NICKY BROEKHUYSEN
THE CHANNELING
Nicky Broekhuysen The Channeling
1 November - 22 December, 2018
521 West 26th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10001 T (212) 759-7555 F (212) 759-5824 www.davidsongallery.com info@davidsongallery.com
Marge Hugo, 2005, The garden at Hotel Baudy, Giverny, France. Photographed by Clare Croly.
All of Nicky Broekhuysen’s work is binary, both literally and figuratively. The artist paints using only stamps of the numbers 1 and 0, and the work is always intended as having more than one meaning, or comprising more than just the sum total of the marks on the paper. Binary code is a language designed for information exchange – we use it daily for virtually every task imaginable; it surrounds us in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals – and yet it is essentially illegible to humans. Broekhuysen uses that contradiction as part of her work. By further abstracting the binary code and applying the numbers at random, she creates an image which, even if abstract, imparts information to and elicits a response from the viewer. She is thereby both using and deconstructing the language, subverting its initial message while maintaining its initial intent. With this bravura exhibition, Broekhuysen has created a series of work that spans art history, connecting people across time, combining the conceptual with the traditional, and the theoretical with the spiritual. The work is created in the same method as her previous series – each painting is made up of thousands of marks, hand-stamped one by one to create a larger image. However, for The Channeling, Broekhuysen’s inspiration comes from a personal family history that includes equal parts art historical reference and mysticism, and more than a little bit of skepticism and blind faith. Broekhuysen’s grandmother, Marge Hugo, claimed to be able to connect with or “channel” the Impressionist painter Claude Monet through an exercise known as automatic writing. As Marge honed this meditative practice, voices spoke through her and claimed to be spirits – for lack of a better word – of long-dead Impressionist painters. They communicated through her in writing and painting, eventually reaching out to try to speak with Marge granddaughter, Broekhuysen, and to help her in her own life. The Impressionists were, in their naissance, iconoclasts, eschewing traditional approaches to paintings and adding subjective interpretations of light and color into every work. From Monet’s earliest Impressionist paintings to later Post-Impressionist and Pointillist styles, the group of painters who channeled through Marge were interested in the light and color and motion – depicting everyday life as well as the first inklings of the Industrial Revolution. They were visionaries or contemporary art, espousing reality over realness, and intimation over imitation. Regardless of one’s own satisfaction or belief in the tale, it is a further use of Broekhuysen’s binary system. To find the imagery for this work, the artist took smartphone photos of details of Monet works, edited the color palette in Photoshop, and then reinterpreted the image onto paper. Interpretation of data is what language is – it is always subject to personal experience and opinion. Likewise, the factuality or scientific veracity of the story of channeling one of the most famous painters in the world is less important than how it is translated into Broekhuysen’s art.
Nicky BROEKHUYSEN THE CHANNELING I 2018 Oil on paper 40 x 40 inches 101.5 x 101.5 cm
Nicky BROEKHUYSEN THE CHANNELING II 2018 Oil on paper 40 x 40 inches 101.5 x 101.5 cm
Nicky BROEKHUYSEN THE CHANNELING III 2018 Oil on paper 40 x 40 inches 101.5 x 101.5 cm
Nicky BROEKHUYSEN THE CHANNELING IV 2018 Oil on paper 40 x 40 inches 101.5 x 101.5 cm
Nicky BROEKHUYSEN THE CHANNELING V 2018 Oil on paper 40 x 40 inches 101.5 x 101.5 cm
Nicky BROEKHUYSEN THE CHANNELING VI 2018 Oil on paper 40 x 40 inches 101.5 x 101.5 cm
Nicky BROEKHUYSEN THE CHANNELING VII 2018 Oil on paper 40 x 40 inches 101.5 x 101.5 cm
Nicky BROEKHUYSEN THE CHANNELING VIII 2018 Oil on paper 40 x 40 inches 101.5 x 101.5 cm
Nicky BROEKHUYSEN THE CHANNELING IX & X (diptych) 2018 Oil on paper 40 x 80 inches 101.5 x 203 cm
THE CHANNELING X (detail)
CV
Born 1981, South Africa Lives and works in Berlin, Germany Education 2004 Bachelor of Fine Arts at ELAM School of Fine Arts, Auckland University, Auckland,New Zealand Solo Exhibitions 2018 The Channeling, Davidson Gallery, New York 2016 The Digital Archaeologist, The Bumiller Collection, University Museum Islamic Art, Berlin Germany The Mediators, Davidson Gallery, New York 2015 Blok Artspace, Istanbul, Turkey 2013 Potency Filled Things, Dittrich Und Schlechtriem Gallery, Berlin, Germany 2012 Solo Presentation, Signature Section – Art Abu Dhabi, Waterhouse & Dodd GalleryShifting Knowledge, WhatIfTheWorld Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 2011 Between States, Into Light, pool gallery, Berlin, Germany VOLTA NY Art Fair, pool gallery, Berlin, Germany 2010 State of Flux, Artport Contemporary, Berlin, Germany 2009 Do Over, AFTHotw‌ Gallery, Berlin, Germany 2007 Urban Crust, Stir Art Gallery, Shanghai, China Categorizing the Lost Pieces, the studio, Shanghai, China Full CV available at davidsongallery.com
This catalogue was produced in conjunction with the exhibition The Channeling at Davidson Gallery, New York City, 1 November - 22 December, 2018 All works Š Nicky Broekhuysen 2018 Studio photography by Adam Reich