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Jonathan Runcio

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Jonathan Runcio

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Jonathan Runcio - Untitled (JR-WEDGE), 2014

at Romer Young Gallery

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Jonathan Runcio at Romer Young

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Jonathan Runcio

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Jonathan Runcio. Model 3, 2012; steel, primer, concrete, and screenprint

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(Sugar) Glass in the Garden,

If you are in the Bay Area this week I highly recommend checking out Jonathan Runcio's show at Romer Young Gallery. The exhibition has been extended through Saturday, December 21st and just received a few impressive reviews one of which refers to his sculptures as "postmodern collage".

Jonathan Runcio in his studio, 2013

I knew Jonathan's work before I knew him and over the years have had the good fortune of getting to know his work better by getting to know him. His wife, Ruth Laskey is also an artist and in 2011 we created a series of sodas based on her weavings that were included in the SECA exhibition. I have been working out of a space next to Jonathan's, so would pass by his studio upon arriving at which point he might be screen printing or mixing concrete and then hours later upon leaving, he would be welding or mocking up plans for his next piece. Anything he thinks of making, it seems he knows how to make, no matter the medium. It seems there is nothing he can't do. I'm convinced that if I told him I needed a Mondrian cake made, he would have it figured out by the following day.

One of Jonathan's sculptures on its' way out of the studio.

Agnes Martin says in an interview that the best part of making work is when the work leaves the studio. For Jonathan, I think that is just the halfway point. Once the work is out of the studio and in the gallery, very particular decisions and edits are made. Something that was made to be in the show, might not make the cut. Or a mark on the floor left from a previous show might dictate the placement of one of his pieces. I love how he considers the space and how people manouevre through it. I also love how he incorporates cues and forms from architecture and his environment into his work.

Runcio-inspired fennel sugar glass, 2013

Fennel grows in wild abundance around his studio over by Pier 70. It's one of those plants that manages to push it's way through the concrete and the smell of it is one of the first thing you encounter when visiting the studio. So, I used the fennel to infuse sugar, cooked it with water, poured it onto a pan lined with pieces of silver leaf to harden slightly and cut it into pieces. And so Runcio-inspired sugar glass was delivered to him at his opening on a piece of found (and washed) concrete. We kept it quiet, but I did catch a few visitors eating some while perusing the work.

Here are a few sneak peeks of some of the pieces that inspired us.