Song For Harlem

Song For Harlem
by Fred Bendheim

chashama 443 Window Gallery
443 West 127th Street
(between Amsterdam & Morningside)
New York, NY

December 5, 2012 - January 21, 2013

Artist's Reception:
Thursday, December 20, 5 - 7 pm

Song For Harlem is an installation by New York City artist Fred Bendheim. The installation is made from cut paper installed in 6 large windows and color - filter lights. Facing 127th St. in Harlem, the abstract installation makes use of light, both natural and interior, that lends different views to the artwork as the time of day shifts. The work references the rich musical history of Harlem and modernist art, especially the late paper works of Henri Matisse, but is has Mr. Bendheim's signature style. Song For Harlem is the largest site-specific artwork realized to date by the artist. Some of the artist's other installations have included fountains/sculptures for Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, and outdoor billboards created in collaboration with children artists in Brooklyn.

Fred Bendheim was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1956. He has lived and worked in Brooklyn, NY since 1983. AS a teenager he apprenticed with the pioneer surrealist painter Philip Curtis. Bendheim has had numerous solo exhibitions and his works are in museum collections worldwide. He has shown in: The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Sylvia Plotkin Museum, Arizona, The National Gallery of Costa Rica, and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Commissions include two fountain sculptures for Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and paintings for the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. As well as painting and sculptures, he has made: drawings, prints, collages, illustrations for William Blakes The Tygre, and has written numerous articles about art for the British journal, The Lancet. He teaches art in New York City through Young Audiences of New York and the Art Students League. His travels have taken him throughout the world, including several artist residencies in Costa Rica, where he had an exhibition in 2012 at The National Gallery of Costa Rica.