Sebastiaan Bremer: Ave Maria at Edwynn Houk Gallery
May 3 – June 24, 2017 (EXTENDED – through July 31, 2017)

Bark Frameworks recently framed works for “Sebastiaan Bremer: Ave Maria” at Edwynn Houk Gallery. At age 23, the Dutch artist Bremer took photos of his then-girlfriend (and soon-to-be-wife) Andrea Lerner, later printing them out with a soft effect on matte paper, and using Milky Pens and Pentel paint pens to add pointillist dots. The effect is one of nostalgic beauty, memory, and stillness.

Designer Amy Hinten worked with the Gallery staff in framing Bremer’s works, creating frames that echo the softness of the images. Aluminum was chosen over wood as the frame medium because it allows for a narrower face, making the overall look of the frame minimal and light. Bremer mounts his photographs to dibond panels that have wooden braces on the verso, which gives the photographic support depth — this allowed Hinten to float the artworks in their frames, similar to what would be done with a painting.

The Bremer frames were finished with a spray white paint color that matches the Rising White rag board we used to create the float and fillets. Often we tint the frame finish to match a rag board color as it appears behind a particular glazing product. In this case, several different glazing products were used, but a uniform frame color was desired, so no glazing tint was accounted for.

Most of the artworks in the exhibit are glazed in UV Art Glass; others were glazed with Optium Museum Acrylic. The finished frames compliment and protect Bremer’s prints without distracting from the artwork.

Images © Sebastiaan Bremer/Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York

Text: Jennifer M. Clark