ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ

Mischief Night is Taylor Schultek’s third solo exhibition at Gallery Poulsen. With a series of new paintings, Schultek stages a range of figurative narratives that capture the energy of the young and the lawless — serving as a playful counterpoint to a time marked by rising authoritarian tendencies and social control.

The paintings also depict concrete, playful acts of rebellion — from graffiti and mischievous pranks to vandalism targeting authorities like police stations. The city emerges as a stage where youthful unrest and ritualized resistance unfold beneath glowing night skies and electric colors. In this visual world, rules seem fluid, while a mysterious, almost supernatural atmosphere challenges the boundaries between control and freedom.

Taylor Schultek draws on his experiences of New York’s urban environment — both the tangible and the digital — to create complex and ambiguous narratives. His visual language combines elements from the city’s harsh concrete landscapes, hidden corners, and virtual spaces, blurring the line between fiction and reality.

In several of the new works, the supernatural emerges as a natural extension of this ambiguous reality. For example, one painting shows an ordinary house with an intense red light shining out of the windows, where both a floating woman and a levitating plant suggest a world where the impossible becomes possible, and everyday rules are challenged. Additionally, several paintings depict strong neon-like lights glowing from hidden places, inviting reflections on mysterious or supernatural occurrences. This magical realism opens up an exploration of how we experience and understand our surroundings in a time marked by uncertainty and change.

The exhibition’s title refers to a spirit rather than an event — a state where resistance can be both physical and imaginative. Where rebellion takes form through actions that are not necessarily destructive, but liberating. The paintings vibrate with life, movement, and courage. And at the heart of it all: a sense of hope.

Taylor Schultek, who was himself a graffiti artist in his youth, shares that the paintings evoke a nostalgia for a time in his life marked simultaneously by chaos and freedom — a feeling that the paintings themselves also convey.

The exhibition also reflects on the artistic collaboration and development that has taken place over the years. Many of the paintings directly reference earlier works — featuring recognizable elements, symbols, and scenarios that reappear in new versions. A visual memory, both to the gallery and its audience, of the language Schultek has built and continuously evolved.

Mischief Night is not just an exhibition — it is a state of being. A space between order and unrest. Between control and freedom. Between the seen and the hidden.