Don Glentzer - Notan

February 8th - March 29th, 2025

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Houston Texas – Gallery Sonja Roesch is pleased to present “Notan”, its third solo exhibition of sculptures and works on paper by Don Glentzer. 

 

Elegantly minimal and suffused with implied motion, Glentzer’s latest works continue his exploration of the symbols of Benesh Movement Notation and Labanotation, written systems for recording choreographic scores. Also a response to diverse materials including basswood, birch, mahogany, aluminum, steel, magnets and hand-painted papers, the works convey an abstract, rhythmic language of their own rather than a literal reading of dance notations.

 

The exhibition borrows its title, “Notan,” from a Japanese word that means dark-light and also refers to a principle of graphic design in which positive and negative space interact, constructively.

 

With his sculptures, including wall-dependent works, Glentzer often juxtaposes delicacy and tensile strength. His colorful, slender forms and barely tethered lines dance joyfully through space, sometimes disrupting perceived edges. In his mixed media works on paper, that sense of balance often manifests through small but significant markings. 

 

Bold shapes and lyrical lines have long formed rhythmic relationships in Glentzer’s work. His early constructions were composed on a light table and printed. Produced more than a decade ago, they evolved from the refined aesthetic the artist developed during several decades as a commercial and editorial photographer. Born in Franklin, Indiana and raised mostly in Texas, he founded Don Glentzer Photography in 1981 in Houston, collaborating during that phase of his career with many renowned graphic designers. His photographs have been exhibited widely and are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and The Witliff Collections at Texas State University.