Elliott Hundley: Balcony

September 9 – October 23, 2021 509 West 27th Street, New York
  • Kasmin is pleased to present Balcony, the gallery’s first solo exhibition with Elliott Hundley (b. 1975), on view at 509 West 27th Street from September 9–October 23, 2021. Taking its inspiration from Jean Genet’s 1957 play, The Balcony, the exhibition consists of ten large scale panels as well as a suspended sculpture that together epitomize the artist’s distinctive mixed-media compositional style.
  • The gradual accumulation of imagery for an initially undetermined use is a critical element of the artist’s process. At his studio in Los Angeles, Hundley presides over a vast archive of two- and three-dimensional materials, categorized alphabetically and according to color or mood, and collated from books, magazines, and establishments in his local neighborhood.

    A cacophony of found images drawn from both 20th century and contemporary sources are brought together by Hundley in impressionistic and experimental panels that meld iconography from mid-century American urbanism with motifs drawn from classical and religious cultures. The artist’s own photography of family and friends appear among the fragments, costumed and posed as figures in relief, conjuring a drama that captures both the reality and fantasy of theater.

  • Elliott Hundley Bishop, 2021 oil stick, encaustic, paper, plastic, pins, photographs, fabric, foam and linen on panel 76 1/2 x... Elliott Hundley Bishop, 2021 oil stick, encaustic, paper, plastic, pins, photographs, fabric, foam and linen on panel 76 1/2 x... Elliott Hundley Bishop, 2021 oil stick, encaustic, paper, plastic, pins, photographs, fabric, foam and linen on panel 76 1/2 x... Elliott Hundley Bishop, 2021 oil stick, encaustic, paper, plastic, pins, photographs, fabric, foam and linen on panel 76 1/2 x...

    Elliott Hundley

    Bishop, 2021

    oil stick, encaustic, paper, plastic, pins, photographs, fabric, foam and linen on panel
    76 1/2 x 78 1/2 x 4 1/8 inches
    194.3 x 199.4 x 10.5 cm
  • These layers of meticulously compiled material and mixed-media elements are affixed using industrial fabric pins and interspersed with painterly interventions,...

    These layers of meticulously compiled material and mixed-media elements are affixed using industrial fabric pins and interspersed with painterly interventions, creating a melding of foreground and background amounting to a formal distortion. The effect is a boisterous tableau of signifiers that lend credence to the narrative complexities of the artist’s source text, with panels evoking theatrical backdrops, battle advancement maps, or montages of an eternal present. Hundley has described his work as “a contemporary iteration of gestural abstraction,” noting that, “painting is a stage on which I leave evidence of a performance.”

    Genet’s The Balcony is set among a brothel in an unnamed city experiencing revolutionary upheaval. As patrons cycle through what amounts to a safe haven amid the tension outside, they unassumingly reveal the myriad and complex ways in which power and desire are refracted through our assumptions of social or moral hierarchies. Hundley’s works, which are titled after key characters in the play—Queen, Madam, Thief, Bishop, General, Judge, Rebel, and Sinner—present an abstracted glimpse into its narrative and motifs of fantasy, illusion, and trickery. In Fall 2021, Hundley will unveil a new 40-ft mural as part of contemporary art triennial Prospect New Orleans that investigates the same text.

  • Elliott Hundley Chandelier, 2021 neon, metal, wood, plastic, pins, glass 70 x 82 x 70 inches 177.8 x 208.3 x... Elliott Hundley Chandelier, 2021 neon, metal, wood, plastic, pins, glass 70 x 82 x 70 inches 177.8 x 208.3 x... Elliott Hundley Chandelier, 2021 neon, metal, wood, plastic, pins, glass 70 x 82 x 70 inches 177.8 x 208.3 x... Elliott Hundley Chandelier, 2021 neon, metal, wood, plastic, pins, glass 70 x 82 x 70 inches 177.8 x 208.3 x...

    Elliott Hundley

    Chandelier, 2021

    neon, metal, wood, plastic, pins, glass
    70 x 82 x 70 inches
    177.8 x 208.3 x 177.8 cm
  • "Elliott Hundley’s works in the Balcony series show us afresh how our fantasies contain essential truths about the nature of power that governs our lives." —Anuradha Vikram
  • Elliott Hundley Madam, 2021 oil stick, encaustic, paper, plastic, pins, photographs, foam and linen on panel 76 1/2 x 78... Elliott Hundley Madam, 2021 oil stick, encaustic, paper, plastic, pins, photographs, foam and linen on panel 76 1/2 x 78... Elliott Hundley Madam, 2021 oil stick, encaustic, paper, plastic, pins, photographs, foam and linen on panel 76 1/2 x 78... Elliott Hundley Madam, 2021 oil stick, encaustic, paper, plastic, pins, photographs, foam and linen on panel 76 1/2 x 78... Elliott Hundley Madam, 2021 oil stick, encaustic, paper, plastic, pins, photographs, foam and linen on panel 76 1/2 x 78...

    Elliott Hundley

    Madam, 2021

    oil stick, encaustic, paper, plastic, pins, photographs, foam and linen on panel
    76 1/2 x 78 1/2 x 4 1/8 inches
    194.3 x 199.4 x 10.5 cm
  • In Balcony, Hundley marshalls the many interconnected aspects that constitute his practice in order to reimagine the presentation of assemblage...
    Photography © Max Knight.
    In Balcony, Hundley marshalls the many interconnected aspects that constitute his practice in order to reimagine the presentation of assemblage at a theatrical scale. Chandelier (2021), an example of the artist’s work in sculpture that utilizes found materials and neon, is suspended from the gallery ceiling. Spanning over six feet, the work acts as both a centerpiece of the exhibition and an allusion to the chandelier in Genet’s set design.

    This project continues the artist’s interest in literature and mythology which has previously informed projects such as his 2011 solo exhibition at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio, which travelled to the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, and took on the ancient Greek tragedy The Bacchae by Euripides as its subject matter. In 2006, the artist’s installation at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, referenced Greek figures Aphrodite, Medea, and Penelope, and 2016-17, Hundley presented solo exhibitions based on Antonin Artaud’s surrealist 1933 play There Is No More Firmament.
  • Works
    • Elliott Hundley, Chandelier, 2021
      Elliott Hundley, Chandelier, 2021
    • Elliott Hundley, Bishop, 2021
      Elliott Hundley, Bishop, 2021
    • Elliott Hundley, General, 2021
      Elliott Hundley, General, 2021
    • Elliott Hundley, Judge, 2021
      Elliott Hundley, Judge, 2021
    • Elliott Hundley, Madam, 2021
      Elliott Hundley, Madam, 2021
    • Elliott Hundley, Queen, 2021
      Elliott Hundley, Queen, 2021
    • Elliott Hundley, Rebel, 2021
      Elliott Hundley, Rebel, 2021
    • Elliott Hundley, Sinner, 2021
      Elliott Hundley, Sinner, 2021
    • Elliott Hundley, Thief, 2021
      Elliott Hundley, Thief, 2021
    • Elliott Hundley, 23.8.21.1, 2021
      Elliott Hundley, 23.8.21.1, 2021
    • Elliott Hundley, 21.8.21.1, 2021
      Elliott Hundley, 21.8.21.1, 2021
  • About the Artist

    Elliott Hundley
    Portrait by Max Knight.

    Elliott Hundley

    Elliott Hundley’s work is included in significant international public collections including The Broad, Los Angeles, CA; DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Turkey; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX; Pérez Art Museum Miami, FL; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.

    In 2019, Hundley inaugurated the exhibition series Open House at MOCA, Los Angeles, exploring how the visual and material logic of collage has informed artists in MOCA’s collection, as well as his own practice.

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