Instagram story viewer> @whyankombone> Posts

Kurt McVey

@whyankombone

3.3K

followers

624

following

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

@serenacserenac @island83gallery Serena Chang with a strong solo debut, “Sweet Water.” Nude pantyhose (Do they still call it that? Hosiery? Sheer tights?) convincingly cosplaying as sugarcane, which of course has all sorts of implications, not all great, historically. Across much of Island Gallery, the “sugarcane” sculptures collectively create an immersive ghost forest, a coastal woodland usually negatively impacted (aesthetics aside) by climate change, or rising sea levels, saltwater poisoning, pollution, whatever. It also evokes some of Asia’s more spooky and culturally sensitive forests that have taken on an altogether haunting context. At the base are “Seal Scripts,” characters specifically designed for carving into seals, often used to imprint names or titles onto wax or paper for authentication purposes. Serena Chang is Taiwanese-American, but the show’s subject matter cuts across various cultures, hemispheres and time periods, including the present, raising questions about slavery, globalization, imperialism, exploitation, cavities, obesity, diabetes, you name it. There’s also something about contemporary art itself as a global, gluttonous commodity-complex. Wish art fans cared more about this. Wish people were more self-aware generally, but I won’t hold my breath. Glad Serena Chang has something powerful to say, and in a fresh way, while putting out great vibes as a humble human and talented artist. Shout out to Island Gallery for boldly incorporating @gwenhollingsworth whose paintings are also featured in a seamlessly adjacent solo. It all flows quite nicely together without the exhibitions conspicuously competing. Chang (pictured) also has a few sculptural paintings and mixed media works that are secretly sexy (Scrambled?) and a bit disturbing, like pantyhose itself, which always weirded me out in a David Lynch in drag sort of way. Catch @lus_kairos in a cameo too! taken in Bowery by @whyankombone

54

5

2 years ago

“Density of the Spell,” a solo exhibition at New York’s @slagrxgallery by Warsaw-based artist @edyta.hul // Happy to have written the press release/essay for this excellent show by Edyta Hul, her first in the U.S. You can read that writing on the gallery’s website, but I highly recommend seeing this exhibition in person, where you can peruse, printed paper copy temporarily in hand. Somber vibes in New York, considering the devastation in California. Privileged, not just to be seen and supported by a great gallery and its staff, but to be inside, warm and inspired while around good people and a diverse group of art lovers, especially on such an insanely bone-chilling evening. Quite the dichotomy to what others have experienced and continue to suffer through in LA, save the shared ferocious winds. Congrats all the same to Edyta Hul for such a moving show, full of life, mystery, energy and sensuality. You can see and smell (thanks to the multi-layered industrial enamels and lavish oils) the potency of the work. There’s a fresh language on display, as well as a secret underlying technique, bubbling and crackling, blurring and merging background and foreground. Digital imagery simply won’t do. Sending true love and well wishes to all human beings, animals, plants, trees, flowers and spirits, wherever you are and wherever you will go. Life can be so shocking, baffling and disruptive. Sometimes it’s just the same old regularly scheduled programming. Sometimes it’s a blast of unbridled joy beyond our wildest imagination. It’s all a confounding, mixed bag of insanity, ecstasy, paralyzing ennui and crushing sadness. I have been there, baby. I’ll be there again, surely. Artists do their best to help humanity reconnect to the bloody purpose and friggin’ point of it all. That’s why I go swimming in it. I have to. I must. I cannot do and cannot live without. I’ve tried. Kiss your dog, rub your cat’s belly (worth the risk), smell the roses (watch the thorns) and hug your loved ones, especially the annoying ones. Thanks for the tasty cookies and amazing pierogis, both real and metaphorical. Get lost or perhaps find yourself all over again in the Density of the Spell. taken in Slag&Rx by @whyankombone

56

6

2 years ago

20

1

2 years ago

Happy Birthday @babiiaudrey and Happy New Year everyone! taken in Lower East Side Manhattan by @whyankombone

20

3

2 years ago

@williamshelburn William (Bill) has been in this same studio since 1973. Gotta help fire up the gram for this artist, who, though being in Manhattan for years, has a deep passion for his motherland of Hickory, North Carolina, especially its unique flora and fauna, found across many state and federal parks onward through Asheville and up through the Blue Mountains, which peek through in the top right corner of this painting. Lots of information about snails, two new species of crayfish, turtles, a quite metal flower called the Mountain Deathcamus, and special orchids that don’t photosynthesize, but instead rely heavily on a complex, symbiotic relationship with forest fungi (a mycorrhizal association). Thanks for the visit, Bill! taken in New York, New York by @whyankombone

44

6

2 years ago

@amyvandoran taken in Lower East Side by @whyankombone

17

0

2 years ago

@lus_kairos @benzistudio @mandieerickson taken in Bowery by @whyankombone

25

3

2 years ago

@jaredowensart @silverartprojects taken in 4 World Trade Center by @whyankombone

15

1

2 years ago

@alannah.farrell.studio @silverartprojects with a shout out to @marietomanova taken in 4 World Trade Center by @whyankombone

42

3

2 years ago

Insanely strong cohort @silverartprojects a non-profit organization that provides artists with free, year-long studio spaces and career development opportunities that accelerate and enhance their artistic practice, all going down within 4 World Trade Center in NYC. The project was founded in 2019 and seems to really be hitting its stride. Serious Justice-meets-Impact elements throughout as well. Each studio is a portal into complex stories, imaginations, raw histories and wildly optimistic futures. Artists have never been without challenges, no matter the market or stage of their career. These talented artists seemed grateful, not just for the space, the PR, or killer views, but the proximity, camaraderie, and the daily confirmation that despite our vast differences, humans, especially artists, have a tremendous amount of overlap in joy and shared struggle. To be clear, these artists are crushing it! Still, show that love. I have a couple verticals shots that deserve their own post and couldn’t be deftly squished in here, so stay tuned for those. Thank you @gthornbury and @reishaperlmutter Here are the featured artists, among almost two-dozen in the full cohort. Some are senior fellows: @ohsagarika @danielumi @jaredowensart @dianasinclair @r.craig.t1 taken in 4 World Trade Center by @whyankombone

46

1

2 years ago

Thank you Artist @mollygochman for a great Block Party this past weekend in the East Village, where I was able to test out my breakdancing skills with some considerably more flexible kids and the incredible @emphasisentertainment who later in the day street-battled with Hopak by @syzokryli a NYC-based Ukrainian dance company, which was glorious. I posted a Reel featuring this awesome event, which was designed to reinforce solidarity for Ukraine and reify its independence. Follow Molly and @ukrainianmuseum to learn more about their other corresponding collaborative activations, like “Dispersed Geographies,” “UKR|RUS,” and this past weekend’s more intimate recreation of the famous Ukrainian “Chain of Unity.” @libertyukr @culturalcounsel Photos by @alexmctigue #dispersedgeographies taken in Ukrainian Museum by @whyankombone

20

3

2 years ago

An exciting new chapter for @emilioperezart @bienvenusteinbergandc Here’s Emilio in front of “In the Garden of What Was,” 2024, Oil on linen, 72” x 96” (183 x 244cm), featured prominently in his first solo show in New York in over a decade. Not that Emilio hasn’t been busy with exhibitions and commissions, usually calling for a style of painting that carried Emilio (or Emilio carried) for even longer. These instantly recognizable past works involved carving and slicing out graphic lines that made the earlier acrylic strokes pop in sinewy, psychedelic, sometimes ferocious patterns. The vibes are still flowing here, but for this new body of work, Emilio is offering a more retrained, softer, mature, velvety hand, now in Oil, taking a cue from Frederic Edwin Church but keeping things fresh and swell like a new set of waves. There is some Cuba in there, to which Emilio’s past is emotionally and culturally tied, especially in the faded browns and pastels. Like the aforementioned Church (who was actually quite the international traveler), there is also America’s varied landscape, melded into some kind of utopian Roald Dahl dream, infused with the romance of George Catlin and Henry François Farny, some Dalí, Munch, and Botticelli, and almost separate from our present and enduring political realities and hyper-object anxieties. Make sure to check out “The Invention of Nature,” up now. taken in Bienvenu Steinberg & J by @whyankombone

40

6

2 years ago