NYAB Event - Tobias Madison Exhibition

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At Swiss Institute Contemporary Art
Media: Installation, Film

Tobias Madison’s first US solo show is a newly commissioned project in two parts. Hydrate + Perform consists of many large acrylic tanks, each filled with a different flavor of Vitamin Water. The stunning blocks of pastel color create a counter rhythm to the columns that support the gallery space on Broadway. Other display cases frame synthetic plants, Pollock-ized with drips of paint. Large color prints of Compact Discs scanned and warped constitute wall panoramas. The various layers form a landscape unfolding different states of artificiality.

The second part of the exhibition entitled Yes I Can! The Movie: Preview pairs Madison’s notorious flag paintings with a short film shot in 2009. The road movie leading from Switzerland to Mongolia tracks the use of monuments and brutalist architecture on the way. The flags are embezzled from Radisson Hotels, their slogan Yes I can! crudely appropriated. Stretched as if they are the real thing and pimped with oil paint by different collaborators, they enter art history through the service door. Herewith the status of painting is naturally demystified by Madison.

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