Breath

Curated by John Yau at Art Cake
Presented by M. David & Co.
Friday / Saturday, 1 - 6 pm and by appointment

May 9 – May 31, 2025
214 40th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232

Opening Reception:
May 9, 2025, 6-9pm

M. David & Co. is pleased to present Breath, a group exhibition featuring works by Philip Allen, David Baker, Clarice Blanche Hu, Deborah Dancy, Douglas Degges, Astrid Dick , Gabriele Evertz, Suzan Frecon, Joanne Greenbaum, Harriet Korman, Jule Korneffel, John Mendelsohn, Tom Nozkowski, Harry Roseman, Peter Shear, Gary Stephan, Maya Strauss, and Richard Tinkler.

BREATH
Exhibition essay by John Yau

When I was a child growing in Boston, living on Charles Street, between the Charles Street Jail (now known as The Liberty Hotel) and the Boston Commons, I made lists. They were fanciful aggregations of books I wanted to read (Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Ogalalas by Marie Sandoz), foods I wanted to eat (a submarine sandwich), and cities I wanted to go to, because I knew my mother would see what museums were there and take me to each one (one Saturday we got as far as Worcester, where I learned that the Worcester Art Museum had a huge collection of arms and armor).  

I got to read Sandoz’s biography and eat my first submarine sandwich by the time I was seven, but I have not yet gone to all the museums that I have wanted to visit, and realize that I never will. There is a boundless joy in knowing that I can still set out, as I once did with my mother. 

When I was invited by Michael David to co-curate a group show entitled Breath, I was reminded of my childhood lists, and the desire to experience things that I hadn’t. That is what a group show is – a collection of things that have not previously been seen together, an unpredictable illumination.  I have written about many artists in this show, often more than once. Others, I have not written about or seen their work only on Instagram or in a group show and decided to contact them. A number of them have not exhibited their work in decades. I wanted to put together a show where these external measures did not matter, because they shouldn’t.  

The idea kept changing over time, often from day to day. 
The question, why these artists, kept popping up in my head. 
Why abstract artists at this moment in time?

I chose these artists because they have followed their own trajectory. The world changed and they changed but they did not take their cues from the latest fashion.

I think anyone who spends long hours alone in a room, doing something that no one else might care for, is to be commended in a world where importance is determined by the number of followers you have on a social media platform. As the poet Lew Welch wrote in his one-line poem, “Fame”: “More people know you than you know.”  That is a measure I can live by. 

I admire the persistence, dedication, and belief of these artists, their commitment to making something in their own visual language.  

I wanted to be in a well-lit room surrounded by their work.

I began thinking of the gallery space with its high ceilings as temporary museum where viewers could stop and catch their breath, a place that was connected to the world, even as it was separate from the daily chaos. 

I picked work that was not monumental because of something the artist and writer Joe Brainard raised: “How big does it have to be?” If I had a larger room, I would have put together a bigger show, but would have not asked for paintings done on a larger scale. I like the open-ended conversation that happens with each work in Breath.