Jeff Bailey Gallery is pleased to present Chris Gentile, Thinking About Not Thinking.
Chris Gentile’s photographs of his sculptures reveal painstaking efforts in constructing scenarios that reference the passage of time.
Through the repetition of labor-intensive techniques, Gentile searches for a state of mind and image that has clarity and introspective potential. Each image becomes a way to harness representations of emotional landscapes. He cites Robert Burton’s “Anatomy of Melancholy”, written in 1624, as a strong influence. The book categorizes the many states of human error and ecstasy and explores themes of Vanitas painting, which was prevalent in Burton’s time.
Gentile’s photographs of his sculptures are contemporary explorations of the beginnings and endings of things both big and small.
Chris Gentile received his BFA from the Ringling School of Art and Design in 1995, and his MFA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1998. This is his first solo exhibition in New York.