NYAB Event - Maximilian Toth "War Party"

Maximilian Toth "War Party"

Fredericks & Freiser Gallery

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Fredericks & Freiser presents War Party an exhibition of new work by Maximilian Toth. The exhibition will include large-scale paintings, drawings (both on paper and wall), as well as two films that together narrate youth’s unapologetic assertion in the harsh face of mortality.

Immersing themselves in full throttle bacchanalia, Toth’s line-based figures reenact contemporary versions of initiation rites long since abandoned. They play at war to test strength, galvanize loyalty and challenge faith. They seek danger to establish glory. However, within this search there is an inherent violence that reveals a primal nature. Ultimately, their urge to destroy becomes their vehicle to defy limitations.

Toth will also present two films in collaboration with Sarah Lasley. The films animate the initiation experience by bringing specific scenes from the paintings into live form. Whereas the paintings concentrate on youth’s declaration, the films portray the realization that vitality is fleeting and the body is fragile. Toth’s subjects find this all the more reason to celebrate.

Maximilian Toth was born in 1978 and received an MFA from Yale in 2006. He has had solo shows in New York, Minneapolis and Australia as well as numerous group shows including the Wadsworth Athenaeum, Dallas Contemporary and Prospect New Orleans 1.5. He will be included in the upcoming Painters’ Paint exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, London. This will be Toth’s third solo show at Fredericks & Freiser.