NYAB Event - “Drew Beattie: Betty re Testers 2” Exhibition

“Drew Beattie: Betty re Testers 2” Exhibition

Pocket Utopia

This event has ended.

Drew Beattie: Betty re Testers 2, follows Betty re Testers presented at Hansel and Gretel Picture + Pocket Utopia in Chelsea. Beattie builds canvases and painted sculptures, sometimes working collaboratively with Ben Shepard, under the moniker DBBS. This current collaboration builds on his past collaboration with Daniel Davidson in which they referred to themselves as simply Beattie & Davidson, but there is nothing simple about Drew Beattie’s solo or collaborative works, in fact he embraces a conflicted hybrid that is current, alive and looks like vibrant painting. Beattie’s style is polymorphous and his references are both mesmerizing and uncanny.

With paint and a range of materials, Beattie aims at diverse and multiple identities; he subdivides his voice with purpose. Conflict is ushered into a place of normalcy where it is ok to present spontaneous moments of discovery and enthrallment. Beattie’s paintings and sculptures are pasted together with bondo, mashed with collage and spin a chain of elements into multiple meanings. These elements or movements are often deployed on small store-bought canvases, becoming compressions that represent Beattie’s interior life.

This is the last exhibition at Pocket Utopia on Henry Street before we move into Hansel and Gretel Picture Garden on 22nd Street. Drew Beattie: Betty re Testers 2 adds fuel to our combined forward movement, giving deeper meaning to the “we” of universal co-creative collaboration. Beattie’s work indicates that this is a good place to make art.