UNIX Gallery is pleased to present “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” a group exhibition featuring new and unique works from our esteemed program of artists, including Justin Bower, Desire Obtain Cherish, Pino Manos, and Zhuang Hong Yi. In addition, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” will showcase three new artists to the UNIX Gallery program, Yang Liming, Tom McFarland, and Josh Rowell. Held at our 532 West 24th Street location in New York, the show will feature a superlative curation of the gallery’s preeminent program. The exhibition opens with a private reception on August 4 from 6 - 8pm and runs for four weeks.
Justin Bower, known for his anonymous portraits, uses his brushstrokes to give us an understanding of an extensive subconscious reaction to technology. The fragmentation of his subjects is a reflection of today’s generational influence from technology. He intends to identify this disjunction and offer a perspective of techno-saturation.
Extending a new body of work that features large-scale paintings and photography — a significant departure for the object-oriented artist — Los Angeles based artist Desire Obtain Cherish challenges the decision-making process humans undergo while chasing the elusive state of happiness. Whether happiness is understood through finances, beauty, sex, or intelligence, Desire Obtain Cherish, is fascinated with the pursuit and decisions involved in such a journey.
Debuting with the gallery, Chinese artist Yang Liming synthesizes contemporary forms of Western abstract art harmoniously with the spirit of Chinese tradition. The traditional canvas wash leaves room for oil, which cascades with deep monochromatic shades. The artist is inspired by old notions of Chinese philosophy, such as the Taoist vital energy of chi. This energy seems to emanate from Liming’s brushstrokes, both powerful and gentle, energetic and precise.
Working for sixty years, Pino Manos is known for his rich monochromatic works, which he embellishes with twisted strips of canvas. The addition of these matching pieces augments the canvas beyond a vehicle for the purely pictorial, opening up its sculptural possibilities. He evokes a dynamic drama with these estroflesso artworks by manipulating color, space, light, and movement across the seemingly everted canvasesto create a sense of phantasmal synchronicity.
Tom McFarland melds a tradition of rugged craftsmanship, with a precise eye and intricate process to his mixed media paintings. McFarland’s mixed media works use string, hardware, resin, mesh, and acrylic paint within a geometric frame to create shadow and layered interplay between light, material, and negative space. Heavily process oriented, McFarland creates balance between heavy texture and elegant coloration to create a quizzical, idiosyncratic space for the viewer. This is McFarland’s debut showing in the gallery.
For his painterly works, Rowell uses acrylic on canvas to create a complex grid of language. However, his expertise translates/transcends the canvas to large-scale light installation, metal sculpture, and British currency. Rowell focuses on contemporary technological advances and their mediated effect on communication. His intricate paintings are constructed with a language based on color, pattern, and form conceived by the artist. In each, a message to decipher prompted by the title. Making his debut with the gallery in July, this marks the first time Rowell will be exhibited at the gallery.
Evoking themes of Abstract Expressionism, Korean artist KwangHo Shin employs intense and vibrant colors to depict the individualistic expression of emotion and a sense of self. He applies charcoal and oils in thick brushstrokes to distort and exaggerate the subject’s facial features. His technique confronts the viewer with an emotional impact, affecting our understanding of the human form. Whether it is the external pose of the subject or the unique color combinations, abstraction or layered texture, the portraiture of KwangHo Shin is able to document the psychological changes and clashes that arise in us all.
Zhuang Hong Yi’s Chinese training combined with Western Impressionist elements produces a vast collection of work. With studios in Beijing and Amsterdam, this cross-cultural artist brings traditional Chinese motifs such as rice paper and ink into the modernera, fusing contemporary form and culturally significant media. A graduate of the Si Chuan College of Fine Arts, China and Academy Minerva, the Netherlands, Zhuang Hong Yi has participated at Art Basel Scope (2009); ArtHongKong (2009); Art Paris (2010); and Art Amsterdam (2011).
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” runs from August 4 through September 4, 2016 and the gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
For all press inquiries and to RSVP to the preview, contact Robert Berry at 212-209-1572 or robert@unixgallery.com.