ADAM HENRY:
ALIEN BEATNIK SIREN

A sys­tem is as human as a splash of paint, more so when the splash gets rou­tinized.
—Lawrence Alloway, Sys­temic Paint­ing, 1966

Joe Shef­tel Gallery is pleased to present Alien Beat­nik Siren, Adam Henry’s sec­ond solo exhi­bi­tion with the gallery. An open­ing recep­tion will be held on Sun­day, May 4, from 6-8pm. The exhi­bi­tion will be on view from May 4-June 15, 2014.

Alien Beat­nik Siren is an instal­la­tion of four­teen nearly iden­ti­cal paint­ings hung sym­met­ri­cally on the side­walls of the gallery.  With this exhi­bi­tion Henry fur­thers his explo­rations into the rela­tion­ship between the psy­cho­log­i­cal and the opti­cal by attempt­ing to cre­ate the same paint­ing four­teen times.  Know­ing that this is impos­si­ble, the artist embraces the anom­alies that hap­pen through the process of mak­ing each indi­vid­ual paint­ing.  This takes a firm stand against the fetishiza­tion of authen­tic­ity and Henry explores dif­fer­en­ti­a­tion through rep­e­ti­tion rather than through vari­a­tion.

The sequence of these paint­ings pro­vides an oppor­tu­nity to inves­ti­gate the mul­ti­plic­ity of expe­ri­ence and an uncanny notion of time. The glow­ing sur­faces of these works par­al­lel the back­lit screens that have become the pri­mary way images are both deliv­ered and con­sumed. Henry has expressed inter­est in painting’s abil­ity to project light as opposed to reflect­ing it and, as such, he is con­cerned with painting’s abil­ity to slow down a viewer and high­lights expe­ri­ence over con­sump­tion. Paint­ings are acti­vated when looked at and a paint­ing must be looked at many times before it can be seen.

For press inquiries and images, please con­tact the gallery at mail@joesheftelgallery.com.