Great and sudden change: Tymur Postovyi, Michael Dean & Camille Henrot
3 October – 1 November, 2024
173 Canal Street, New York, NY
“Nothing is so painful to the human
mind as a great and sudden change.”
-Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818
The exhibition features the work of three artists that telegraph themes of transformation, the body, and intimacy through their respective mediums. Tymur Postovyi, the Ukraine born, Paris based painter (making his debut here in the United States) invokes tropes of both Surrealism and Abstraction, situating his figures — creatures presented with varying degrees of legibility— within domestic but fantastical settings in a nod to an increasingly unrecognizable but ultimately humorous world.
Michael Dean’s sculptures and installations begin for him with language and an effort to make tangible forms out of his experience of semiotics and typographical abstractions. These explorations most commonly employ materials familiar in our built world (concrete, rebar, steel, paper, cable ties) but find them recast entirely in an effort to challenge pre-existing associations and appeal to a more base instinct as if experiencing these things for the first time.
-Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818
The exhibition features the work of three artists that telegraph themes of transformation, the body, and intimacy through their respective mediums. Tymur Postovyi, the Ukraine born, Paris based painter (making his debut here in the United States) invokes tropes of both Surrealism and Abstraction, situating his figures — creatures presented with varying degrees of legibility— within domestic but fantastical settings in a nod to an increasingly unrecognizable but ultimately humorous world.
Michael Dean’s sculptures and installations begin for him with language and an effort to make tangible forms out of his experience of semiotics and typographical abstractions. These explorations most commonly employ materials familiar in our built world (concrete, rebar, steel, paper, cable ties) but find them recast entirely in an effort to challenge pre-existing associations and appeal to a more base instinct as if experiencing these things for the first time.
Camille Henrot is widely known for her capacity to move seamlessly between media — working across sculpture, installation, paint, animation and in this case, film, to probe sources of anxiety in the world both as we know it, and as she imagines it. In ‘Psychopompe’ (2011), she draws on eclectic sources, including B-movies, climbing videos and scientific documents to examine the enduring legacy of Frankenstein. This work muddles the lines between humans, animals, and machines, prompting a reevaluation of the nature-culture divide. The film was originally designed to be accompanied by a live performance with improvised music, creating a mesmerizing ritual of change and transformation. This presentation will feature recordings of the film along with the live score from its initial format, and be accompanied by live music on two occasions.
The exhibition is on view at 173 Canal Street in New York City by appointment through 1 November, 2024.