 61" x 24"
Courtesy of the Artist and Kouros Gallery, NY
Photo: David Steele |
