Flatlands
Nina Chanel Abney, Matthew Cerletty, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Caitlin Keogh, Orion Martin
January 14–April 17, 2016
The Whitney Museum of American Art
Orion Martin
Bakers Steak, 2015
Oil on canvas
51.5 x 35.5 in (130.8 x 90.2 cm)
Orion Martin
Triple Nickel, Tull, 2016
Oil on canvas
51.5 x 35.5 in (130.8 x 90.2 cm)
Orion Martin
Sir Michaels, All Wash, 2015
Oil on canvas
51.5 x 35.5 in (130.8 x 90.2 cm)
This exhibition brings together paintings by five artists—Nina Chanel Abney, Mathew Cerletty, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Caitlin Keogh, and Orion Martin. Highlighting an engagement with representation among some emerging artists, the works in this group conjure a sense of space that is dimensionless and airless, like the illusionistic scenery flats used on stage and movie sets. Each of these artists fills their compositions with objects, bodies and places that are based on reality, yet are exaggerated, recontextualized, simplified or flattened. The individual works are imbued with both the uncertainty of our sociopolitical moment as well as the seductive quality of consumerism and physical attraction. The paintings in Flatlands invite the viewer to reflect on this ever-present polarity and ambivalence of contemporary life.
Flatlands is organized by assistant curators Laura Phipps and Elisabeth Sherman.
Major support is provided by John R. Eckel Jr. Foundation.
Generous support is provided by Liz and Jonathan Goldman.