SEAN MCDONOUGH
nancy margolis gallery
HEMISPHERES
Sunday Game 2016 Acrylic on paper, cut and stapled onto canvas 26” x 31”
Twin Bulb 2016 Acrylic on paper, cut and stapled onto canvas 21” x 18”
These recent paintings are made with strips of painted paper, which I cut down and staple directly onto the canvas. The two dominating circles in each piece relate to the cranial hemispheres. I’ve begun to experiment with multi-panel paintings and, thus, am referring to these works as the Hemisphere Cycles. I staple the hemispheres first, and they kind of guide the painting. While guided by symmetry, the painting unfolds, allowing for generative forms to start growing. I select the palate and paint an assortment of papers from which to choose. The forms are worked out in my notebooks, but the final arrangement of the panels happens by playing in the studio. A key toy in this process is a deep-reach stapler I found that lets me staple a foot into a piece of canvas; this restriction is also a reason for needing multiple panels. —Sean McDonough
Germinae 2016 Acrylic on paper, cut and stapled onto canvas 21” x 17”
Pillar Hemisphere Cycle 2016 Acrylic on paper, cut and stapled onto canvas 28” x 59”
Shell Company Hemisphere Cycle 2016 Acrylic on paper, cut and stapled onto canvas 44” x 28”
Dante 2016 Acrylic on paper, cut and stapled onto canvas 20” x 20”
INTROVERTS
INTROVERTS/EXTROVERTS Sean McDonough creates concurrently two different types of abstract painting. The artist refers to these two styles of painting as “Extrovert” and “Introvert”, for they reflect a physical and emotional state he experiences as he delves into each. The “Extrovert” paintings, made with acrylic paint and rubbing alcohol have linear geometric patterns that remind one of a maze at first glance. The “Introvert” paintings, intense, smaller and tighter, made with oil paint and oil stick, have a thick textured surface of multiple layers of marks and fine lined colors reminiscent of intricately woven fabric. In contrast the “Extrovert” paintings larger, more process driven, begin with the artist tacking the canvas over strips of wood of various sizes. McDonough applies the mix of paint to the front of the canvas until the density of color and desired forms and patterns are achieved within the painting. Phenomenal, luxuriant color, and textural patterning are abundantly present in the “Introvert” and “Extrovert” paintings although there is a definite contrast between them. The artist states “the work is in a sense my response to the world at large, and needing to remove myself from the advanced state of affairs today, to make things with my hands and my mind, and some simple tools. The role of paintings is to provide for the mind a time to wonder and think abstractly about anything.”
The Younger Dryas 2016 Oil on canvas 24” x 20”
Horusyclops 2016 Oil on canvas 35” x 28”
Galaxy.Cave.15 2009-2015 Oil on linen 18” x 15”
EXTROVERTS
Democracy Fatigue 2015 Acrylic on canvas 72” x 72”
Replacement Parts 2015 Acrylic and alcohol on canvas 50” x 33”
Arousal Compensation 2015 Acrylic and alcohol on canvas 48” x 38”
Mirroroot 2015 Acrylic and alcohol on canvas 60” x 48”
nancy margolis gallery
523 West 25th Street. New York 10001 nancymargolisgallery.com
SEAN MCDONOUGH Born in 1985, Brooklyn NY EDUCATION 2012 2007
MFA, Maryland Institute College of Art, Hoffberger School of Painting BS, New York University, Steinhardt
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2016 2012 2005
Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY Hang on to Your Ego, MFA Thesis, North Avenue Market Gallery, Baltimore, MD New Paintings, Intercourse Space presented by Carol Bove, New York, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2016 Summer Project 2016, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY 2015 Summer Group Show, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY 2014 Identity, Loft 594 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2014 The Commons, Barney Building, New York, NY 2013 Signs and Systems, Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 2013 Permanent Collection, Homeland Security Gallery, Dallas, TX 2012 Stroke: Gesture, Mark, Muscle, Baltimore -Washington International Airport, Maryland 2012 Unplacable, MIMA Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2008 American Standard, American Standard Popup Gallery, Miami, FL 2007 Henchmen Sind Menschen!, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY 2007 The Future Nostolgia, The Commons, Barney Building, New York, NY PUBLICATIONS 2015 2013
New American Paintings, Issue 116, Northeast, Curated by Michelle Grabner New Start: International Invitational, Organized by Asian Cultural Center
RESIDENCIES 2015 2013
Jentel Artist Residency Program, Banner, Wyoming Windy Mowing Painting Residency, Halifax, Vermont
BIBLIOGRAPHY 2015 2012
Tomko, Kelli Heitstuman. Getting Creative with Local Residency Programs, The Sheridan Press, cover and p.2, April 2-9, 2015 Ober, Cara. Stroke: Gesture, Mark, Muscle at BWI, Bmoreart.com, October 6, 2012
Please contact the gallery for more information: margolis@nancymargolisgallery.com 212 242 3013 523 W. 25th Street. New York. NY 10001 www.nancymargolisgallery.com
nancy margolis gallery Catalog © 2016 NANCY MARGOLIS GALLERY Courtesy of Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York and Sean McDonough © Sean McDonough Photography © Sean McDonough All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any other means, electronic or mechanical now known or hereafter invented, without written permission of publisher.