Jeff Bailey Gallery is pleased to present Crippled Symmetry, featuring new work by Ben Beaudoin and Will Duty.
Ben Beaudoin's sculptures and Will Duty's paintings and drawings seem to strain under a state of equilibrium and order. A minimal landscape is suggested by a painting of star-like shapes that flatten and stretch indeterminately, while an exaggerated but partial antler lies nearby. A luminescent object, perhaps a remnant of twisted bone, perches tautly against the wall. A faceted sculpture, meteor or mutant gem, is suspended above, while a drawing of the sun's fire or a candle at close range glows quietly. A meticulously drawn vortex winds to infinity while a drawn digital readout seems to create its own galaxy.
There is a hushed and formal quality to the works of both Beaudoin and Duty, a sense of tightly controlled chaos that has been filtered through technology. Each artist takes isolated images or parts of images, either made or found on the computer. After a number of manipulations and additions a composition is created that is a guide for the final sculpture, painting or drawing. The results are objects and images that create their own scale, relationships and patterns with one another.
Like the musical composition, "Crippled Symmetry", by Morton Feldman, the exhibition suggests a meditative state arrived at through hours of contemplation and observation, in which each element is part of a whole, but not part of a specific narrative. In the work of Beaudoin and Duty, the studied nuances of shape, scale and form come together and radiate with intensity.
Ben Beaudoin's sculpture was featured in March, 2003 in "City Mouse/Country Mouse" at Space 101, Brooklyn. Will Duty's drawings were featured in fall 2002 in "Abstract Tendencies" at
The Drawing Center, New York.
Jeff Bailey Gallery is located at 511 West 25th Street, No. 808, between 10th and 11th Avenues. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11-6. For further information and images, please contact the gallery.