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From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Installation view of From Pre-History to Post-Everything at Sean Kelly, New York
June 27 - August 8, 2014
Photography: Jason Wyche, New York
Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Yue Blade, China, Neolithic Period, Qijia Culture, ca. 2000 B.C.
jade
height: 14 1/2 inches (36.8 cm)
TSW-65549

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Yue Blade, China, Neolithic Period, Hongshan Culture, 3500 - 2200 B.C.
stone
length: 17 inches (43.2 cm)
TSW-62325

Thomas Fougeirol Sean Kelly Gallery

Thomas Fougeirol
Untitled, 2013
oil on linen
76 x 56 3/4 inches (193 x 144 cm)
TF-1

Evan Nesbit Sean Kelly Gallery

Evan Nesbit
Porosity (Traces), 2014
acrylic, dye and burlap
32 x 26 inches (81.3 x 66 cm)
EN-2

Hugo McCloud Sean Kelly Gallery

Hugo McCloud
Too Many Tomorrows, 2014
aluminum foil, aluminum coating and oil paint on tar paper
79 x 78 inches (200.7 x 198.1 cm)
HM-6

Kasper Sonne Sean Kelly Gallery

Kasper Sonne
TXC48, 2014
industrial paint and chemicals on canvas in aluminum frame
60 x 48 inches (152.4 x 121.92 cm)
KSO-1

Luca Dellaverson Sean Kelly Gallery

Luca Dellaverson
Untitled, 2013
epoxy resin and mirrored glass with wood support
66 x 51 inches (167.6 x 129.5 cm)
LDE-2

Dean Levin Sean Kelly Gallery

Dean Levin
Four of the Seasons, 2014
oil and pigment on canvas in aluminum artist frame
82 x 30 x 18 inches (208.3 x 76.2 x 45.7 cm)
Photo: Robert Wedemeyer
DL-2

Sarah Crowner Sean Kelly Gallery

Sarah Crowner
Untitled (Frutas), 2014
acrylic on canvas and raw canvas, sewn, with painted wooden frame
painting: 48 x 48 inches (121.9 x 121.9 cm)
framed: 48 1/2 x 48 1/2 inches (123.2 x 123.2 cm)
SCR-1

From Pre-History to Post-Everything Sean Kelly Gallery
From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Ritual Blade, China, Neolithic Period, Hongshan Culture, 3500 - 2200 B.C.
stone
height: 16 1/2 inches (41.9 cm)
TSW-53882

From Pre History to Post Everything Sean Kelly Gallery

Wide Celt, China, Neolithic Period, Qijia Culture, 2100 - 1600 B.C.
jade
height: 8 1/2 inches (21.6 cm)
TSW-58014

Press Release

 

ISAAC BREST - SARAH CROWNER - LUCA DELLAVERSON
THOMAS FOUGEIROL - DEAN LEVIN - HUGO MCCLOUD
LANDON METZ - EVAN NESBIT - KASPER SONNE
PATRICIA TREIB - ARTIE VIERKANT
AND ABSTRACT PREHISTORIC STONE OBJECTS


Sean Kelly announces From Pre-History to Post-Everything, a group exhibition that presents ancient objects alongside contemporary paintings, providing the opportunity for a visual dialogue between the forms found in ancient cultures and the forms being investigated by today’s youngest generation of painters working with abstraction.

The ancient objects in the exhibition are geographically diverse, originating from the pre-Columbian Americas to China. The objects fall into several categories: the earliest are flint tools from the Paleolithic Era, whose rough-hewn shapes seem sculptural to us today, but were functional for their makers. Also included are pieces that were used for ritual purposes—such as Chinese Bi disks, axes and congs—made of carefully polished, hand-worked jade. Other ritual objects include the exquisitely detailed Taino scepters, in stark contrast to the smooth, abstracted forms of the Chinese ax blades, which appear to be tools but in fact had ceremonial significance. While diverse in age and region, all of these objects share a purity of form and material that are a direct reflection of the time and culture in which they were created.

Likewise, many of today’s brightest young artists are exploring both time-tested traditions as well as new processes to create abstract work that exemplifies the current zeitgeist. Whether woven, hand-dyed, sewn or made from industrially manufactured materials, like the works of Hugo McCloud, Evan Nesbit, Landon Metz and Sarah Crowner, or painted via hands-off processes such as the work of Dean Levin, Luca Dellaverson, and Isaac Brest, or referencing current technological media as in the work of Artie Vierkant, many artists today are expressing a renewed interest in the potential inherent in abstraction. While their ancient forebears may have turned to abstract form as a vehicle to explore the divine, artists today approach abstraction as a language, rich with references to contemporary culture.