Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep includes Painting and Sculpture by Artist Vaughn Spann. Considered an artist to “keep a close eye on” by art specialists; his work has been featured in a myriad of art publications specially during 2019.
This exhibition develops at the threshold between personal and political circumstance, taking as its subject the artist’s own childhood, his experience as a father, and the landscape of social action that has unfolded in the United States with the Black Lives Matter movement.
At David Castillo Gallery, Spann presents a varied body of paintings which include examples from his Marked Man series. The highly textured surfaces of these works feature a large-scale X which fills the length of the canvas. The X is a formalist symbol that suggests deeper, allegorical contexts as well as the power and ever-changing nature of symbols across times and cultures. For Spann, the X is a representation of the human figure with arms and legs outstretched; a politicized posture which hints towards an individual standing at the mercy of police.
Vaughn Spann was born in Florida (1992) and lives and works in Newark, New Jersey. He received his BFA from Rutgers University (2014) and his MFA from Yale University (2018). Spann’s work has been exhibited at the Newark Museum, Reginald Lewis Museum in Baltimore, and the Rubell Museum (Miami). Recent press includes artnet, Blouin Artinfo, ARTnews, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Galerie Magazine, Vice, and “Best in Show: Six artists who are taking their work to a new level,” W Magazine (January 2019).
Opening Reception: Sep 12, 2019, 6 PM
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