Sam Messenger
FRACTURE
Sam Messenger FRACTURE
6 November – 23 December 2014
521 W 26th, St., New York, NY 10001 T (212) 759 7555 | F (212) 759 5824 www.davidsoncontemporary.com info@davidsongallery.com
Davidson Contemporary is thrilled to open its bi-level Chelsea gallery with new paintings by Sam Messenger. This multipurpose gallery is customized not only for Davidson Contemporary, but for Maxwell Davidson Gallery as well, allowing for simultaneous exhibitions or larger surveys for the many estabilished artists it represents. We believe that the new space is a brave new order not only for both programs, but also for the 21st century gallery. Our presentation will strive to be wholly unique, perched higher than virtually any other gallery in New York and with the ability to show outdoor sculpture year-round. It is with profound pride that Davidson Contemporary and Maxwell Davidson Gallery present this gallery, and this exhibition. MD4
(Black) Drop (detail) 2014
Foreword ‘Under the thinning fog the surf curled and creamed, almost without sound, like a thought trying to form itself on the edge of consciousness.’ –Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep ‘The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair if they were not cherished by our virtues.’ –William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well Through the fog, abstract forms emerge and fade like ghostly specters. These black and white giants, at over 8ft. tall, dominate their environment, enveloping the viewer and their field of vision. Sam Messenger’s Fracture series of paintings are his largest works to date. Their expansive, enveloping scale draws you closer to explore intricately detailed three-dimensional surfaces full of cracks, folds, and grid-like structures. At moments, their surfaces seem closer to nature than painting – to bark, the crevices of an animal’s hide or cracked desert soil. At other points, they are like tributaries and vast mountain ranges of some unknown, barren planet as if seen by satellite. Messenger’s works invariably begin with parameters and systems, the final pieces a culmination of the intense physical endeavor and exhaustive testing and knowledge of materials that he works with. Whilst he is interested in the control of systems he puts in place (and their ultimate control over him), he has always been open to the mistakes and imperfections that reveal the human hand at play. When we look more closely at his early grid drawings, we can see the wobble of the hand drawn line. The spidery webs of his expansive Veil series undulate through miscalculations
Drift (detail) 2014
and transgressions from the artist’s chosen sequences. What we see within the densely intricate surfaces of the Fracture series is a result of meticulous process, but one in which control and chance now play equally important parts. In the initial planning, nothing is left to luck or accident – from the selection of muslin, canvas and gesso to the systematic twisting of materials at various stages of making. Messenger breaks with control at a time of great risk and after intense effort. Once the surfaces of the works have been painted with a glossy black oil based paint, they are folded back on themselves, fracturing the surface, causing cracks to appear unpredictably throughout the canvas. At this point, white is painted onto the surface and then rubbed back, merging black and white and highlighting cracks and imperfections. The grid, an integral and definite part of previous works, emerges erratically now, not through intent, but as a consequence of an action. The Fracture series marks a striking departure for Messenger, from paper to stretchered canvas and oil paint. Over the past decade, he has worked mostly on paper, often pushing the medium to extreme limits and point of disintegration. In the Veil series, large sheets of paper were soaked in river water before being left outdoors in freezing conditions to respond to the elements. Working in black and white has been a recurring choice for Messenger, as seen in the inky washes of the Veils and his earlier freehand rules-based grids in pen and ink. The Fracture series tap into a rich lineage of monochromatic paintings. At various points, the use of black in painting, like the grid, has been synonymous with modernity – from the dense blacks of Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe to Rauschenberg’s Black works from the early 1950’s. The opposition of black and white recurs frequently in relation to abstract art, such as the gestural abstraction of Franz Kline and reductive minimalism of Ad Reinhart and Frank Stella amongst others. Looking at the grid-like cracks within Messenger’s paintings, one may recall Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square, and the unintentional cracks that appear in the earliest versions of the painting. Malevich’s work could be seen as representing a space where man is liberated from his earthly existence,
Fall (detail) 2014
‘outside struggle and existence which has shattered into little pieces like ice that hinders his movements, pushing him in different directions.’ –Kazimir Malevich, The Artist, Infinity, Suprematism: Unpublished Writings 1913–1933 Messenger’s works, in contrast, constantly bring us back to the material world – to the physical struggle of their making and the fatigue and strain on the part of the materials and artist. Looking at Messenger’s paintings, I’m reminded of the black and white chequerboard floor of the masonic lodge, which represents the duality of man’s existence and his earthly nature – of good and evil, light and shade, joy and sorrow, selfishness and selflessness. Like the chequerboard, Messenger’s works seem emblematic of this duality. They are works that are full of contradictions: at once large and imposing, but full of flaws; that are led by process but emotionally charged. They are full of control but are also governed by chance and error; whose materials are selected for their strength but whose vulnerabilities are stretched to the full. The word ‘pareidolia’ refers to the imagined perception of shapes or meanings where none actually exist. Looking at one of Messenger’s paintings face on, I think that I can see figures entwined. In another, unreadable words are caught in the midst of evaporating like smoke rings. A cruciform clearly emerges. Another person cannot see what I see, observing skulls and forests. What we see isn’t representation, but abstract shapes and forms that are a result of Messenger’s process and chance. They hold the memory of their making. The shapes that we observe are pareidolia, and perhaps like Rorschach’s inkblot test, projections through which our unconscious thoughts, desires and fears are laid bare. Jacqui McIntosh, 2014
(Black) Drop 2014 Pigment, poppy oil, and synthetic polymer paint on muslin with canvas support 254 x 190·5cm (100 x 75”)
Drift 2014 Pigment, poppy oil, and synthetic polymer paint on muslin with canvas support 254 x 190·5cm (100 x 75”)
Fall 2014 Pigment, poppy oil, and synthetic polymer paint on muslin with canvas support 254 x 190¡5cm (100 x 75�)
Fade 2014 Pigment, poppy oil, and synthetic polymer paint on muslin with canvas support 254 x 190¡5cm (100 x 75�)
Shift 2014 Pigment, poppy oil, and synthetic polymer paint on muslin with canvas support 254 x 190·5cm (100 x 75”)
FR6.14 2014 Pigment, poppy oil, and synthetic polymer paint on muslin with canvas support 112 x 84cm (44 x 33�)
FR7.14 2014 Pigment, poppy oil, and synthetic polymer paint on muslin with canvas support 112 x 84cm (44 x 33�)
FR8.14 2014 Pigment, poppy oil, and synthetic polymer paint on muslin with canvas support 112 x 84cm (44 x 33�)
FR9.14 2014 Pigment, poppy oil, and synthetic polymer paint on muslin with canvas support 112 x 84cm (44 x 33�)
Biography Born 1980 London, England Art Education M.A. Royal College of Art, London (2003–05) B.A. Camberwell College of Arts, London (2000–03) Messenger’s work has been shown in various exhibitions internationally, including; Line: The Maker’s Mark, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas 2014 Paper Jam, Neuberger Museum of Art, New York 2014 Early Drawings, Davidson Contemporary, New York 2014 (solo) Abstract Drawing, Drawing Room, London 2014 Textility, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey 2012 The Art of Collecting, Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan 2011/12 Six Veils, Davidson Contemporary, New York 2011 (solo) 40 Artists–80 Drawings, Burton Art Gallery & Museum, Devon UK 2011 Now WHAT?, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach 2010 Straightedge, Davidson Contemporary, New York 2008 (solo) You Silently (Two): Image-Object-Text, Courtauld Institute of Art, London 2008 His work is held in both private and public collections, including Williams College Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design. Messenger currently lives and works in London.
This catalogue was produced in conjunction with the exhibition Fracture at Davidson Contemporary, New York City, 6 November – 23 December 2014 All works Š Sam Messenger 2014 Catalogue design by Thomas Messenger Printed by LOG-ON, Inc. New York NY Special thanks to Jacqui McIntosh