Adam Henry : Alien Beatnik Siren
On view in New York City's Joe Sheftel Gallery is Adam Henry's latest body of work, 'Alien Beatnik Siren.' What an amazing week to be in the city and this exhibition adds to the breath-taking art that is happening there now.
"A system is as human as a splash of paint, more so when the splash gets routinized." – Lawrence Alloway, 'Systemic Painting,' 1966
This installation of fourteen nearly identical paintings are hung symmetrically with their sequence providing an opportunity to investigate the multiplicity of experience and an uncanny notion of time. Adam takes his explorations into the relationship between the psychological and optical of earlier works further, by attempting to create the same painting fourteen times. Knowing that this is impossible, he embraces the anomalies that happen through the process of making each individual painting – opposing the fetishization of authenticity and exploring differentiation through repetition rather than through variation.
all images courtesy of Adam Henry & Joe Sheftel Gallery
I imagine to stand in front of each painting and to fall completely in, would be awesome in the truest sense of the word. "These glowing surfaces parallel the backlit screens that have become the primary way images are both delivered and consumed." You are viewing THIS on a backlit screen. Adam's intentions are within a painting's ability to project light as opposed to reflecting it.
Congratulations, Adam!
May 4th - June 15th, 2014
Joe Sheftel Gallery | 24-A Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002