Imperfections by Chance: Paul Feeley Retrospective, 1954-1966

Paul Feeley (1910–1966) is a towering figure in postwar American modernism. His legendary tenure as head of the art department at Bennington College and resulting associations with the likes of Lawrence Alloway, Helen Frankenthaler, Clement Greenberg, Jackson Pollock, and David Smith informed his unique approach to painting as an open-ended proposition. Represented during his lifetime by the Betty Parsons Gallery and honored posthumously by a retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, he is the subject of this timely new publication, which accompanies a major exhibition organized by the Albright- Knox Art Gallery and the Columbus Museum of Art.

In addition to color plates of all works in the exhibition—nearly one hundred paintings, works on paper, and sculptures—this volume features essays by exhibition curators Douglas Dreishpoon and Tyler Cann, as well as poet and critic Raphael Rubinstein, and an illustrated chronology by academic and granddaughter of the artist Cary Cordova. From his early Abstract Expressionist–inspired paintings to his organic, anthropomorphic figure–ground compositions and later diagrammatical, hard-edged works, Imperfections by Chance charts the full range of Feeley’s influential life and career.
The accompanying exhibition opens at The Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH, October 22, 2015–January 10, 2016