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Email PageMelting Midlands
October 12, 2006- November 11, 2006
Reception: October 12, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Shay Kun
BUIA Gallery
541 W 23rd StBUIA Gallery is pleased to present Melting Midlands, Goldsmiths graduate Shay Kun’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. Intrigued by the dissonance of world realities, in particular natural and idyllic versus man-made and corrupted, Kun posits Pop Art images against eerily activated High Art landscape motifs from the Hudson Valley School to arrive at sometimes quiet, sometimes comical painted social critiques. Taking advantage of the potent Richard Hamilton/Martha Rosler tradition of collage, Kun subtly distorts hyper romanticized Thomas Cole/Albert Beirstadt backgrounds with cartoon-like figures and decayed objects in often bizarre scenarios, creating a wry whimsy whose happy humor inextricably seems to vacillate towards the melancholy. Kun offers a very contemporary snap shot of consumer culture’s falsifying and alienating effect on the visual as well as culture at large as per the thinking of Guy Debord in his seminal work, The Society of the Spectacle. Unlike Debord, however, Kun retains an appealing ironic optimism that bows towards the brighter side of humanity and offers a comforting wholesome tempering to the unnerving tension at stake.
Kun carries his interest in high/low oppositions into the literal making of the work. Leveling both high and low art techniques by expressing both through painting and not collage, Kun alleviates the distinguishing factor of mass production or use into the more sacred realm of painting. At the same time, however, he inverts the reverence of high art landscape painting by intentionally overly romanticizing the palette and paint application. Similarly, Kun utilizes clashing glowing blues, greens, yellows, and reds to emphasize the abrasive quality of mass produced image. The resulting pastiche creates an intentional discomfort and allure that ultimately entices the viewer.
Shay Kun is a graduate of Goldsmiths and a three-year gallery artist. His highly successful debut solo exhibition in the spring of 2005, I care because you do too, resulted in inclusion in several shows here and abroad. This coming January he will have his first London solo exhibition, Perversion is the Love We Feel When Others Feel Love, at Seventeen. We are excited to announce the opening of his second greatly anticipated solo exhibition.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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