Sean Kelly is pleased to present WIDE WAKE, an exhibition of impressive new work by Sam Moyer. Recognized for a diverse practice that draws inspiration from architectural space and natural materials, Moyer fashions compelling hybrids that abstract the languages of painting and sculpture. This will be Moyer’s first exhibition with Sean Kelly and her first solo exhibition in New York since 2014. An opening reception will take place on Thursday, October 26, from 6-8 pm. The artist will be present.

For this exhibition, Moyer has produced a series of vibrant, large-scale paintings, a dramatic, architectural sculpture, and drawings in oil on paper. Each of Moyer’s large paintings is a unique composition of variegated and multi-hued sections of repurposed marble, slate and stone combined with fabrics in a spectrum of colors. Although Moyer has used dyed textiles and industrial fabrics in previous bodies of work, this is the first time she has hand-painted the canvas. A dominant centerpiece of the exhibition is a monumental painting measuring eighteen feet in length, comprised of dozens of individual elements. Compositionally related to nine other paintings on view in the main gallery, it is among the most ambitious works Moyer has ever produced. In the front gallery, Moyer will present a major architectural installation composed of immense sheets of stone carefully hinged and arranged to create a portal or gateway, which bisects the space. The monumentality of this sculpture serves as perfect contrast to what lays beyond: a compositional grid of 32 intimately scaled drawings.

Each of the drawings is executed in the same materials and embrace a similar tonal range. The variety of forms and gestures incorporated reveals Moyer's abiding interest in her artistic forebears ranging from David Smith to Robert Smithson, Agnes Martin to Eva Hesse. Indeed, the title of the exhibition, WIDE WAKE, is an acknowledgement of the inspiration Moyer has taken from these and other artists. She adopts the phrase wide wake to acknowledge “the breadth of that influence,” likening its affect to following in the wake of a boat on the water. She continues, “I think of this body of work as very personal and internal, while making direct reference to those that came before me, the artists and artworks that have imprinted themselves on my mind, and their ghosts that I have incorporated into my practice.” While acknowledging such inspiration, Moyer’s new paintings, sculpture and drawings reveal a powerful aesthetic and refreshing assurance. Evincing beauty, humor, and a careful equivalence of the readymade and handmade, WIDE WAKE brings together disparate aspects of Sam Moyer’s practice.

Sam Moyer’s works are included in prominent collections including Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, France; and The Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon, amongst others. Her work has been exhibited at The Drawing Center (New York, NY), The Bass Museum (Miami, FL), University of Albany Art Museum (Albany, NY), The Public Art Fund (New York, NY), White Flag Projects and The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (St. Louis, MO), LAND (Los Angeles, CA), Tensta konsthall (Stockholm, SW), Cleopatra’s Greenpoint (Brooklyn, NY), and Société (Berlin, DE). She has also participated in "Greater New York" and “Between Spaces” at PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens. Moyer received her BFA from the Corcoran College of Art and Design and her MFA from Yale. She lives and works in Brooklyn.