Art
#Alexander Harrison
#nature
#painting
“Land of Infinite Wonders” (2023), acrylic on panel, 16 x 12 inches. All photos © Alexander Harrison, courtesy of Kasmin, New York, shared with permission
By small work that always stretch lower than a foot, artist Alexander Harrison coaxes scenes of each delicate pure magnificence and profound unease. As soon as-fresh flowers wilt and fall, evening descends round a decaying tree with a determine trapped inside, and malicious roots entangle a fleeting foot, puncturing the pores and skin with thorns and cuts. Rendered in acrylic on panel with trompe le’oiel parts that add illusory depth to the tiny portals, the works are brimming with intrigue and thriller about what lies past the body.
The items proven right here had been on view at Kasmin earlier this month in Harrison’s solo present Huge World, a title that alludes to the huge unreality from which he imagines his scenes rising. Supernatural and uncanny, the works comprise recognizable symbols that cite artwork historic and spiritual references, whereas the watermelon of “Down within the Mouth,” for instance, attracts on the lengthy legacy of racist imagery. “I see my work as one other dimension, or a universe that looks like a fever dream as proven via my eyes,” Harrison informed Kasmin Review. “I all the time wish to have cosmic symbols in my work, like capturing stars and moons, as a result of that creates distance and curiosity, however I additionally wish to create intimacy by portray the roots beneath the bottom.”
Typically reflecting on his upbringing in South Carolina, the artist tends to situate Black males on the heart of his items, contemplating the best way racism proliferates each American historical past and life at present. Along with the work included in Huge World, he additionally lately accomplished works that includes Black cowboys and their under-acknowledged legacies. Proven as a part of a corrective exhibition on the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, “Beyond the Horizon” equally depends on caricature and emanates a sinister, foreboding feeling like that of the works proven right here.
To view extra of the artist’s work, go to Kasmin’s site and Instagram.
“Down by The Previous Oak” (2023), acrylic on panel, 7 x 5 inches
“Down within the Mouth” (2023), acrylic on panel, 8 x 10 inches
“Hole Acorn” (2023), acrylic on panel, 4 x 4 inches
Element of “Hole Acorn” (2023), acrylic on panel, 4 x 4 inches
“Boo-Hoo Flowers” (2023), acrylic on panel, 6 x 6 inches
#Alexander Harrison
#nature
#painting
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