Canvases finely layered by traces of molecular paint pigment; flashing sequential imagery of an overturned milk truck, the unctuous fluid spreading across an indistinct American highway; an immersive cubicle composed of paintings, a setting that mimics their process of creation. These are but elements of the recent works by emerging artist Jeremy Everett (b. 1979), which explore as part of his solo exhibition at Edouard Malingue Gallery, the poetic balance between beauty, adventitiousness and vulnerability.
Spanning the gallery walls is a selection of ‘Untitled’ smoke pigment works, the canvases appearing delicately draped in light pink to subtle grey hues. Reflecting Everett’s ongoing investigation with painting and its making, these works were created by igniting a pump through which a dispersion of gas permits smoke pigment to adhere to the canvas. Capturing the fabrics’ folds and delineating the works’ hidden supporting frameworks, the paintings convey a titillating sense of sensitivity and vulnerability, whilst conveying a notion of tonal abstraction.
Moving through the gallery space, the viewers are presented with a cubicle, the height of the existing walls. Entirely composed of smoke pigment works, arranged to form an open box-like structure, one is invited to walk in and be surrounded by the sensitive panels. Centrally positioned, the viewer assumes the station of the pump during the paintings’ process of creation. Beyond alluding to their method of existence, the structure also permits for a novel way of experiencing painting. Stacked, they occupy a position between sculpture, installation and architectural construct. Moreover, one’s very proximity to works of such delicacy raises a level of consciousness as to our own fragility and sense of space.
Developing upon this notion of the vulnerable is the new double-channel video ‘Floy’ (2015), presented at the back of the gallery, streaming off the walls and onto the floor. Shown is an industry-size truck that has been dramatically overturned onto an American highway, the gushing milk fatally encircling the toppled vehicle. Purposely filled, driven, pushed and filmed by helicopter, the video stands as dramatic evidence of a monumental, staged yet haphazard, performance. Ultimately, it presents the ambiguously real sighting of an obstruction, whether it be the highway, deliberately closed prior, or the consequently blocked road by a body of steel and its surrounding cream vestiges.
Ultimately, Everett’s exhibition investigates the aesthetic parameters of happenstance; how ad hoc interventions, whether in physical space or around the traditions of creation, translate into visually impacting formulations. Such impact though, crucially stems from a subtle reformulation of the ordinary: it is quiet, delicate and measured. Herein then lies Everett’s poetic power: a distinct ability for presenting beauty alongside vulnerability without the superfluous addition of dramatic affect.
Jeremy Everett is a highly celebrated emerging artist who has held solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, New York, Paris and Hong Kong, amongst other locations. Everett recently held a residency at Hooper Projects in Los Angeles and upcoming projects include an exhibition at GRANPALAZZO, Rome. Furthermore, Everett’s work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Everett’s practice has been extensively featured in publications and critical reviews including Phaidon, l’Officiel de l’Art, Muse Magazine, The New York Times, The Smithsonian Magazine, Flash Art, Modern Painters and ArtReview, amongst others.
About the exhibition
Dates: Feb 4, 2016 - Mar 12, 2016
Opening: Feb 3, 2016, 18:00, Wednesday
Venue: Edouard Malingue Gallery
Courtesy of the artist and Edouard Malingue Gallery.
