In Plain Sight

Press Release

CARLOS VEGA

In Plain Sight

Opening reception for the artist: Thursday, January 6, from 6 – 8 PM

Jack Shainman Gallery is pleased to announce In Plain Sight, a solo exhibition of new work by Carlos Vega. In this body, Vega explores his inability to identify and answer social and spiritual questions. He formulates his paradoxes without closure.

Using lead, collected objects, oil paint, stamps and printed material, Vega maps out a surreal and wondrous reality where social and metaphysical spaces are intertwined. Vega has adopted lead as a physical and conceptual support, playing with its malleable and mercurial nature. With each punctuation, the lead grows and swells and with every marking, the surface takes on a newly reflective position.

In Worn Out, Vega etches into the lead tantric-like reverberations of agitated water. Inlaid objects, such as shards of ceramic and smooth pebbles, convene. These pieces, discarded and forgotten, have undergone and continue to exhibit the passage of time. In The Oldest One Vega gives second life to used stamps, as an integrated collage element. Vega builds these stamps into a tree, a motif heavy with associations ranging from genealogy to metaphors of aging and growth, resulting in a surprisingly positive portrait of our world.

In more narrative works such as Nebula, Vega addresses moments where worlds collide. A captive audience remains oblivious to an explosion of energy over their heads. Vega has become interested in the failed ability to acknowledge the ubiquitous nature in which desire and beauty operates. Through this, Vega addresses and bridges worlds, both known and unseen.

Carlos Vega was born in Melilla, Spain and lives and works in New York City. Recent exhibitions include a solo show, Apocrofos, at the Instituto de América (Centro Damián Bayón), Granada, and group exhibitions including Chelsea visits Havana at the 9th Havana Biennial; De Granada a Gasteiz Un Viaje de Ida y Vuelta, the Fundacion Artium, Alava, Spain; and Black Panther Rank and File, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, traveling to Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC.

Upcoming exhibitions at the gallery include Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison, The Architect’s Brother, opening February 10, remaining on view until Saturday, March 12.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm. For additional information and photographic material please contact the gallery at info@jackshainman.com.