After more than a decade of performance art, pranks and experimental media, Marc Horowitz has opened an exhibition that sees him turning his hand back to classical painting and sculpture. ‘THE HALL STUDIO’, showing at Paris’ Mannerheim Gallery until the 26th of November, is made up of works that transform traditional compositions reminiscent of 19th century American painting with intense, interrupting bursts of colour and figures that are transformed by abstraction.
One triptych presents the same scene on each canvas: a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat is standing in front of a shed, bursts of colour above his head. His face is a blue splodge, and from it emerges a long yellow beak (a motif that will be familiar to Horowitz’ followers). So there is a characteristic sense of humour in the works – more surreal than laugh out loud – but the scenes themselves have a real sense of melancholy about them. Their subjects are mainly these men: alone, struggling with nature and with no fixed identity.
Marc Horowitz is based in LA, where he practises painting, video, photography, and social experiment. His work combines traditional design, commercial photography and new media, and looks at popular entertainment, trade failure, and success.
