55 x 42 inches
Human Quarry is a large work on paper by Leslie Shows made of a combination of acrylic paint and collage. Both through its title and formally—through how the shapes in the composition resemble a mountain or natural formation—the piece relays us to a mineral quarry or a deep mining pit where materials are extracted. Interspersed among the block-like figures and rocky textures, we also see several human silhouettes, either cut-out, or as if they were whited out by a shining light, or lost in the shadows. There’s additional evidence of human presence: architectural features such as steps and a window, and symmetrical forms that resemble an X-ray scan or an inkblot from a Rorschach test. These references are collisions of opposing forces—positive and negative space, light and dark, presence and absence, consciousness and the subconscious. Together they comprise a complex excavation that somehow equates human experience with geological time, as if the spectral figures were layers of sediment from civilizations past.
Although at first Leslie Shows’ work might read as abstract compositions, a close inspection reveals her expanded approach to painting and the deeper connections she has forged between her practice and the realms of geology, the passing of time and the imaginary. Her works are usually large in scale and materially rich, deftly combining a lush and diverse arsenal including sand, paint, metal, fabrics, plexiglass, ink, and collage among others. Whether hung sideways in diamond-like shapes, or laden with folds, fragments and textures that stretch and drip, her work is rarely confined within the limits of a frame. A key aspect of Shows’ practice is an interest in the various ways in which we relate to the natural world. She has taken inspiration from the mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, also known as fool’s gold; from water formations from the faces of rocks; and even from calcified mining ruins that the artist remembers from her childhood spent in Juneau, Alaska. Whether suggesting forms from nature like beehives, or emulating the textures of crystals and marble or the shapes of minerals, each piece connects us to a place, a landscape, real or imagined.
Romain Best — Coulissements par frictions — Frac île-de-france, le Plateau — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Romain Best — Coulissements par frictions — Frac île-de-france, le Plateau — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Romain Best — Coulissements par frictions Exhibition Installation, sculpture, mixed media Romain Best, Coulissements par frictions, 2023 © Romain Best Romain Best Coulissements par frictions Ends in 27 days: November 9, 2023 → January 7, 2024 The Project Room is the Frac’s new prospective and experimental space, located in the last room of the Plateau...
Prison Bakery at Pompeii Sheds Light on Slavery in the Ancient World – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Francesca Aton Plus Icon Francesca Aton Associate Digital Editor, ARTnews and Art in America View All December 12, 2023 12:47pm Prison bakery identified at Pompeii Archaeological Park, Italy...
Tectonic Model is made from a number of leather bound books piled up in different formations that resemble architecture on top of a sawhorse desk...
Mark Bradford "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" Hauser & Wirth / Monaco | | Flash Art Flash Art uses cookies strictly necessary for the proper functioning of the website, for its legitimate interest to enhance your online experience and to enable or facilitate communication by electronic means...
Laura Lamiel — Ursule — Marcelle Alix Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Laura Lamiel — Ursule — Marcelle Alix Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Laura Lamiel — Ursule Exhibition Installation, sculpture Laura Lamiel, Ursule (2), 2023 — Vue de l’exposition Ursule, 2023...
In the work We only move wehen something changes !!!, Olaf Breuning composes a portrait of posed antiglobalization protesters, each wearing clown noses, inside of a scene reminiscent of an event...
A fragile resource: new Pattani Archives space offers rare glimpse into world of influential Indian royal family Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Archives news A fragile resource: new Pattani Archives space offers rare glimpse into world of influential Indian royal family The venue will bring together photographs, works of art, political documents and more that showcase art in the country as it transitioned through independence Malcolm Cossons 13 December 2023 Share Photographs discovered in the Pattani archives feature Mahatma Gandhi Courtesy of Pattani Archives Avni Pattani recalls the moment, in 2020, when she found masses of papers piled inside a house once owned by a family member in Bhavnagar in Gujarat, on the northwestern coast of India...
The video 9000 PIECES by Euan Macdonald was filmed at a musical instrument factory in Shanghai where 90 percent of the pianos that they manufacture are exported around the world, and only 10 percent are “finished” and can be labeled “Made in the US (or) Europe.” The video captures an intricate network of mechanisms as they interact with each other, their rhythmic movements resulting in an intense choreography and a cacophony of metallic sounds dramatized by Macdonald’s editing...
Phillip Lai at Kiang Malingue – ARTOMITY 藝源 Phillip Lai / For Caution / Dec 12, 2023 – Jan 27, 2024 / Opening: Saturday, Dec 9, 3pm – 6pm / Wan Chai Gallery / Kiang Malingue 10 Sik On Street Wan Chai, Hong Kong Tuesday – Saturday, 12am – 6pm +852 2810 0317 kiangmalingue.com Kiang Malingue is pleased to present For Caution , an exhibition of new work by Phillip Lai...