Press Release
Lehmann Maupin is pleased to present "LIVESupport," celebrated artist Nari Ward's first solo exhibition at the gallery. In this new body of work consisting of sculptures, works on paper, and video, Ward articulates a dialogue surrounding the idea of support – physical, spiritual, social, and judicial – while introducing contemplation of everyday objects. Employing varying forms of the silhouette, Ward expands on the two-dimensional form, creating three-dimensional and also transparent incarnations to tell a story that not only highlights what is declared, but what is withheld.
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Press Release
Lehmann Maupin is pleased to present "LIVESupport," celebrated artist Nari Ward's first solo exhibition at the gallery. In this new body of work consisting of sculptures, works on paper, and video, Ward articulates a dialogue surrounding the idea of support – physical, spiritual, social, and judicial – while introducing contemplation of everyday objects. Employing varying forms of the silhouette, Ward expands on the two-dimensional form, creating three-dimensional and also transparent incarnations to tell a story that not only highlights what is declared, but what is withheld.
The centerpiece of LIVESupport, is a powerful work entitled "Sick Smoke," a smoke-filled ambulance covered in opaque and transparent white vinyl, allowing only traces of its signage to be visible. In contrast to this ominous white vehicle, black stencil ink plays an important role in the surrounding works in the exhibition. Ward's use of the ink to cover everyday objects, such as walking canes and shoe tips, continues his study of the silhouette, "marking out" an entire form, but allowing the nuances of its surface and shape to be experienced more thoughtfully. Other works featured in LIVESupport include "Church State," a two-part sculpture comprised of ink-covered church pews mounted on wheels; "Ambulascope," a downward facing telescope supported by a seven-foot tower of walking canes, which are marked with ink and adorned with Magnetic Resonance Images (MRIs) of the spinal column; "Riot Gates," a series of large-scale X-Ray images of the human skull mounted on security gates and surrounded by a border of ink-covered shoe tips, objects often used by the artist as tenuous representation of the body ; "Role Play Drawings" a series of found black and white cards from the 1960s used for teaching young children, which Ward has altered using ink to mark out the key elements and reshape the narrative, which leaves the viewer to interpret the remaining psychological tension; and "Father and Sons, " a video filmed at Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network House of Justice, which comments on the anxiety and complex dialogue that African-American police officers are often faced with when dealing with young African-American teenagers.
Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin Gallery
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