Elements that contradict can form partnerships that create realizations of familiarity. A body has parts, but the simplification of its identifiers that we use to build expectations, especially those around gender, is a form of control. Visual assumptions can only lead to one place—the future is cancelled. It must be renewed. KC Crow Maddux makes … Continue reading
Author Archives: Efrem Zelony-Mindell
What a Feeling: Justin Liam O’Brien at Monya Rowe Gallery
Built into the layers of figures, there are folds that forage something deeper than the inspiration of illustration or the relics of cubism. The flesh of Justin Liam O’Brien’s paintings is bestowed with deep hues of mindful depression that is associated with intimacy and rejection. The forms are inoculated with the instruction of abstraction and … Continue reading
Pink, Brown, Grey, White: John Hanning’s “Chase”
The body knows how to succumb to destruction. The psyche of something that drives deeper than flesh will compel that vessel to survive. The pain inside the cells and molecules that give into disease can be wielded to the desire of an individual’s want. The stories we tell inform the histories we live. There cannot … Continue reading
Smoke, Mirrors and Illusions: Kyle Vu-Dunn’s “Always”
There are idealized expectations of the body. There are normalized behaviors that feed the complacency of the public. The hope of homogeny is helped by the acceptance of blind wars–wars not between lands and seas, but wars of the mind that lurk in our homes and are broadcast on our airwaves. The saturation of these … Continue reading
Losing The Form In Darkness Of “The Unspeakable: A Dark Show”
On Thursday September 20th, I arrived at Mount Sinai Hospital at 5:45 AM prepared for surgery. By noon, I was home and in kinds of pain I’d rather not put down in words. The Unspeakable: A Dark Show curated by Peter Clough and organized by RE: Art Show’s Erin Davis & Max C. Lee … Continue reading
Vincent Tiley: A Body Without Organization
The body fits into its adornments; it is capable of more than its physicality. In Vincent Tiley’s art, the figure is not merely carnal. The potential of visual art is woven into the actions and implications of anatomy. Movement is an interconnected gesture to Tiley’s expression. Individuals are sculptural–they are not simply themselves, but they … Continue reading
You Really Got A Hold On Me: Louis Fratino
The flesh of men is confused in the fascination of color and surface in Louis Fratino’s paintings, which were recently on display in an exhibition So, I’ve Got You at Thierry Goldberg Gallery. Convex limbs fill space and plastique air—full, flush, and broad. All these parts abound with certain illustrative and anthropomorphic qualities in the works … Continue reading