Kim MacConnel: Slice of Life
Luhring Augustine is pleased to announce Slice of Life, a solo exhibition of works by Kim MacConnel that will be on view in our Chelsea location from October 25 through December 21, 2024. This show marks the artist鈥檚 second with the gallery, his work having previously featured in the group exhibition Patterns (Summer 2024).
Slice of Life showcases a group of MacConnel鈥檚 seminal 鈥渂edsheet鈥� paintings alongside a number of smaller gouaches on paper, which served as studies for the larger works. The presentation of this selection of works, all produced between 1979 and 1981, offers fresh insight into a key figure of the Pattern and Decoration movement. The cotton-sheeting base of the bedsheet pieces, painted with diluted acrylics and pinned to the walls as if they are positioned temporarily, bestows the works with a sense that they are floating visions that could dematerialize at any moment. MacConnel views this impermanence as a reflection of our current moment, chiefly the pressing issue of climate change and its anticipated effects over the coming decades.
MacConnel鈥檚 imagery is pulled from a range of sources 鈥� cartoonish 鈥渃lip art鈥� books from Hong Kong and the whimsical, bombastic aesthetics of the artist鈥檚 nine-year-old alter ego mingle with colors, patterns, and advertisement paintings inspired from the artist鈥檚 travels to places such as India and Mexico. When MacConnel created some of these works in the late 1970s, the process was both playful and provocative. In a manner akin to child鈥檚 game of 鈥淏attleship,鈥� imagining various near-apocalyptic devastations like scenes from a Godzilla film, he combined a complex interplay of various associations 鈥� Nature, Science, Commerce, Religion. These elements remain as potent as ever despite how distant our current moment seemed when the works were originally created over 40 years ago. For MacConnel, the bringing together of these works after so many years highlights how quickly the future becomes present, and serves as a cautionary message from the past.
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Luhring Augustine is pleased to announce Slice of Life, a solo exhibition of works by Kim MacConnel that will be on view in our Chelsea location from October 25 through December 21, 2024. This show marks the artist鈥檚 second with the gallery, his work having previously featured in the group exhibition Patterns (Summer 2024).
Slice of Life showcases a group of MacConnel鈥檚 seminal 鈥渂edsheet鈥� paintings alongside a number of smaller gouaches on paper, which served as studies for the larger works. The presentation of this selection of works, all produced between 1979 and 1981, offers fresh insight into a key figure of the Pattern and Decoration movement. The cotton-sheeting base of the bedsheet pieces, painted with diluted acrylics and pinned to the walls as if they are positioned temporarily, bestows the works with a sense that they are floating visions that could dematerialize at any moment. MacConnel views this impermanence as a reflection of our current moment, chiefly the pressing issue of climate change and its anticipated effects over the coming decades.
MacConnel鈥檚 imagery is pulled from a range of sources 鈥� cartoonish 鈥渃lip art鈥� books from Hong Kong and the whimsical, bombastic aesthetics of the artist鈥檚 nine-year-old alter ego mingle with colors, patterns, and advertisement paintings inspired from the artist鈥檚 travels to places such as India and Mexico. When MacConnel created some of these works in the late 1970s, the process was both playful and provocative. In a manner akin to child鈥檚 game of 鈥淏attleship,鈥� imagining various near-apocalyptic devastations like scenes from a Godzilla film, he combined a complex interplay of various associations 鈥� Nature, Science, Commerce, Religion. These elements remain as potent as ever despite how distant our current moment seemed when the works were originally created over 40 years ago. For MacConnel, the bringing together of these works after so many years highlights how quickly the future becomes present, and serves as a cautionary message from the past.
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Luhring Augustine is presenting Slice of Life, a solo exhibition of works by Kim MacConnel that is on view in the Chelsea location from October 25 through December 21, 2024.
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