| Massey Klein Gallery is pleased to announce, Leviathan, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Eric Helvie. This is the artist’s third show with the gallery. The exhibition will be on view from March 1st through March 31st with an opening reception on Friday, March 1st, from 6-8pm. |
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Leviathan presents a group of eight new, photorealist paintings, four years in the making. Begun in 2014 as a series of works originally created in response to Philip Roth’s, Portnoy’s Complaint, Helvie employed thickly layered oil paint, sprayed enamel and printed fleece fabric, pressed directly into the wet surface of the paintings. The resulting “Pipe Smokers,” once finished, were then repainted by hand over the next three-and-a-half years with each gestural mark and collaged surface element rendered in a single layer of black and white oil on canvas. Helvie then took it a step further by cropping into each Pipe Smoker, creating a unique one-to-one “detail” corresponding to each of the four larger pieces and highlighting a specific element found in each painting. The resulting work sits in a limbo, hovering somewhere between the realm of “original” paintings and the tradition of photographic reproduction.
Read full press release |
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Eric Helvie was born in 1984 in Portland, Oregon. His work deals directly with the act of seeing, obsessive looking, and optical ambiguity. Pulling from art history, television and film, his paintings act as props and icons: objects that glean meaning from their context and point to a larger system of understanding. His work is held in numerous private collections.
Massey Klein Gallery is located at 124 Forsyth St. New York, NY 10002.
Gallery hours: Wednesday through Saturday 11:00 AM – 6:00PM & Sunday 1:00PM – 6:00PM.
For questions regarding works available or press inquiries, please email info@masseyklein.com |
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