↳ Exhibitions

The Changes Wrought at American Medium

September 1, 2018

Artists: Loney Abrams, Johnny Stanish, Bea Fremderman, Erika Hickle, Dana Lok, Tanya Merrill, Sydney Shen

Exhibition title: The Changes Wrought

Venue: American Medium, New York, US

Date: July 12 – August 18, 2018

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and American Medium, New York

“Is it not odd, is it not incongruous, is it not, in the highest sense of human speech, incredible, that we should think so highly of the ginger-beer, and regard so li<le the devouring earthquake?”

– Robert Louis Stevenson

A boy kneels down in the grass, his new blue jeans immediately stained. Scrabbling at the dirt in front of him he rips up a few blades, ?es them into small knots and lays them on the ground behind him. Then, more violently, the boy jams his fingers into the ground, his nails digging, pushing, crea?ng a small trough. Pushing a s?ck down and in, he uses it as a lever, removing a clod of dirt. The soil is cold to the touch as he reaches down into the hole.

The end of a worm has been uncovered. The boy stops, quieted by the sudden presence. He grabs at it, gently pulling the worm from its hiding spot. In a prac?ced gesture, the boy holds the worm from either end and ?es it into a knot. Holding the wriggling knot up to his eye, the boy smiles. Then, happy with his work, he tosses it over his leF shoulder.

The worm feels alive for the first ?me. The tree above grows closer and closer, the leaves beginning to glow yellow from the sunshine behind. It did not know there was so much space in the world. Its knoGed body stretches, but cannot reach the low limb approaching. The worm gets close enough to see the caterpillars perched on a leaf, chewing soFly, and then it falls.

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american medium is proud to present The Changes Wrought, a group exhibi?on of sculpture and pain?ng with new work by Loney Abrams & Johnny Stanish, Bea Fremderman, Erika Hickle, Dana Lok, Tanya Merrill, and Sydney Shen.

The works in The Changes Wrought focus on how perspec?val shiFs, outward and inward, amend how we view the context, makeup, and idea?on of a moment. The objects act as metaphorical pivots, ac?ng between poten?al futures and an examined past. There is a hope that by cemen?ng something in ?me, by explica?ng the nature of it, we can broaden its history and expand our knowledge of the future. There is a fallacy to this no?on, of course, but an op?mism as well. A coin mid-toss, frozen in ?me, will never land head or tails. It just stays there, suspended, spinning. The works in The Changes Wrought focus on that moment, before the fall and aFer the ascent.

The Changes Wrought, 2018, exhibition view, American Medium, New York

Tanya Merrill, Untitled (Reckoning), 2018, Oil on canvas, 64 x 48 in (162.6 x 121.9 cm)

Sydney Shen, Vox Aranea (Here Rests Syd), 2018, Medicine cabinet, magazine and newspaper clippings, electric organ hardware, belt from punitive garment, buttons, Brachypelma emilia specimen (deceased pet of artist), 20 x 15 x 6 in (50.8 x 38.1 x 15.2 cm)

Loney Abrams & Johnny Stanish, Chatelaine, 2018, Edition 1 of 3, Resin, 26.5 x 18 x 1.5 in (67.3 x 45.7 x 3.8 cm)