Korakrit Arunanondchai, Workshop for Peace/Cry Pan Cry (2018), via Clearing
Marking a particularly expansive approach, Clearing Gallery has invited a massive list of artists to fill the gallery’s expansive Bushwick exhibition space. Bringing together an expansive range of the gallery’s artist in a conversation around modern practices, aesthetics and concepts. Moving across a series of sculptural and painterly iterations that create a colorful and expressive whole, the show makes for a refreshing and exploratory take on the summer group show.
Meriem Bennani & Orian Barki, 2 Lizards (2020), via Clearing
With the range of artists on view, the show presents as a series of connections and interlocking aesthetic cues that unify the the gallery’s artists and curatorial vision. In one room, artist Korakrit Arunanondchai presents one of his signature hyper-loaded assemblages, a massive sculpture depicting a model of the United Nations awash in body parts, sticks and other symbols of a slow, subtle decay. By contrast, a comical video by Meriem Bennani & Orian Barki ties together the surreal and the every day with a pair of masked lizards discussing the current state of the world.
Loïc RagueÌneÌ€s, Telgruc-sur-mer Parade (2020), via Clearing
Other works emphasize the gallery’s regular investigation of the lines between design, sculpture and painting. Loïc RagueÌneÌ€s’s simple depictions of water, turned towards an interpretation of classical interior design tropes, for instance, balances against the warped dimensionality of Hugh Hayden’s Black walnut/white oak, a surreal realization of a chess board bound into the chairs used to play, and leaning towards the ground, a physical manifestation of the mental struggle inherent in the game. In other work by Daniel Dewar & Grégory Gicquel, the sculptural turns quite expressly towards furniture, realizing a new iteration of the art nouveau style twisted through through a distinctly psychedelic lens.
Hugh Hayden, Black walnut/white oak (2021)
As a whole, the show explores a range of concepts and materials in each work, taking a meandering path through the gallery’s artists as a striking introduction to its vision, or perhaps a welcome refresher. The show closes August 27.
Ryan Foerster, Coney Island (2021), via Clearing
– D. Creahan
Read More:
Often Vary Never Change [Exhibition Site]
