Opening reception: April 12, 2013, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
From April 12 through May 27, 2013.
“…he realized the futility of changing direction, the sterility of all enthusiasm and all effort. ‘You have to let yourself go with the flow, Schopenhauer is right’, he told himself, ‘”Man’s life swings like a pendulum between pain and boredom”. So there’s no point trying to speed up or slow down the rhythm of its swings; all we can do is fold our arms and try to get to sleep…'”
-JK Huysmans, À vau-l’eau, (English: With the Flow or Downstream) 1882
“I’ve always been an avid fan of the works of French Writer J.K. Huysmans. Much like me, his explorations range from dandyism to satanism. I recently re-read, Downstream, a lesser known novel than his famous Against the Grain. It follows a sad civil servant’s day to day struggle with boredom and monotony. It’s a rather depressing read simply because nothing actually happens. This character doesn’t change in the end, no big revelations just the simple act of giving up, going with the flow…I was inspired by this fellow in an odd way. He seemed to be someone I’ve painted again and again (albeit a younger, handsomer version). Nothing really happens to them, but there is still a sense of peril that’s just out of reach of the picture frame. These new works, while not directly inspired by Downstream, are the most forcibly melancholy grouping I’ve made in a good while. In one work, a young man reads the obituaries (as if it were People magazine) in a garden with a spoilt fountain. I imagined that this was something he did with regularity, his version of private time with the dead. Something is always just about to happen in these works: threats are lingering but not occurring, a ghost “orb” is just as banal in one painting as a threatening snake is in another. Neither might hurt you, but there is that chance… Hence the question mark in this show’s title: Boys in Peril?”
-Hernan Bas
Fredric Snitzer Gallery
2247 NW 1st Place
Miami, FL 33127
305.448.8976
www.snitzer.com
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