Tyler Matthew Oyer RELEASE
Cirrus 2016
Tyler Matthew Oyer RELEASE
Sept. 16th, Nov. 12th, 2016 Cirrus Gallery 2011 S. Santa Fe Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90021
Cirrus 2016
RELEASE Introduction
Cirrus Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of RELEASE, Tyler Matthew Oyer’s second solo show with the gallery. The exhibition continues Oyer’s theatrical investigations and critiques of American imperialism, neoliberalism and greed with an installation of paintings, sculptures, apparel, and an original music album. The exhibition presents Oyer’s highly sought after, iconic black and gold works on paper that are derived from meditations on text and images sourced from song lyrics, film scripts, Bible verse, advertisements, art history, and personal experiences. The painting, “Marquee #59” reproduces Phillip Johnson’s Glass House - minimal to the bone - with a large message across it, saying “Glamourize Your Messes”, while in “Marquee #90”, “Helplessness” is scrawled on what appears to be a contorted Picasso figure. Dating from 2011-2016, these works amass as an uncanny architecture of signifiers and symbols that call names and recite phrases to create a lexicon of desire and destruction. Despite this distopian view, the playful nature of the paintings transcends their cultural anchors to encourage multiple readings of the text and thus inspire personal reflection and narrative. Oyer’s collaborative album further engages the viewer and the stronghold
of meta-narratives of the past, by way of sound and movement. The album, RELEASE, begins its journey with an inquiry into a series of spells that were embedded within the sound waves of a number of popular songs in 1982. These spells were engineered to enter the minds of listeners via their eardrums and dismantle the white supremacist, capitalist, imperialist, and patriarchal pathologies that characterize American domination. The album, RELEASE, harnesses club music in order to conjure, engineer, and cast new spells and prompt movement, participation, and subsequently change. RELEASE will be available through wireless headsets, creating an experiential viewing of the paintings and sculptural elements. The album will also be available on various platforms, distributed by Practical Records. Musical collaborators include Max Boss, Bendik Giske, Anders Rhedin, Julia Giertz, Kelman Duran, Ingmar Carlson, Lex Brown and Kembra Pfahler. As with his first exhibition, Shimmy Shake Earthquake, RELEASE considers the body and our senses as an agent for participation and change. While the paintings in the exhibition transfix the viewer by way of image and text, the album utilizes music and myth to entrance and disarm the architects of our current social and political constructs.
Tyler Matthew Oyer (b. 1987, Pennsylvania) has exhibited and performed extensively throughout the US and Europe. Recent presentations include, Exploring the Nowannago with Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, CA, and Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco; SOPPEN Performance Festival, Oslo, Norway; BOFFO Festival, Fire Island Pines,
NY; MoMA PS1, NY; REDCAT, Los Angeles; dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany; Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; Kunstnernes Hus Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Bergen Kunstall, Bergen, Norway; and Rogaland Kunstsenter in Stavanger. His work can be found in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (NY), along with a number of private collections.
Practical Records and Cirrus Gallery are pleased to present RELEASE by Tyler Matthew Oyer, out 09/16/2016 on limited edition cassettes with gold artwork & streaming online. In 1980 a series of spells were embedded within the sound waves of a number of popular songs. These spells were engineered to enter the minds of listeners and dismantle the white supremacist, capitalist, imperialist, patriarchal pathologies that characterize American domination. Within hours, the CIA and NASA unleashed a counter spell that contained the sound waves in wind, rain, snow, and dust storms, disabiling their power to enact change. Release tells this story, searches for the missing pieces, and seeks to conjure new spells for a different tomorrow.
RELEASE features collaborators Max Boss, Anders Rhedin, Julia Giertz, Ingmar Carlson, Bendik Giske, Lex Brown, Kembra Pfahler, and Kelman Duran and was recorded while traveling in Copenhagen and Berlin.
Written by TMO unless specified otherwise. Produced by TMO and Bendik Giske unless specified otherwise. Mixed by Ingmar at The Gift Shop, Los Angeles. This album is made possible through the generous donations of 76 supporters. Special thanks to Geir Haraldseth + Rogaland Kunstsenter, Alex Reese, Bendik Giske, Lex Brown, Ingmar Carlson, Julia Giertz, Anders Rhedin, Max Boss, Kelman Duran, Peter Hernandez, Kembra Pfahler, Shiaz Legz, Robert Alfons, Cirrus Gallery, Rhea Perlman, Danny DeVito, Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle, and Jess Arndt. Photo: Kristine Jakobsen.
RELEASE collaborators: Bendik Giske is a Berlin-based musician and producer. In addition to his own saxophone and vocal productions, he has worked with Nils Bech, Alexander Geist, and Ming Wong. http://bendikgiske.no/ Julia Giertz is a Malmรถ-based choreographer, musician, and environmental engineer. Kembra Pfahler is a New York-based performance artist, organizer, and the lead singer of the The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. Ingmar Carlson is a Los Angeles-based musician and producer. In addition to his own productions he writes and plays with Shy Girls. https://soundcloud.com/shygirls Lex Brown is an artist, writer, and performer. She is an MFA candidate at Yale University and recently published her first novel, My Wet Hot Drone Summer with Badlands Unlimited. http:// www.lexbrown.com/ Max Boss is a Berlin-based musician and producer. He is one half of Easter. http://easterjesus. com/ Kelman Duran is a Los Angeles-based film maker, writer, curator and musician. http://cargocollective.com/kelmanduran https://soundcloud.com/kelman-duran Anders Rhedin is based between Los Angeles, Berlin, and Copenhagen. His solo music project, Dinner, is touring internationally. He recently released his record Psychic Lovers with Captured Tracks to great reviews. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21752-psychic-lovers/ Tyler Matthew Oyer is a Los Angeles-based artist, performer, organizer, and writer. His work has been presented at MoMA PS1, REDCAT, dOCUMENTA (13), Hammer Museum, Kunstnernes Hus Oslo, Art Basel Miami Beach, Bergen Kunstall, Rogaland Kunstsenter, The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, High Desert Test Sites, Highways Performance Space and the Orange County Museum of Art. He received an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2012. tmostudio.com
Spells of the 80’s for Tyler Matthew Oyer by Jess Arndt In the 80’s my spell game was strongest. Barely a gauze divided me from other worlds. Feverishly I practiced spells against Gaddafi, spells against something shrouded I called (but never out loud) AIDS. Touch was essential, as well as incantation. Bobby Brown helped me while I waited to find out about solo Whitney or Stevie Nicks. It was hard work. Regularly I’d re-trace streets back to the
electrical pole or crack in the wall I’d insufficiently brushed with the fingers of one hand but not the other. Balance was key. Numbers created security, or instability, depending. I was always in service, deeply employed, present only partway with the pedestrian world who likewise was only partway present with me. My work was important, I was making things safe. But secretly, selfishly, the larger store of my power
was on long-term assignment trying to swap flesh for flesh ie., change my body into its inverse that only it knew I already was. Now there are other spells, harder to reach. Move towards them, they hide. Or is it that my body is still stuck, grindingly, in its long durational work. No sorcerer left. Up the stairs, bucket and bucket. Splash the deck, swab
out the mop on the floor. How do we maintain the surface but also slash through it? Surface is tension, is palpating right here—hard to face. Then there’s the painting or something like it. Think of the painting as instead, a sign. I am in Norway but north of Norway. The
space is by definition: undefined. Where the glacier ends, a valley. On the valley floor, a settlement and two roads. One direction, the sled dog camp. They bark and bark. The other way? A huge foreboding marker: red triangle, black field, white ursus. The warning system between people and other. Translation: Do Not. My internal climate is burning. An unseasonable lack of snow. Along the road, shadows and clumps wanting to cross. The sea bears’ bulk hovers everywhere.
Seeing one means we will likely have to shoot it. I close my eyes. Killing and seeing. What made the 80’s possible? …the strings of green above us? …the marquee and its shiny pocks?
RELEASE Tyler Matthew Oyer Paintings:
Marquee # 62 2015 Acrylic on canvas 60” x 60” 063-15-TO
Marquee # 73 2016 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 090-16-TO
Marquee # 90 2016 Acrylic on paper 41 1/8” x 41 1/8” 084-16-TO
Marquee # 59 2015 Acrylic on paper 30” x 44” 060-15-TO
Marquee # 76 2016 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26” 087-16-TO
Marquee # 77 2016 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26” 086-16-TO
(Above) Marquee # 47 2014 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26 3/8” 055-15-TO
(Opposite) Tenderness 2015 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26” 079-15-TO
(Opposite) I Have Been Changed 2015 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26” 081-15-TO
(Above) Marquee # 65 2015 Acrylic on canvas 40” x 26” 066-15-TO
Marquee # 95 2016 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26” 080-16-TO
Marquee # 92 2016 Acrylic on paper 24” x 19” 100-16-TO
Marquee # 61 2015 Acrylic on paper 41” x 41.5” 062-15-TO
Marquee # 60 2015 Acrylic on canvas 52” x 52” 061-15-TO
Marquee # 46 2014 Acrylic on wood panel 16” x 20” 054-14-TO
Marquee # 52 2014 Acrylic on canvas 50” x 50” 057-14-TO
Marquee # 94 2016 Acrylic on paper 23” x 23” 102-16-TO
Thibault as the Ballerina of Uranus 2015 Acrylic on panel 18” x 24” 107-15-TO
(Above) Marquee # 82 2016 Acrylic on paper 18” x 24” 096-16-TO
(Opposite) Soon All This 2016 Acrylic on panel 16” x 20” 103-16-TO
Marquee # 57 2015 Acrylic on paper 19” x 24” 088-15-TO
Marquee # 97 2016 Acrylic on panel 24” x 36” 108-16-TO
(Above) Marquee # 63 2015 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 071-15-TO
(Opposite) The Day Prince Died 2016 Acrylic on paper 19” x 24” 105-16-TO
(Opposite) Cruel All Moons 2016 Acrylic on panel 24” x 30” 104-16-TO
(Above) Marquee # 72 2015 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 072-15-TO
(Above, Left) Marquee # 83 2016 Acrylic on panel 16” x 20” 097-16-TO
(Above, Right) Marquee # 48 2014 Acrylic on paper 14” x 17” 074-14-TO
Marquee # 81 2016 Acrylic on panel 18” x 24” 095-16-TO
Marquee # 93 2016 Acrylic on paper 11” x 14” 101-16-TO
Marquee # 78 2016 Acrylic on paper 14” x 17” 092-16-TO
Release 2016 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 114-16-TO
Tension in the World Today 2016 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 115-16-TO
Marquee # 38 2014 Acrylic on paper 19” x 24” 046-14-TO
Marquee # 69 2015 Acrylic on paper 25” x 50” 089-15-TO
Marquee # 79 2016 Acrylic on paper 14” x 17” 093-16-TO
Marquee # 34 2014 Acrylic on paper 14” x 17” 042-14-TO
Marquee # 25 2014 Acrylic on paper 19” x 24” 034-14-TO
Marquee # 64 2014 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 065-14-TO
(Opposite) Marquee # 68 2015 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 068-15-TO
(Above) Marquee # 96 2015 Acrylic on paper 41” x 41” 085-15-TO
(Above) I Have Been Changed 2016 Silkscreen on t-shirt Various sizes 117-16-TO
(Opposite) Conjure Queens for the New Tomorrow 2016 Acrylic on panel 24” x 30” 106-16-TO
RELEASE Tyler Matthew Oyer Sculptures:
Untitled 2016 Steel, acrylic, gold leaf 73” x 55” (sculpture) 6 1/8” x 19” (base) 109-16-TO
Untitled 2016 Steel, acrylic, gold leaf 55 3/4” 61 3/4” (sculpture) 12” x 8 3/4” (base) 110-16-TO
Untitled 2016 Steel, acrylic, gold leaf 49 1/2” x 84 1/2” (sculpture) 6 1/8” x 19” (base) 111-16-TO
Untitled 2016 Steel, acrylic, gold leaf 25” x 72 1/2” (sculpture) 12 1/4” x 7 7/8” (base) 112-16-TO
Untitled 2016 Steel, acrylic, gold leaf 25 1/4” x 87 1/2” (sculpture) 8 1/8” x 16” (base) 113-16-TO
The Earth Never Needed Us 2016 Log, gold leaf, acrylic on steel 45” x 25 3/4” x 9 1/2” (sculpture) 12” x 9” (base) 116-16-TO
RELEASE Pricelist
Paintings: Marquee # 25 2014 Acrylic on paper 19” x 24” 034-14-TO $2,200 Marquee # 34 2014 Acrylic on paper 14” x 17” 042-14-TO $1,500 Marquee # 38 2014 Acrylic on paper 19” x 24” 046-14-TO $2,200 Marquee # 46 2014 Acrylic on wood panel 16” x 20” 054-14-TO $1,500 Marquee # 47 2014 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26 3/8” 055-15-TO $5,500 Marquee # 48 2014 Acrylic on paper 14” x 17” 074-14-TO $1,500
Marquee # 52 2014 Acrylic on wood canvas 50” x 50” 057-14-TO $11,000 Marquee # 57 2015 Acrylic on paper 19” x 24” 088-15-TO $2,200 Marquee # 59 2015 Acrylic on paper 30” x 44” 060-15-TO Sold Marquee # 60 2015 Acrylic on canvas 52” x 52” 061-15-TO $11,000 Marquee # 61 2015 Acrylic on paper 41” x 41.5” 062-15-TO $6,500 Marquee # 62 2015 Acrylic on canvas 60” x 60” 063-15-TO $11,000 Marquee # 63 2015 Acrylic on paper 46” x 26” 071-15-TO $5,500
Marquee # 64 2015 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 065-15-TO $5,500 Marquee # 65 2015 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 066-15-TO $5,500 Marquee # 68 2015 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 068-15-TO $5,500 Marquee # 69 2015 Acrylic on paper 25” x 50” 089-15-TO $5,500 Marquee # 72 2015 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 072-15-TO $5,500 Marquee # 73 2016 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 090-16-TO $5,500 Marquee # 76 2016 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26 3/8” 087-16-TO $5,500
Marquee # 77 2016 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26 3/8” 086-16-TO $5,500 Marquee # 78 2016 Acrylic on paper 14” x 17” 092-16-TO $1,500 Marquee # 79 2016 Acrylic on paper 14” x 17” 093-16-TO $1,500 Marquee # 81 2016 Acrylic on panel 18” x 24” 095-16-TO $2,200 Marquee # 82 2016 Acrylic on paper 18” x 24” 096-16-TO $2,200 Marquee # 83 2016 Acrylic on panel 16” x 20” 097-16-TO $1,500 Marquee # 90 2016 Acrylic on paper 41 1/8” x 41 1/8” 084-16-TO $6,500
Marquee # 92 2016 Acrylic on paper 24” x 19” 100-16-TO $2,200 Marquee # 93 2016 Acrylic on paper 11” x 14” 101-16-TO $1,200 Marquee # 94 2016 Acrylic on paper 23” x 23” circle 102-16-TO $2,500 Marquee # 95 2016 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26 3/8” 080-16-TO $5,500 Marquee # 96 2015 Acrylic on paper 41 1/8” x 41 3/8” 085-15-TO $6,500 Marquee # 97 2016 Acrylic on panel 24” x 36” 108-16-TO $3,500 Release 2016 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 114-16-TO $5,500
Tension in the World Today 2016 Acrylic on canvas 46” x 26” 115-16-TO $5,500 Tenderness 2015 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26 3/8” 079-15-TO $5,500 I Have Been Changed 2015 Acrylic on paper 40” x 26 3/8” 081-15-TO $5,500 Soon All This 2016 Acrylic on panel 16” x 20” 103-16-TO $1,500 The Day Prince Died 2016 Acrylic on paper 19” x 24” 105-16-TO $2,200 Cruel All Moons 2016 Acrylic on panel 24” x 30” 104-16-TO $3,000 Thibault as the Ballerina of Uranus 2015 Acrylic on panel 18” x 24” 107-15-TO $2,200
Conjure Queens for the New Tomorrow 2016 Acrylic on panel 24” x 30” 106-16-TO $3,000 I Have Been Changed 2016 Silkscreen on t-shirt Various sizes 117-16-TO $20
Sculptures:
Untitled 2016 Steel, acrylic, gold leaf 73” x 55” (sculpture) 6 1/8” x 19” (base) 109-16-TO $3,500
Untitled 2016 Steel, acrylic, gold leaf 55 3/4” 61 3/4” (sculpture) 12” x 8 3/4” (base) 110-16-TO $4,500
Untitled 2016 Steel, acrylic, gold leaf 49 1/2” x 84 1/2” (sculpture) 6 1/8” x 19” (base) 111-16-TO $3,500 Untitled 2016 Steel, acrylic, gold leaf 25” x 72 1/2” (sculpture) 12 1/4” x 7 7/8” (base) 112-16-TO $2,500
Untitled 2016 Steel, acrylic, gold leaf 25 1/4” x 87 1/2” (sculpture) 8 1/8” x 16” (base) 113-16-TO $2,500
The Earth Never Needed Us 2016 Log, gold leaf, acrylic on steel 45” x 25 3/4” x 9 1/2” (sculpture) 12” x 9” (base) 116-16-TO $3,500
Contact: Jean R. Milant Gallery Hours Tues-Sat, 10am-5pm www. cirrusgallery.com • cirrus@cirrusgallery.com CONTEMPORARY PAINTING AND SCULPTURE • PUBLISHERS OF FINE ART GRAPHICS 2011 South Santa Fe Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90021 • T 213.680.3473
Artist text courtesy of Tyler Matthew Oyer and Salomeh Grace Spells of the 80’s written by Jess Ardnt Images courtesy of Tyler Matthew Oyer and Kristine Jakobsen Catalog design by Nico Hernandez
For more information visit www.cirrusgallery.com cirrus editions ltd Š 2016
Cirrus 2016
cirrus editions ltd Š 2016