RYAN MROZOWSKI – OPEN, OTHER, END

The title Open, Other, End, hints at what may be Mrozowski’s strategy for constructing paintings, by means of duplicating, repeating, and inverting the most commonplace of imagery (oranges, polka dots, birds, flowers, grass) in endless variations. These items, broken into their constituent parts and stripped of specific or personal context, reveal the uncanny and absurd appearance of a world subject to excessive cataloguing and archiving.
Mrozowski observes his subject matter with a playful and satirical distance, isolating the elements of landscape, still life, or narrative situations. In doing so, he negates both the original intent and artificial construction of desire at the core of most constructed picture planes we encounter on a daily basis, as in the case of display objects and advertising. The use of grids and patterns create an illusion of order. However, this is a decoy; rather, Mrozowski’s characteristic mechanisms for dis-logic charm the viewer’s eye in an absurd and cyclical non-narrative.

Opposite – Untitled (Orange), 2015

Exhibition runs from November 1st to December 13th, 2015

On Stellar Rays
1 Rivington St
New York
10002

www.skotogallery.com

IFEOMA ANYAEJI – OWU (THREADING)

Ifeoma Anyaeji’s recent work continues her exploration of discarded materials, its quality and physical nature, placing emphasis on process to activate a meaningful engagement and creative openness that strives to reinvigorate newly acquired techniques and ideas. Her work centers on the idea of up-cycling or concept of material re-use such as the ubiquitous non-biodegradable plastic bags and bottles into something of greater value and unorthodox, eliciting unique elements of ripeness and continuous growth. Using traditional hair plaiting techniques from her homeland, she threads and braids discarded plastic bags into plasto-yarns combined with a strong compositional ability into complex yet lyrical visual narratives filtered through cultural memories and contemporary realities that reflect subtle understanding of context and an awareness of the relationship between function and experimentation.

Opposite – Owu, 2015

Exhibition runs through to November 7th, 2015

Skoto Gallery
529 West 20th Street, 5FL.
New York
NY 10011

www.skotogallery.com

LIAM GILLICK

Combining works from the 1990s with new production this exhibition plays with the way groups develop their ideas in cohesion and tension with the individual. Drawing on anthropologist Mary Douglas’s interpretations of sociologist Ludwik Fleck, Liam Gillick juxtaposes works that were produced in collective environments in the 1990s with new structures and a film produced alone. As such, the exhibition reflects on the contradictions that arise between the individual and the group in relation to the production of art.

The title of the exhibition refers to Fleck and Douglas’s investigation of the way a thought style links group members via their shared ideas, how they communicate and the methods they employ. These ideas affect the art’s subjectivity and are reflected in a series of new text works.

A central work in the exhibition, A broadcast from 1887 on the Subject of our Time, was originally produced in 1996 and involved a broadcast directed towards a utopian community. The content of the broadcast is taken from Edward Bellamy’s book Looking Backward (1887) – which includes an account of a radio broadcast before the invention of the medium.

Opposite – When Do We Need More Tractors? Five Plans, 1999

Exhibition runs through to November 22nd, 2015

Maureen Paley
21 Herald Street
London
E2 6JT

www.maureenpaley.com