NYAB Event - "The Surrogate Space" Exhibition

"The Surrogate Space" Exhibition

109 gallery

This event has ended.

The show is comprised of new paintings and sculptures that explore the functionality of utilitarian objects, and the problems inherent in their representation. Through the use of domestic and architectural images, the artists have created a world that is familiar, yet one warped by irrational and contradictory impulses.

Jerry Blackman's ceramic still lifes of everyday objects such as a telephone or a pair of scissors, presented in a matte black monochrome, tempt the viewer and beg to be handled. And though their functionality has been stripped through the act of representation, their tactility becomes all the more appealing through their curiously soft and inanimate nature. This metaphor is taken further, as, alongside these, Blackman offers other more irrational objects—sculptural byproducts—such as a crack or a ball of clay, subjects that lose nothing in the act representation. Meanwhile, his larger wall pieces leave fictive marks of the artist's hand which both intrigue and seduce.

Scott Goodman's paintings focus on architectural surfaces, and take as their subject matter the portals and other objects of potential energy we find in our built environment. In these pieces, natural textures are replaced by artificial waves of secondary hues, resulting cool and constructed façades possessing illusionary depth. Through the use of a precise and almost alien construction, representations of reality are reduced to their basic graphic components, calling to our attention the nature of artifice.

Blackman and Goodman will be showing alongside each other for the first time since they were enrolled as undergraduates at the Cooper Union. While each has his own distinct aesthetic approach, the work they have created for The Surrogate Space shares a common aim and motivation, apparent through their employment of space, pattern, architecture, and humor. The effect of the show is bolstered by these synergistic efforts and the overall illusory nature of the objects therein.

Media

• Painting
• Sculpture

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