Equal Affections Presented at the gallery’s two Amsterdam locations: Van Baerlestraat 80 and Keizersgracht 241 July 23 - August 28, 2021
Equal Affections July 23 - August 28, 2021 Presented at the gallery’s two Amsterdam locations: Van Baerlestraat 80 and Keizersgracht 241
GRIMM is pleased to announce Equal Affections, a group presentation with Katherine Bradford, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Felix de Clercq, Anthony Cudahy, Ryan Driscoll, Kyle Dunn, Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Louis Fratino, Lenz Geerk, Jenna Gribbon, Doron Langberg, Justin Liam O’Brien, Michael Stamm and Salman Toor. The exhibition borrows its name from David Leavitt’s acclaimed 1988 novel of the same title and was organized in collaboration with Edwin Oostmeijer. A new essay by Leavitt will be published to accompany the presentation. The body can be a metaphor for many things. It can be an instrument for experiencing the world, or a vessel for meaning and message. Direct references to the self through memoir and autobiography are central themes in current painting.
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Equal Affections brings together fourteen artists who explore how the self emerges in relation to community and society at large. An inquiry into gender and its representation foregrounds these rich depictions of people and their interior worlds. Together, these artworks commemorate the look and feel of contemporary life – while some venture into fantasy, others are firmly grounded in physicality. Many can be read as demonstrations of personal identity and this highlights a shift in the way identity is made visible in art, and more broadly in contemporary culture. Similarly, technology as a filter for experiencing others and its influence on the way we present ourselves, are recurrent themes. In each gesture, pose and painted mannerism these artists present a strong argument for the power of integrating the surface and interior of our lives, as an approach to telling one’s own personal history.
KATHERINE BRADFORD b. 1942, New York, NY (US) Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY (US)
Katherine Bradford layers lustrous washes of paint in meditative works where loosely rendered human figures are immersed in blocks of color. Fleshy, soft tones are juxtaposed and overlapped to create sumptuous, pulsating textures. Bradford’s singular figures do not convey a feeling of isolation; instead they are activated by a mystic glow emanating from within. The artist received her MFA from State University of New York, Purchase, NY (US) in 1987 and her BA from Bryn Mawr College, PA (US). Bradford’s solo exhibition lifegaurds is currently on view at Kaufman Repetto, Milan (IT). Selected collections: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (US); Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (US); Menil Foundation, Houston, TX (US); The Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, Orlando, FL (US); Dallas Museum of Art, TX (US); Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR (US); Portland Museum, Portland, ME (US); Worcester Museum of Art, Worcester, MA (US); Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA (US); Bates College Museum, Lewiston, ME (US); Bowdoin College Museum, Brunswick, ME (US); Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, ME (US); Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadephia, PA (US); Smith College Museum, Northampton, MA (US); The George D. and Harriet W. Cornell Fine Arts; Museum at Rollins College, Winter Park, FL (US).
Love at the Lake, 2021 Acrylic on canvas 182.9 x 152.4 cm | 72 x 60 in
“Couples in Water is painted in familiar blue tones like many of my swimmer paintings. All we see are floating heads and it is not hard to figure out the couples because they tend to resemble one another. This is a tribute to my wonderful spouse Jane; we are the same size and color and have the same hair. Sometimes we dress alike too and I don’t think it’s just because we like the same clothing.”
- Katherine Bradford, 2021
Couples in Water, 2021 Acrylic on canvas 152.4 x 121.9 cm | 60 x 48 in
Detail | Katherine Bradford | Couples in Water, 2021
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, Keizersgracht 241, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
“Friends on a Bench shows four people sitting together, perhaps in a park, on a bench (the bench has to be imagined). I thought of titling this Four Queers on a Bench, but thought better of it. Each of these characters is relaxed and happy to be with likeminded souls. They sit close together and don’t follow any particular dress code. I painted this deliberately on unprimed raw canvas to show the nakedness of being oneself among friends.”
- Katherine Bradford, 2021
Friends Together on A Bench, 2021 Acrylic and collage on canvas 182.9 x 170.2 cm | 72 x 67 in
JONATHAN LYNDON CHASE b. 1989, Philadelphia, PA (US) Lives and works in Philadelphia, PA (US)
Jonathan Lyndon Chase’s paintings communicate the regenerative properties of affection, love, and self-expression through depictions of blackness and queer relationships. Chase recognizes the importance of individual languages of intimacy and beauty that cannot be commodified or estranged from those who speak them. They work acros a variety of media – from paintings and screen-printing to textiles, drawing on icons from black culture that were formative to their developing sense of self growing up – while demonstrating an approach to figuration that is attentive to art historical conventions. The artist received his MFA from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA (US) in 2016 and his BFA from University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA (US) in 2013. He has had solo exhibitions at the Fabric Workshop Museum, Philadelphia, PA (US), Company Gallery, New York, NY (US), and the Pond Society (CN). Selected collections: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (US); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (US); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (US); High Art Museum, Atlanta, GA (US); Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL (US); The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY (US); Buxton Contemporary Art Museum, Melbourne (AU); Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA (US); Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA (US).
Hog tie lasso, 2020 Acrylic paint, chalk pastel, oil pastel, marker on canvas 101.6 x 76.2 cm | 40 x 30 in
“I try to paint very honestly with a delicacy to the body. I’m a big softie, and I’ve been described as being vulnerable and transparent. I like to feel a connectedness to people. In my work I’m thinking about how queer bodies, black bodies are very complex. So that goes into the use of muslin material and thinking about the space and layering and surfacing things together. I really love the power of line and developing different kinds of mark-making.”
- Jonathan Lyndon Chase, 2021
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, Van Baerlestraat 80, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
FELIX DE CLERCQ b. 1997, Antwerp (BE) Lives and works in Antwerp (BE)
Felix de Clercq paints tight, pensive compositions of private daily rituals in muted tones. A sense of isolation and longing pervades these works, which draw inspiration from a wide range of sources, including: folklore, indigenous art, and the ubiquitous visual language of the internet and streaming services. Recent exhibitions: Jusqu’au Rhin, Greengrassi Gallery, London (UK); Jongensgeheimen, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp (BE).
The Empire, 2021 Oil on canvas 30 x 40 cm | 11 3/4 x 15 3/4 in
Turing, 2021 Aluminum sulfate, pigment on canvas 140 x 140 cm | 55 1/8 x 55 1/8 in
“The Empire is about a group of underage men who were arrested in the Amsterdam gay bar ‘The Empire’ in the 1930s because no minors were allowed in. Heterosexual men did go free. The painting shows one of the homosexual men during his night in jail. The other two works are about Alan Turing. Known for breaking the Enigma code during WWII. At boarding school he read the book Natural wonders that sparked his interest in science. The books at that time were treated with aluminum sulphate. To save the paper, but this backfired.
I saw this as a metaphor for Alan Turing’s story. Science is meant to preserve something but in the end it works against itself. Alan Turing was later forced to undergo hormone treatment because of his homosexuality and died of arsenic poisoning. The abstract painting is painted in the color of the cover of Turing’s book Natural Wonders. The edges are painted with aluminum sulphate. The figurative painting shows the book on the page dealing with how the brain works, which later inspired Turing to create the first computer.”
- Felix de Clercq, 2021
Detail | Felix de Clercq | Turing, 2021
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, Van Baerlestraat 80, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
FELIX DE CLERCQ Wonder, 2021 Oil on canvas 30 x 40 cm | 11 3/4 x 15 3/4 in
ANTHONY CUDAHY b. 1989, in Fort Myers, FL (US) Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY (US)
Anthony Cudahy weaves imagery culled from photo archives, online platforms, art history, and personal photographs to explore themes of queer identity. His evocative figurative paintings are informed by extensive historical research and image collection. They negotiate feelings of loneliness, isolation, desire, and safety through the lens of the artist’s own narrative. The artist received a BFA from Pratt Institute, NY in 2011 and completed an MFA at Hunter College, NY in 2020. Cudahy work is currently on view at FLAG Art Foundation, NY (US) as part of the group exhibition, and I will wear you in my heart of heart. Recent and forthcoming solo exhibitions include shows at Hales, New York, NY (US); Semiose Gallery, Paris (FR), and a two-person show at Deli Gallery, Brooklyn, New York (US). In 2017 Dashwood Books released Vigil (RHYTHM) Vigil, a volume of his paintings alongside photographs by his husband Ian Lewandowski, which was featured in the Queering Space exhibition at Alfred University in 2018.
Espalier, 2021 Oil on canvas 152.4 x 152.4 cm | 60 x 60 in
Detail | Anthony Cudahy | Espalier, 2021
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, Van Baerlestraat 80, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
“When Edwin Oostmeijer asked me to be part of this exhibition, the first thing I did was find the novel it was named after. Reading is something very grounding for me and normally I read a lot, but in the early part of this year I hadn’t read in months. The pandemic’s winter and the world’s constant precarity had left me addicted to doom scrolling and completely incapable of concentrating long enough to read. Equal Affections snapped me out of that. I couldn’t stop reading it until I finished it, crying through the last third. The book reoriented me and I made it with it fresh in my mind.”
- Anthony Cudahy, 2021
Patience, 2021 Oil on canvas 121.9 x 91.4 cm | 48 x 36 in
RYAN DRISCOLL b. 1992, Corby (UK) Lives and works in Corby (UK)
Ryan Driscoll is interested in the personas of Greek and Roman mythology and the realms that these mythological figures embody. His paintings combine classical ideals of beauty with the symbolic language of still lifes, where objects hold individual significance in service of an allegory. Referencing storytelling traditions, music, and great works of literature widely, Driscoll amalgamates visualizations of queer identity often made in the spirit of melodrama and fantasy. He received his BA in Fine Art from the Camberwell College of Art, UAL, London (UK) in 2016. He is the 2018 recipient of the British LGBT Awards Art Initiative. His work has been included in exhibitions at Soft Opening, London (UK); Meredith Rosen Gallery, New York, NY (US); and Mall Gallery, London (UK). Recent solo exhibtions: Holst, Soft Opening, London (UK) and Elysium Soft Opening, London (UK).
Pan and Daphnis, 2021 Oil on wood 68.5 x 52 cm | 27 x 20 1/2 in
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, Van Baerlestraat 80, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
“I drew heavily from the title of the exhibition itself, what Equal Affections meant to me and how I could show that through allegory. The first painting is of Pan and Daphnis sharing a moment together, learning an instrument but also having romantic beginnings. They are the meeting of two worlds; the divine and the earthly, nature and poetry, life and the eventual death of Daphnis. Narcissus has a more obvious connection to the title Equal Affections falling in love with his own reflection however I wanted to show the moment of the metamorphosis. Narcissus has killed himself because he knows the love of his reflection could never be real and as his body lies there flowers sprout from him.”
- Ryan Driscoll, 2021
Narcissus, 2021 Oil on wood 54.5 x 40 cm | 21 1/2 x 15 3/4 in
KYLE DUNN b. 1990, Livonia, MI (US) Lives and works in Queens, NY (US)
Kyle Dunn combines traditional trompe l’oeil and bas-relief techniques to capture moments of heightened intimacy in everyday life. His color-soaked interiors are inhabited by male figures in scenes both banal and poignant. Dunn celebrates the male nude and male tenderness in a way that is a break with popular convention. His visual language culls from a multitude of sources including Italian cinema and horror and science fiction novels. He grew up in Michigan and received his BFA in Interdisciplinary Sculpture at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Recent solo exhibitions: The Fool, Galerie Maria Bernheim, Zurich (CH); Into Open Air, P·P·O·W, New York, NY (US); Always, Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY (US); Night In, Julius Caesar, Chicago, IL (US); Leaves Don’t Thank the Sun, Sardine, Brooklyn, NY (US).
Love Song, 2021 Acrylic on gessobord 101.6 x 76.2 x 5 cm | 40 x 30 x 2 in
“I was initially thinking about obedience or submission with Love Song, the idea being unknown whether or not the man is kneeling to an offscreen lover or kneeling to pray bedside. As I worked through the painting, it became about the idea of give-and-take in a relationship, submitting to somebody else and making yourself vulnerable to them – emotionally, sexually, whatever – and by doing so hoping that they will be vulnerable with you in return. The pose is a sort of tentative ‘laying down of arms,’ the man slowly lowering his hands flat on the floor in surrender, but the fingers are still tensed. The title is taken from the Lana del Rey song of the same name, which I confess I listened to on repeat for hours while painting it – I love the optimism and earnestness of that song, and you kind of need that optimism to go into and maintain a relationship to make it work”
- Kyle Dunn, 2021
Detail | Love Song, 2021
CELESTE DUPUY-SPENCER b. 1979, New York, NY (US) Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA (US)
Celeste Dupuy-Spencer employs energetic, gestural brushwork and a rich visual language to create portraits and quotidian scenes that mine the American experience. Her dense compositions capture the grotesque imperfections of her subjects with the underlying affection of an intimate. Evoking equal parts existential dread and love, Dupuy-Spencer offers a sprawling examination of society; its faults, contradictions, triumphs, and all. The artist received a BFA from Bard College, Annandale-onHudson, New York in 2007. Her work will be included in the forthcoming exhibition This is America | USA Today at the Kunsthal Kade in Amersfoort (NL) opening in September of 2021. Selected collections: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (US); Aishti Foundation, Jal El Dib (LB); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (US); Kunsthal Kade, Amersfoort (NL).
Divine Demons, 2021 Oil on linen 190.5 x 152.4 cm | 75 x 60 in
Detail | Divine Demons, 2021
LOUIS FRATINO b. 1993, Annapolis, MD (US) Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY (US)
Louis Fratino draws upon memory, art history, and an amalgamation of visual cues from the canon of Western art to create familiar scenes of coalescing figures in domestic spaces. The works draw their viewer into a rich interior world, where the male figure is presented in a state of casual languidness traditionally reserved for the female nude. Fratino’s emotionally charged, atmospheric paintings explore queer identity with a contemplative tenderness. Fratino received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD (US) in 2015. He was the recipient of a Fulbright Research Fellowship in 2015 and a Yale Norfolk Painting Fellowship in 2014. The artist’s first institutional solo exhibition, curated by Jared Ledesma, will open at the Des Moines Art Center, IA (US) in November 2021.
Big Tristan, 2017 Oil and crayon on canvas 203.2 x 106.7 cm | 80 x 42 in
Detail | Louis Frantino |Big Tristan, 2017
Recent exhibtions: Morning, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY (US); Nudissima, Antoine Levi, Paris (FR); Come Softly To Me, Sikkema Jenkins & Co, New York, NY (US); So I’ve got you, Thierry Goldberg, New York, NY (US), among others. Fratino’s work has been included in the group exhibitions at galleries and institutions including; FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (US); Galerie Neu, Berlin (DE); Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY (US); Jeffrey Deitch, New York, NY (US); PERROTIN, New York, NY (US); James Fuentes Gallery, New York, NY (US); Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, IT; and University Museum of Albany, NY (US).
LOUIS FRATINO Reunion, 2017 Oil and crayon on canvas 30.4 x 22.8 cm | 12 x 9 in
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, Keizersgracht 241, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
“I make paintings of the people I love, from memory. I want to make work that is tender and generous and optimistic.”
- Louis Fratino, 2021
Couple at dusk, 2018 Oil and crayon on canvas 76.2 x 76.2 cm | 30 x 30 in
LENZ GEERK b. 1988, Basel (CH) Lives and works in Düsseldorf (DE)
Lenz Geerk solemn, stately portraits capture a feeling of longing and foreboding. Deeply psychological, his morose compositions reveal moments of mental gravity through body language and micro-expressions. Lenz implements a cool, muted color palette and paints his figures into indeterminate settings to heighten the air of mystery. Selected solo exhibitions: Mixed Blessings, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, CA (US); The Table Portraits, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, CA (US); PEARS & PEARLS, Galeria Acappella, Naples (IT); CRYING, SPITTING, SWEATING, Galerie Valentin, Paris (FR); NUDO, Galeria Mascota, Mexico City (MX), among others. His next solo exhibition is scheduled for 2022.
Moonface (Insomiac VI), 2019 Acrylic on canvas 150 x 110 cm | 59 1/8 x 43 1/4 in
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, Keizersgracht 241, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
Detail | Sculptor with model and sculpture, 2020
“…I want to pay more tribute to artists like Nan Goldin and Sylvia Sleigh who reversed the artist/muse gender dynamic and gave the motif a new spin. I think it is important, especially for me as a male artist, to acknowledge that female artists are still having to overcome so many barriers in the Arts.”
- Lenz Geerk, 2021
LENZ GEERK Sculptor with model and sculpture, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 50 x 60 cm | 19 3/4 x 23 5/8 in
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, Van Baerlestraat 80, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
JENNA GRIBBON b. 1978 in Knoxville, TN (US) Lives and works in Queens, NY (US)
Jenna Bribbon paints lush, intimate scenes of (primarily female) friends and lovers, domestic spaces, and staged events with flickering, ebullient brushwork. Fleeting memories, imagined vignettes, and art historical narratives all inform her compositions. Gribbon appropriates the sensuousness and material pleasure of expressionist painting to capture contemporary life and upend existing sexual mores. Recent exhibitions: Them, Perrotin, New York, NY (US); Paint, Also Known As Blood: Women, Affect, and Desire, Contemporary Painting at the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (PO); The Artist Eroticized, Tennis Elbow, The Journal Gallery, New York, NY (US); Regarding Me Regarding You, GNYP Gallery, Berlin (DE); GAY, GAY, GAY!, Howard’s Gallery, Athens, GA (US); When I Looked at You the Light Changed, Fredericks & Freiser, New York, NY (US). Previously she exhibited including Tennis Elbow, New York, NY (US), Howard’s Gallery, Athens, GA (US), Modern Love Club, New York, NY (US), Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, New York, NY (USA) and Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (US).
Ritualized looking, 2020 Oil on linen 36 x 28 cm | 14 1/8 x 11 1/8 in
Detail | Jenna Gribbon | Ritualized Looking, 2021
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, Van Baerlestraat 80, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
“Afternoonscape is the first in a series similarly titled scapes where my limbs are entwined with my partner’s and various lighting conditions inform the narrative. I like the suffix because it could imply a landscape or an escapeboth are relevant reads. I’m always looking for new ways to invite the viewer to see what I’m seeing; in this case it’s an intimate romantic moment with my partner in which her gaze is focused intently between my legs so that I’m both seeing, and in a very vulnerable position of being seen.”
- Jenna Gribbon, 2021
Afternoonscape, 2021 Oil on linen 71.1 x 55.9 cm | 28 x 22 in
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, K
Keizersgracht 241, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
DORON LANGBERG b. 1985 in Yokneam Moshava (IL) Lives and works in New York, NY (US)
Doron Langberg, energetic, kaleidoscopic paintings capture his subjects in moments of repose and contemplation in gestural portraits and scenes of mundane happenings. He reserves a special softness for paintings of the male body, often pictured in a state of undress. A palpable, luminous sensuality pervades his compositions. He received his MFA from Yale University, New Haven, CT (US) after earning his BFA from the University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia (US). Recent exhibitions: Semblance: The Public/Private/Shared Self, LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, LA (US); Queering Space, Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, Alfred University, Alfred, NY (US); Green Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, CT (US); Zig Zag Zig, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY (US); Intimacy, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, NY (US); Intimacies, George Segal Gallery, Montclair University, Montclair, NJ (US); Found, Leslie-Lohman Museum, New York, NY (US); and in the Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY (US). Selected collecitons: The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, Philadelphia, PA (US); Rhode Island School of Design Museum (RISD), Providence, RI (US).
Thomas #2, 2021 Oil on linen 45.7 x 61 cm | 18 x 24 in
Detail | Thomas #2, 2021
“This piece is a portrait of my good friend Thomas hanging out at his apartment. Smirking at his phone, most likely looking at our endless thread of absurd gay memes, which provided us with some entertainment in a pretty bleak year. Building on our relationship, I wanted the soft touch and glowing colors of the painting to communicate our close friendship.”
- Doron Langberg, 2021
JUSTIN LIAM O’BRIEN b. 1991, New York, NY (US) Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY (US)
Justin Liam O’Brien’s attended Suffolk County Community College in New York (US) and received a BFA in Digital Arts and 3D Animation from Pratt Institute in New York, NY (US) in 2016. The artist’s oil paintings are self-contained stories that portray personally significant themes. In them, his figures are softly rendered with seemingly indistinguishable features and they appear as ciphers who play out the dynamics of dating, hook-up culture, and more abstract interpersonal relationships. While the driving force behind his compositions are emotional dynamics, stylicatically he engages the aesthetics of 3D rendering and digital image-making tools, with a nod to historical movements such as New Objectivity. Recent exhibitions: When Acting As A Wave, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (US); Damned by the Rainbow, GNYP Gallery, Berlin (DE); Losing in the Form of Darkness, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY (US); CHART Gallery, New York, NY (US) and Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin (DE) and Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (US).
Over Fire Island, 2021 Oil on linen 152.4 x 121.9 cm | 60 x 48 in
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, Van Baerlestraat 80, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
“With these paintings I thought it would be meaningful to try and represent affection through shame or difficulty. I’m interested in how shame might deepen desire or adversity might temper friendships”
- Justin Liam O’Brien, 2021
Lupa capitolina, 2021 Oil on linen 91.4 x 121.9 cm | 36 x 48 in
MICHAEL STAMM b. 1983 Evanston, IL (US) Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY (US)
Michael Stamm grapples with cultural dynamics, human relationships, and personal identity in his visually dense and meandering paintings. Referencing design, literature, and contemporary culture, Stamm probes the connectedness and alienation of modern existence with self-reflection. The artist received his BA from Wesleyan University and an MA in English Literature from Columbia University before earning an MFA from New York University in 2016. Residencies include the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and the Vermont Studio Center, for which he was awarded the John Imber Painting Fellowship, and Yaddo, all in 2016. As well as the Mountain School of Arts, Los Angeles in 2017 and the MacDowell Colony in 2018. Stamm received the New York Foundation for the Arts annual NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in 2018. Recent exhibitons: Mediation Inc., DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY (US); Just Like This Please, Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY (US); Scorpio Rising, Best Western, Ridgewood, NY (US); Cat Lady, Teen Party Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (US). The artist’s work has been included in several group exhibitions, including shows at Deli Gallery, New York, NY (US); Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY (US); Taymour Grahne Projects, London (UK); Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig (DE) and Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA (US).
Tincture #14 (Gifts For My Elusive Host), 2019 Acrylic and sand on canvas wrapped panel 101.6 x 61 cm | 40 x 24 in
Michael Stamm’s masterful painting Tincture #15 (Tyler Clementi) was created in memory of the 18-yearold Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who took his own life in 2010. His untimely death came after he was subjected to anti-gay bullying by his college roommate. In the event of a sale, a part of the proceeds will be donated to the Tyler Clementi Foundation.
Tincture #15 (Tyler Clementi), 2021 Acrylic and paper collage on canvas wrapped panel 132.1 x 81.3 cm | 52 x 32 in
Detail | Michael Stamm | Tincture #15 (Tyler Clementi), 2021
SALMAN TOOR b. 1983, Lahore (PK) Lives and works in New York, NY (US)
Salman Toor conjures lush, atmospheric interiors; realms occupied by queer, worldly urban men who dance, drink cocktails and gaze into the glow of their smart phones. Toor’s scenes simultaneously convey a feeling of warmth, nostalgia, and alienation. The works explore representations of gay male identity and reveal the tension between the private and public spheres. The artist studied painting and drawing at Ohio Wesleyan University (US) and received his MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY (US). Most recently the artist’s work was the subject of an institutional solo exhibition, Salman Toor: How Will I Know at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (US).
“I paint figures to enhance my context as a queer man living between cultures. I use figurative imagery to mythologize my life, define my relationship to power, but also to laugh at myself and have fun.”
- Salman Toor, 2021
Upcoming exhibitions include Relations: Diaspora and Painting, Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montréal (CA); A Story With No End: A conversation with timeless treasures from Xinjiang, M Woods, Beijing (CN). He is one of the recipients of the 2019 Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant. Selected collections: Tate, London (UK); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (US); Aïshti Foundation, Jal El Dib (LB); M Woods, Beijing (CN); The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL (US); PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montréal (CA); RISD Museum, Providence, RI (US).
Downtown Boys, 2020 Oil on panel 50.8 x 40.6 cm | 20 x 16 in Presented by Public Art Fund in Art on the Grid, June 29-September 20, 2020
Installation view | Equal Affections | GRIMM, Keizersgracht 241, Amsterdam (NL), 2021
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