GLENN LIGON

Posted on 2018-08-06

For his first solo exhibition at Galerie Chantal Crousel, Glenn Ligon will present a new series of large and small silkscreen and ink marker paintings, based on abstracted letter forms; two figurative neon installations inspired by an uncompleted project of Pier Paolo Pasolini; ten oil stick and coal dust paintings on paper quoting a Gertrude Stein text.
Since the 1990s, Glenn Ligon has been exploring American history, literature and society by turning focusing on words, their meaning and illegibility. Relying on various literary sources such as texts by James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein, Walt Whitman or Jean Genet to name only a few, his approach gives palpable density and weight to the word. With this new body of work presented in Paris, Ligon takes text to an even more abstract level. Whilst the quotation taken from Gertrude Stein’s Three Lives is covered by coal dust in the Soleil Nègre paintings, hence becoming hardly legible, language is decomposed in the Debris Fields silkscreens into abstracted letter forms, and the universally symbolic image of the hand replaces the text in a neon installation.

Opposite – Debris Field #6, 2018

Exhibition runs from September 8th – October 4th, 2018

Galerie Chantal Crousel
10, rue Charlot
75003 Paris Paris
France

www.crousel.com

  

LANDON METZ – ASYMMETRICAL SYMMETRY

Posted on 2018-08-06

Chance and repetition are consistent themes informing Metz’s various bodies of work and qualities that connect the five distinct groups of paintings in this exhibition. Rendered in four unique colors, two of which are new to the artist and will debut in this exhibition, Metz’s paintings are displayed in an atypical manner, in this instance progressing through the gallery in a serial fashion, moving both horizontally and vertically across the space. Displayed as diptychs and triptychs, alone and in larger groups, the canvases echo specific measurements taken from the architecture of the gallery. The works proceed throughout the gallery and onto the ceiling, encouraging the viewer to experience the exhibition in different ways.

Just as Metz’s approach to presentation departs from the traditional, his method of composition is uniquely distinctive. Rather than paint in the typical manner, Metz uses a specially devised pigment dye, which he pours onto unprimed canvas, coaxing the liquid into vaguely biomorphic shapes. This labor-intensive process is lengthy as the dyes take many hours to evaporate and dry. The elements of time and action that infuse the making of his paintings distinguish Metz’s practice as both meditative and performative.

Opposite – Untitled, 2017

Exhibition runs from September 7th – October 20th, 2018

Sean Kelly
475 Tenth Avenue
NY 10018 New York
USA

www.skny.com

  

PHILLIP KING – COLOR SPACE PLACE

Posted on 2018-07-30

Emerging onto the London art scene in the early 1960s, King remains to this day a pioneering figure in the field of sculpture. His carefully composed abstractions bear an affinity to painting, both through the visual interplay of vibrant hues and a resolute frontality. King creates forms with the aim that his sculptures be perceived in their totality from any single vantage point. The array of materials he employs, such as concrete, steel, fiberglass, polyurethane foam, and wood, each prescribe their own means of construction, presenting King with various challenges surrounding movement, strength, and stability. In this regard, the artist moves beyond purely optical concerns and into the tactile. His interests in architecture inform his approach to scale and spatial relationships where he explores volumes both within and between surfaces.

At the heart of the current exhibition are two large-scale sculptures comprised of geometric planes that intersect each other at tilted angles: Swirl, 2018, and Blue Glow, 2016. Color plays an integral role in delineating surfaces—at times foregrounding flatness through their uniformity, at other times revealing depth and shadows along modulated edges. Circular cutouts offer illusions of lightness that are counterbalanced by solid elements. When viewed in context, such surface openings furthermore draw the sculpture’s background into the work as the artist activates the surrounding architecture via painted walls.

Opposite – Swirl, 2018

Exhibition runs through to August 10th, 2018

Luhring Augustine
531 West 24th Street
NY 10011 New York
USA

www.luhringaugustine.com

  

D*FACE – HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

Posted on 2018-07-30

“HOME IS WHERE THE hEART IS” presents the artist’s first ever exhibition in the Pacific Northwest and will showcase work both new and old in order to reflect the career of one of Street Art’s longest standing pioneers. Iconic works including his depictions of Marilyn Monroe and Queen Elizabeth II will make an appearance alongside brand new works on show for the first time at the exhibition.

Regarding the the show and it being his Washington debut, D*Face has stated, “This show immediately presented itself to me as an opportunity to be introspective – to throw on the brakes and look back at some of the images and icons that shaped my work from the outset. I wanted to combat the idea that nostalgia is the enemy of progress. Appropriately applied past experience can be one of the most useful tools a person has, and personally I’ve always been a “don’t fix what ain’t broke” kinda guy anyway. As for this being my first show in Seattle, I think it’s a fitting contrast of old meets new, and it’s a city that really resonates with the anti-establishment men-tality that’s always been at the core of my work. I remember discovering Nirvana, hearing them for the first time on a rare Australian import and then seeing that iconic set on Top of The Pops years later – just like the Sex Pistols on the Bill Grundy show – one massive middle finger to society. I see it now like rotting the apple from the inside out… nobody seemed to notice that this lovely green apple was slowly being eaten away from the inside, and then WHAM! out we burst, this bunch of maggots set on defacing the facade of purity. Seattle was an undeniable centre in all that – it’s about time I pay the city a visit to honour that history.” – D*FACE

Opposite – Last Embrace Before Departure (2017)

Exhibition runs through to August 10th, 2018

Treason Gallery
Pioneer Square
319 3rd Ave S
Seattle
WA 98104

www.lissongallery.com

  

TONY OURSLER – TC: THE MOST INTERESTING MAN ALIVE

Posted on 2018-07-30

The work is a performative mixture of written, oral history and improvisation sequences, shot over a period of approximately six months in Oursler’s studio in New York City. The film is structured around various notable points in the multimedia artist’s life from childhood through his formative creative years. It begins with an introduction by Conrad, told over a soundtrack of his one of his avant-garde musical scores, in which he states “You know if you’re talking about your own life, then you’ve got a lot of things you can draw on, you can fall back on all kinds of things you make, you remember. You can’t really go wrong because according to what they say, all stories are autobiographical.” Characters in Conrad’s memory are performed by friends and fellow artists such as Paige Sarlin, Constance Dejong, Joe Gibbons, Maríe Losier, Peggy Awash and Jennifer Walsh.
The dramatized reenactments and sound experiments portray a complicated and comic tribute to the artist’s life. The film examines how memories can be reimagined and recombined to form new meaning, asking how exactly we become who we are. It begs an answer to the question — are we more than a collection of stories and experiences arranged in sequence and doomed to be lost in the passage in time of time? A version of this work first premiered at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia in 2016. New footage was added for this exhibition.

Exhibition runs through to August 10th, 2018

Lisson Gallery
138 Tenth Avenue
10011 New York
USA

www.lissongallery.com

  

CASEY WELDON – BLUNDERLUST

Posted on 2018-07-23

Casey Weldon’s work has garnered much acclaim throughout the contemporary art world. Utilizing his iconic psychedelic palette of bright pinks and blue hues, Weldon’s work stands out amongst others in the “post pop-surrealist” movement. Weldon’s paintings depict strange and dreamlike circumstances of interchange between people and the natural world, creating a poignant and cinematic narrative that draws his viewers in.

Weldon’s new solo exhibition, ‘BLUNDERLUST’ is his long awaited and highly anticipated return to Seattle since his last exhibition in 2016. ‘BLUNDERLUST’ consists of an entirely new body of work, unseen to the public, rooted in Weldon’s familiar choice subjects: a variety of surreally painted cats and women placed in alternative realities and environments. Executed with his signature meticulous touch, Weldon’s work is simultaneously curious and exciting, appearing backlit with exuberant energy.

Opposite – Starry Party (2018)

Exhibition runs through to July 28th, 2018

TREASON Gallery
319 3rd Ave S
Seattle
WA 98104, USA

treasongallery.com