FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANUEL NERI

New Marbles and Bronzes

March 22 - April 26, 1997

The Charles Cowles Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new sculptures by MANUEL NERI from March 22 through April 26, 1997. The Gallery is located at 420 West Broadway and the hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10am until 6pm. There will be a reception for the artist on Saturday, March 22nd, from 4-6pm at the Gallery.

A member of the Bay Area Figurative School, which included artists such as Richard Diebenkorn and David Park, NERI has continued to explore the human figure in diverse mediums such as marble, bronze, graphite and oil-stick. While the painted bronzes are created in his studio in Northern California, NERI spends roughly half of the year in Carrara, Italy, where he carves his marble sculptures. In his work, the figure undergoes a continuing metamorphosis, sometimes acquiring definition, at other times losing it; here assuming an uncanny sense of flesh-and-blood presence, there ruthlessly obliterated. NERI's art is a personal exploration, both in his depiction of the figure and in the expressive nature of his creativity; the marbles are sensuously smooth and serene, the bronzes daring and insistent with broad slaps of colorful paint partially covering their surface.

MANUEL NERI has been the subject of several retrospective exhibitions, including the current one at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, Early Work: 1953 - 1978, which will be on view through May 5. Later this year it will travel to the San Jose Museum of Art from June 7 through September 14.

For further information or photographs please call (212) 925-3500.