Gravity, a Proposal

GRAVITY, A PROPOSAL BARBARA ESS, DANA LOK, JAMESON MAGROGAN, MONIQUE MOUTON, BRANDON NDIFE, CHARLIE PEREZ-TLATENCHI April 14 – May 27, 2022

GRAVITY, A PROPOSAL BARBARA ESS, DANA LOK, JAMESON MAGROGAN, MONIQUE MOUTON, BRANDON NDIFE, CHARLIE PEREZ-TLATENCHI April 14 – May 27, 2022

SIKKEMA JENKINS & CO. 530 WEST 22ND STREET

NEW YORK, NY 10011

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TEL 212 929 2262

As the structuring principle of the exhibition, gravity is understood as both the fundamental force attracting bodies and mass towards the center of the earth, and the palpable weight of importance, solemnity, and full understanding. The emerging and established artists featured in this show engage with ideas of gravity through a variety of readings and representations. Presented together, the exhibition opens new channels of correspondence, exploring interactions between works and juxtaposing artists at different stages in the trajectories of their practices.

Gravity is familiar to the ambient, low-fi photographs of Barbara Ess—its force and pressure, as well as the possibility of its suspension. Deceivingly simple in its subject matter, Stairs (Shut-in Series), 201819, shows a haunting illumination of a set of steps emerging from surrounding darkness. Dense shadow suffuses the image, contrasted against hazy light in bringing form to surface. Viewing the image, one cannot help but feel the weight of their own body, and its potential for ascent or descent.

Dana Lok’s work explores transformative processes of ideas as they move between language and visualization, and the compositional interactions of illusion and fact. Weight, texture, and shadow imbue her drawing with a sense of tactility and dimensionality. The gravity of her work lies in the tension introduced between the interpretation of coded statements and the perceived recognition of visual forms.

Jameson Magrogan’s paintings employ compositional strategies that evoke images of containers or vessels filled from the top. Semitransparent layers of paint are laid upon the canvas, building up deep hues and developing a solidity of painted systems. His practice wrestles with the histories of biomorphic abstraction, and its potential within our present moment.

While Monique Mouton is known more for her spare, subtle paintings on paper, her “Lean” wood works consider an ambiguous yet productive neither/nor relationship to painting and sculpture. Standing at 96” inches tall, Untitled (2013) can be experienced as both monumental and provisional in its structure. The dark blue color of the paint instills it with a density of form, particularly when viewed head-on, while the side perspective reveals it to be more yielding than how it initially appears.

Brandon Ndife fuses organic and human-made forms to produce effects of decay, precarity, and transmogrification. In Organ (2019), the plumbing beneath a ready-made sink is opened, showing an earthen mass adhering itself to the pipes below. The dark pigmented resin contrasts with the clean white of the sink’s exterior and the metallic sheen of the plumbing: an alien encroachment within an otherwise utilitarian setting. Utilizing these raw and found materials, Ndife’s sculptures displace familiar items into environments of regrowth and dynamic decomposition.

Charlie Perez-Tlatenchi zeroes in on colonial and revolutionary histories manifest in everyday experience, engaging with the shadowed forces that of globalization, and their pervasive visual interventions within contemporary communities. This body of work, titled Descendente (La Ley Del Monte), revolves around concepts of “descent” and “mountain” as they relate to historical apparitions of the Mexican Revolution.

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DANA LOK

Born 1988, Berwyn, PA Lives and works in New York, NY

Dana Lok received her MFA from Columbia University, New York in 2015 and her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh in 2011. Lok was a recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant in 2018. Her first solo exhibition with Miguel Abreu Gallery, NY is on view until May 7th.

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Dappled Floor, 2022 Charcoal and pastel on paper 16.5 x 15 inches (41.9 x 38.1 cm)

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MONIQUE MOUTON

Born 1984, Fort Collins, CO Lives and works in New York, NY

Monique Mouton received her BFA from the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver (2006) and her MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College (2014). Recent solo exhibitions include shows at Bridget Donahue, NY; Veda, Florence, Italy; and Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles, CA.

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Untitled, 2013/2022 Oil on wood 96 x 13.5 inches (243.8 x 34.3 cm)

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JAMESON MAGROGAN Born 1992, Baltimore, MD Lives and works in New York

Jameson Magrogan received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD (2014) and graduated from the MFA program at Hunter College, NY in 2020. His most recent solo exhibition was Cobble Paintings, at Somos Art House, Berlin, where he was an artist in residence in 2019.

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Untitled (G-P3-2), (G-P3-2), 2021 Acrylic on canvas 70 x 58 inches (177.8 x 147.3 cm)

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BRANDON NDIFE

Born 1991, Hammond, IN Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

Brandon Ndife received his a BFA from The Cooper Union in 2013, and his MFA at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College in 2020. His work was most recently shown in a solo exhibition at Wesleyan University (2022) and the New Museum Triennial; he is currently working on a large-scale piece for Storm King Art Center, to be unveiled in May. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

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Organ,, 2019 Organ MDF, aluminum sink, PVC tubing, insulation foam, pigmented resin, earth pigment, hemp 34 1/4 x 28 x 25 1/4 inches (87 x 71.1 x 64.1 cm)

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Jameson Magrogan Untitled RV-P2-3, RV-P2-3, 2022 Acrylic on canvas 70 x 58 inches (177.8 x 147.3 cm)

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CHARLIE PEREZ-TLATENCHI Born 1994, Brooklyn, NY Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

Charlie Perez-Tlatenchi received his BA in Studio Art from Reed College in 2017 and is a current MFA candidate at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College (2023). His first solo exhibition Descendente (La Ley Del Monte) opened in September 2021 at haul gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Charlie has also participated in group exhibitions at: haul gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2020); FLUC, Vienna, Austria (2019); Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR (2018); Canada Gallery, New York, NY (2017).

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Untitled (La Ley Del Monte), Monte), 2021 Pigment print, copy paper, acrylic, spray paint, screenprinting, grommets on canvas 59 x 63 inches (149.9 x 160 cm)

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Descendente, 2021 Pigment print, scratching, spray paint, perforated vinyl, gold leaf, screenprinting and grommets on paper 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cm)

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Brandon Ndife Arabesque, 2022 Cast foam, resin, aquaresin, wood, oil paint, earth pigments 40 x 33 x 30 inches (101.6 x 83.8 x 76.2 cm)

BARBARA ESS

1948-2021, Brooklyn, NY Lived and worked in New York

Barbara Ess (1948-2021) was best known for her photographic work and involvement in experimental bands as part of the downtown New York arts scene of the 80s and 90s. She received a BA from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan and attended the London School of Film Technique. Her work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions, including retrospectives at the Queens Museum, NY; the Center for Fine Arts, Miami, FL; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, along with solo shows in New York, Los Angeles, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Her works can be found in the public collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, CA; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; and the Pompidou Center/Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, France.

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Stairs [Shut-In Series], 2018-19 Archival pigment print 30 1/2 x 21 7/8 inches (77.5 x 55.6 cm)

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Monique Mouton Untitled,, 2016 Untitled Watercolor on paper 39.25 x 25.75 inches (99.7 x 65.4 cm)

SIKKEMA JENKINS & CO.

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