JIM TOROK and NYAME O. BROWN
October 17 – November 16, 2002
For his latest exhibition at the
gallery, Jim Torok will be showing seven new, now even-smaller-scale (2.75
x 2 inch) self-portraits, each painted in oil on an archival polymer ground
in a realist style
,
along with several recent hilarious, autobiographical storyboards on paper.
The juxtaposition of these two seemingly disparate bodies of work, both of
which are equally important to this artist, combined express a more complete,
rounded impression of Torok’s life, both good and bad.
The exquisite northern Renaissance technique of the portrait works, contrasted by a passport-like neutrality and intimate scale, engage the viewer with their quiet power. By donning different colored shirts, or changing the lighting and background, each self-portrait is uniquely different, an expression of the artist’s mood at various moments in time. Meanwhile, Torok’s storyboards are full of witty philosophy, gentle humor, and pathos, which convey a sense of the playfulness that underscores his self-portraits.
In the front gallery, for his first
show in New York, Nyame O. Brown, a Chicago based artist, will present graphite
and conte crayon drawings on paper, as well as paintingsand
pastels,
each a vivid glimpse of brooding hyper-reality. Brown, who is inspired by
African hairstyles and sculpture, creates images that explore the unconscious
intertwining of African-American pop culture and the larger African Diaspora,
and how it seeks to retain its identity while resisting co-option into the
larger cultural aesthetic. The “hairdo” drawings depict an outlandish
cultural marker, cuttings and combings “more fantastic than the real
thing.”