“eddy” Exhibition

M23

This event has ended.

M 2 3 presents eddy - an exhibition of recent work by Clare Koury, Daniel Klaas Beckwith, Quay Quinn Wolf, Tenant of Culture, Vladislav Markov.

You ought to lie in rivers or in ponds
As do the waterweeds which harbour pike.
The body grows light in the water. When your arm
Falls easily from water into sky
The little wind rocks it absentmindedly

[From “Of Swimming in Lakes and Rivers,” by Bertolt Brecht]

An eddy is a spiral, a small vortex, which spins counter to and disrupts the current. Against the great tides of the ocean, or the modest flow of a stream, eddies catch and confuse, addle and amaze. To Bertolt Brecht floating inverts our relationship to the real: we transcend gravity, we “fall into the sky.” Here we see works which similarly push against the currents of our material world, and in doing so call on us to suspend disbelief: in repurposing and recontextualizing media and materials from industrial, domestic, and nonhuman spaces the five artists represented here articulate the fragmented, yet poetic, nature of the present moment.

To those caught in the slipstream of material culture, these works are eddies in the face of capitalism’s incessant flows. Clare Koury’s works repurpose inconspicuous industrial fixtures, forcing a renegotiation of the body’s relationship to the hardware which characterizes banal interiors. Quay Quinn Wolf evokes an encounter with the domestic, but on closer look discomforts: his assemblage recontextualizes a hospital bed’s steel railing into a discursive grid, rendered banal—but not passive—on the gallery floor. In a beguilingly diaphanous sculpture, Daniel Klaas Beckwith probes the uncanny: his silk spider web directly questions our desire to look closely, to engage with the mundane. Vladislav Markov’s velour panels, a triptych and a pair of draped fabrics, harken to archaic textiles while bearing the mark of a futuristic symbolism. Tenant of Culture frames an abstracted quilt, stitched from fragments of handbags and discarded garments, yet retains traces of their origins—literally keeping the tags on, and in plain view.

– Holly Bushman
Vladislav Markov (Russian, b. 1993) lives, works in New York City. He holds an MFA from Cornell University (2019), and a BFA from Parsons School of Design (2016). Markov’s first solo exhibitions Extra Medium, Spazio ORR, Brescia, Italy, and Vladislav Markov, M 2 3, New York were presented in 2020. The artist was included in the M 2 3 exhibitions Seven Artists/Seven Works (2020), and Brian Dario, Liza Lacroix, Vladislav Markov (2018); Donovan, Markov, Mildenberg, Olive Tjaden Gallery at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (2018); and has exhibited at Lily Brooke Gallery, London (2017); Project Fabrika, Moscow (2016); and at the Cornell University MFA exhibitions On High Water, Safe Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2019), and Big Snack, Signal, Brooklyn, NY (2018). In 2018 and 2019, Markov participated in Harvard University’s visiting artists program as guest lecturer. Markov’s work has been published on several platforms, including Artforum, The Artnewspaper, and Brooklyn Magazine. Forthcoming exhibitions include a solo presentation at Fragment Gallery, Moscow (2021).

Tenant of Culture (Dutch, b. 1990) is the artistic practice of Hendrickje Schimmel who lives, works in London. Tenant of Culture holds an MA in mixed media from Royal College of Art, London, UK, (2016) and a BA in Womenswear, from ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Zwolle, Netherlands (2012). Tenant of Culture is the recipient of the 2020 Camden Art Centre Emerging Artist Prize with Frieze. Tenant of Culture, who is represented by Soft Opening, London, will realise a major exhibition at Camden Art Centre, London in 2022. Recent solo exhibitions include Tenant of Culture, Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands (2019), Exterior Assemblage, Soft Opening, London, UK (2019); Eclogues (an apology for actors), Nicoletti Contemporary, London, UK (2019). Forthcoming exhibitions include solo presentations at Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna, Austria (2021), Kunstverein Dresden, Dresden, Germany (2020), and Fons Welters, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2020).

Quay Quinn Wolf (American, b. 1989) lives, works in New York City. Recent exhibitions include Tensions, Jack Barrett Gallery, New York (2020), Pink Velvet Dress with the Fur Collar, Interface Gallery, Oakland, CA (2019); Arrangements, Jack Barrett Gallery, New York, (2018). His work was included in the exhibitions Ghosts, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York (2019), Haptics Tactics, and Leslie-Lohman Museum, New York (2018); and published in ArtNews and Artforum.

Daniel Klaas Beckwith (American, b. 1988) Lives, work in Los Angeles, CA. He holds an MFA in Sculpture from Yale University, New Haven, CT (2015), and BFA in Sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA (2010). Beckwith’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions at MEYOHAS, New York, and M 2 3, New York. His work has been included in exhibitions at Fisher Parrish, Brooklyn, NY; Motel, Brooklyn, NY; GAIT, Los Angeles, CA; as well as exhibitions in Tokyo, Ecuador, and Leeds, England, UK.

Clare Koury (American, b. 1993) lives, works in New York City. She holds an MFA from Columbia University (2020), and a BA from the University of Chicago (2015). Koury’s work has been included in exhibitions in New York, Chicago, and London, as well as presented at The Jewish Museum, New York (2019); The Fireplace Project, East Hampton, NY (2019); and online via Steve Turner, Los Angeles, CA (2020)