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.
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Whitehot Recommends: Hunter Amos at Anna Zorina Gallery advertise donate post your art opening recent articles cities contact about article index podcast main February 2024 "The Best Art In The World" "The Best Art In The World" February 2024 Whitehot Recommends: Hunter Amos at Anna Zorina Gallery Installation view...
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 DUST 171217 Zhang Zhenyu uses fragments of dust collected across the city, and then creates dark abstract paintings, repetitively gluing the material to the canvas, applying up to 30 or 100 layers and sanding until he arrives at a smooth surface...
The Metropolitan Museum will repatriate 16 Khmer sculptures to Cambodia and Thailand Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Antiquities trafficking news The Metropolitan Museum will repatriate 16 Khmer sculptures to Cambodia and Thailand The museum had been pressured and petitioned for years to return objects tied to smuggler Douglas Latchford Theo Belci 15 December 2023 Share Two antiquities with ties to the late dealer Douglas Latchford—the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Seated in Royal Ease from the tenth or eleventh century (left) and the Head of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion from the tenth century (right)—will be repatriated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art has begun the repatriation process for 16 sculptures previously held in its permanent collection, returning 14 to Cambodia and two to Thailand...
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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...
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...