Tag: Last Rites Gallery

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Henrik Uldalen Solo Exhibition “Rapture” @ Last Rites Gallery

14 May – 3 July 2016
Opening Night Reception: 14 May 2016 @ 7pm
Last Rites Gallery
325 West 38th Street
New York, NY 10018 USA

Last Rites Gallery is pleased to announce Rapture, a solo exhibition of works by Henrik Uldalen, on view at 325 W 38th Street from May 14 – July 3, 2016. The opening reception will take place Saturday, May 14th at 7pm. The Norwegian figurative painter’s darkly rendered subjects are cloaked in a dense cloud of charged emotion. Uldalen’s people are often portrayed in frozen, near death-like moments of numbing pain. Yet, his exquisite paintings are ethereal and other worldly.

Henrik Uldalen’s subjects are meticulously produced. His brushstrokes are both expressionistic and invisible to the eye, and his palette of cold ice blues and beiges, ochres and light pinks, is a study in the aesthetics of extreme solitude and suffering. The psychological states Uldalen chases feature subjects who appear to be drifting away from consciousness. Indeed, Uldalen is painting the subtly shifting winds of the human storm – coming to terms with one’s own daimon, the emotional shadow that plays just off to the wings throughout our lives.

“Rapture” is the artist’s painful, but liberating metamorphosis from a set of classical influences he’s grown up with. These newest works, Uldalen says, prevail over the sensation of what he terms a “nihilistic void” that has always accompanied his intensely detailed and emotionally disorienting figurative oil paintings. This series works out a handful of seemingly personal but universal conflicts – from the navel gazing of Narcissus, hypnotized by his own reflection, to the struggles of mythological creatures such as the Minotaur – each indicative of a peculiar state of mind. Uldalen set himself the task of exploring the life-long endeavors of those who recognize they are trapped in the maze of their own ineluctable fates. Uldalen cathartically exorcized these emotionally torn humans with a powerful and clear poetry, a dirge-like refrain perceived in the stoic facial expressions of his male characters as well as the gracious yet dramatic eyes of his female figures. “My art has evolved quite a bit, since I started out painting. I was heavily influenced by classical representational art and Norwegian fairy tales. As a result, the paintings I made back then might be classified as “anachronistic.” While I’m still fascinated by classical art, I have moved away from neo-classical figuration – perfectionism – although what has not changed is the emotional impact my paintings are meant to have on viewers,” says the artist.

Uldalen begins each work with a photo shoot using models, then he experiments with a range of colors that seem to fit the skin tone and unendurable emotion he’s looking to explore. With the last series, Henrik abandoned a previous analytical and structural approach to painting in favor of one more fluid and less mapped out. His portraits are an attempt, he says, to be truer to himself – a looser, more open view towards humanity – but without any dilution of the craft and the expressive technique he’s mastered in the handling of paint.

Henrik Uldalen (b. 1986, Asker, Norway) is a figurative painter based in London, U.K. He has been featured in many publications, including HiFructose and American Art Collector. His work has been showcased across Europe, America and Australia. Uldalen has had group and solo exhibitions at Galleri Ramfjord, Olso, Norway; Thinkspace, Los Angeles, CA; Jonathan Levine Gallery, NYC; Corey Helford Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco, CA; Copro Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; BeinArt Gallery, Melbourne, AU; Last Rites Gallery, NYC and Spoke Art, San Francisco, CA.

Henrik Uldalen is also the creator of “Paintguide,” a wildly popular Instagram feed focused on contemporary painting. In 2015 Uldalen curated “Unit’s London Paintguide: the World’s First Instagram Show” for the Unit Gallery in London, UK.

Further info about the exhibition or the gallery, email info@lastritesgallery.com or call Casey Gleghorn (Gallery Director & Curator) at 570-447-5778.

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The Opening of Booth Gallery

Todd Lim-Trinity-Acrylic-Oil-and-House-Paint-on Canvas-80-x-60

On 5 November 2015 world-renowned tattoo artist Paul Booth, the owner of the Last Rites Gallery in NYC, opened a new gallery called Booth Gallery.

Booth Gallery and its program of carefully selected artists will take over the large ground floor space of 325 W 38th St. (NYC, NY 10018), and the Last Rites Gallery will be relocated to the second floor mezzanine gallery for a more focused program of Contemporary Surrealism. Booth Gallery will allow Paul to display works by an even broader selection of local and international contemporary artists.

Paul has wanted to launch a new gallery focused on the exploration of new avenues in terms of cultural significance and visual communication for years. Booth Gallery’s program has been conceived to encompass a departure from contemporary surrealism for which Paul and Last Rites Gallery have been known. Paul’s goal for his new gallery is to develop a wider audience interested in connections between historical relevance and experimentation of idea based works. Furthermore, the gallery aims to trigger discussions focusing around social, psychological and philosophical subjects in virtue of a deliberately thought-provoking approach to contemporary art. We would like to invite you all to become an active part of our ongoing dialogue and new perspective on these topics.

Booth Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “Second Sight”, opening on November 14th at 6pm, will revolve around the connection that exists between information, perception and interpretation. This exhibition will include new works from artists Mike Cockrill, Jade Townsend, Ted Lawson, Chad Wys, Todd Lim, Johan Barrios, Ekaterina Panikanova, Ryan Hewett and Jesse Draxler.  This exhibition will be pivoted on the ambiguous connection existing between information, perception and interpretation. The title of the exhibition refers to the concept indicating the extraordinary ability of certain individuals to look beyond the oftentimes deceptive immediacy of the five senses. “Second Sight” has been conceived to explore the meanings and symbols that can be identified in the work of these artists through the interpretation of a vast repertoire of images, memories and esthetic experiences. The main goal of this exhibition is to highlight the analogies and differences between reality, representation and everything in between.

All the works have been selected in virtue of a dialog-based interaction that had been previously triggered by the artists themselves. In the light of these premises, the work of Chad Wys relates perfectly to the imagery of Jesse Draxler, since they are both deeply connected to the stratagems of visual communication and culture. The juxtaposition of excess and absence of information is a topical subject that can also be individuated in the work of Ekaterina Panikanova. Jade Townsend and Johan Barrios are like modern shamans who can turn the narrative dynamism of drawing, painting and sculpture into figments of their prolific imagination. The work of Ted Lawson, focused on experimentation, revolves around scientific theories, new materials and technology. Mike Cockrill and Todd Lim, on the other hand, prefer to provoke the viewers through an intricate alternation of social political and psychological statements. Together, these artists give us the opportunity to explore our existential perceptions of our reality.

Booth Gallery will follow up its inaugural exhibition with solo exhibitions by LA artist Jesse Draxler and Brooklyn artist Mike Cockrill in 2016 with several future exhibitions to be announced as well.

 

For further information about Booth Gallery, please visit: www.paulboothgallery.com or email: paulboothgallery@gmail.com or call Casey Gleghorn (Gallery Director) at 570-447-5778

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An Evening Filled With “An Exchanging Glance”

The Jeremy Hush Exhibition at Last Rites Gallery, NYC
21 November 2015 – 16 January 2016

On November 21st, I attended the opening reception for “An Exchanging Glance”, a solo exhibition of new works by Philadelphia illustration artist Jeremy Hush. The title of the show comes from one of the main pieces featured in the exhibition, where a Bateleur eagle sits atop an empty skull that rests in its nest, the piercing stare of the eagle juxtaposed with the vacant human eye sockets. It’s a reversal of dominion (i.e., the thinking of what humans actually assert dominion over) and what that entails. This piece, along with others included in the exhibition, is meant to remind us of the responsibility we have to other inhabitants of this world. In this way, Hush’s work demands that we rethink our roles, definitions, and the ways we understand ourselves as somehow superior to nature. Many works feature humans at moments of extreme vulnerability, or even demise, and with utter emotional vacancy. The plants and animals, on the other hand, are depicted with rich emotional and psychological character. This aesthetic experience comes complete with a massive installation comprised of five wooden rosette arches underlying the works of art.

When I first saw the media for this show, the images reminded me of 17th – 18th century Northern European still-life paintings, the really beautiful but incredibly ominous ones that contain time pieces, skulls, rotting fruit and dead animals, things which serve as symbols for death, life, vanity, earthly pleasures, greed, etc. Hush’s work, like these classic paintings, also holds a cautionary message about our behavior and inclinations towards the world we live in. The golden giant rosette arches, reminiscent of those found in a church surrounding stained glass windows or comprising the alter rails, create a dramatic contrast with both the imagery of the works and the black walls of the gallery. They inspire further contemplation of the things we humans do and why we do them. Religion depicts man as God’s highest creation, the earth with all its plants and animals is ours to use as we like. Often that statement seems to be interpreted as ‘abuse as we like’. Humans have used God not only to commit atrocities against each other, but against Mother Nature as well. Hush’s work forces us to confront the notions we have about our status in this world (i.e., a creature among creatures or an entitled godly beast) and even question the things that supposedly make us superior. At this ‘place of worship’ we do not find imagery of the Good Shepherd holding the docile beast, but rather we discover triumphant aspects of the natural world teaching humans the error of hubris. It’s all very dramatic and oh so stunning to look at.

As a philosopher, the theme was one that deeply interested me because historically great thinkers have attempted to assert and justify humankind’s superiority over nature by way of our rationality: we have big brains and can do logic, therefore we are master over mother nature! (I think, therefore I am the master of the universe.) Yet, we really know and control so little of this world. Hush’s work not only reminds us of the responsibilities we have to creatures great and small, but that this notion of ‘dominion over all’ we have entertained for over a thousand years will never succeed. It’s a fantasy. And given the state of the world at the moment – wars, poverty, racism, climate change, and reality TV – should we really be top beast?

Be sure to check out this exhibition before it’s gone. It’s beautiful, provocative, and insightful.

As for Last Rites Gallery, it’s a wonderful place to take in some great contemporary surrealist art. The gallery strives to display a showcase of thought-provoking art imbued with references to the dreamlike landscapes and ambiguous feelings originated from an intimate, philosophical contemplation of the self. Last Rites invites the observer to reflect inward and abandon himself to a conscious perception of what the innermost recesses of the mind can reveal and produce under the urge to see beyond our apparent limits. The gallery program is mainly focused on figurative paintings and sculptures featured by an unconventional interpretation of the human existence that seems to escape any definition of what is real, unreal or unknown.

 

About Jeremy Hush:
Born in 1973 in San Diego, CA, Jeremy Hush graduated from the Savannah College of Art in 1997. Inspired by the work of Arthur Rackham and other 19th century illustrators, as well as by the world of punk and heavy metal music, Hush’s imagery is strictly intertwined with the allegories and symbols of nature. To create his works, Jeremy prefers to use found materials such as ballpoint pens from around the world. While drawing and painting in a seemingly traditional way, Hush also experiments with a variety of unconventional mediums and techniques. Jeremy has been included in a number of group and solo exhibitions, and his works can be found in many private collections. He currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.

 

About Last Rights Gallery:
Established in 2008 by Paul Booth, Last Rites has become a premiere gallery for contemporary surrealism and a haven for artists who are not afraid of exploring and dissecting every aspect of the human condition to investigate the invisible, the unintelligible and the inexplicable with a focus on the most recondite twists and turns of reality.

Last Rites Gallery is located at 325 W 38th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues, New York, NY.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 1pm to 9pm, Sundays 1pm to 6pm.
For more information, please email info@lastritesgallery.com or call: 212.560.0666.