Nancy Shaver Is the Real Deal

"Sometimes, to relieve myself from the boredom of my own words-I was trying to write-I'd take a walk in the village; I especially liked to stop at a store where I once bought a beautiful big light bulb. The store was like an old curiosity shop, and I liked being enveloped by its warmth. Later, I learned that it was operated by the artist Nancy Shaver, and suddenly everything made sense: the small space was curated with a discerning eye."

"It's a show about squares-how, when they are assembled in interesting ways, they can yield different emotional landscapes. But Shaver's squares, composed of wooden blocks and fabric, or paper and acrylic, have a rigor that doesn't invite comparison with anything but themselves. She's no Mondrian, she's a Shaver, and, as such, has her own idea about form, which, despite her interest in the grid, isn't tight: her colors and ideas jump out at you with the force of the best abstraction."

I lived for a time in a small upstate New York town to get away, though I didn't know from what. To relieve boredom while trying to write, I walked the village and favored a store where I once bought a large light bulb. The store felt like an old curiosity shop and offered enveloping warmth; it was operated by artist Nancy Shaver, whose discerning eye curated the small space. Shaver's show 'Bus Stop' at the Derek Eller gallery centers on squares assembled from wooden blocks, fabric, paper, and acrylic into varied emotional landscapes. The work treats the grid with rigor without tightness, producing bold colors and forms. Earlier pictures from the 1970s appear at American Art Catalogues in a three-part presentation curated by Jared Buckhiester and Grant Schofield, complementing the block pieces.

Read at The New Yorker