Carroll Dunham

Concurrent with Frieze Los Angeles 2023, Carroll Dunham presents a new series of monotypes at Gladstone Gallery’s Los Angeles office.

Displaying a wide variety of mark-making techniques, these unique works form a continuation of the artist’s ongoing exploration of anthropomorphic green figures. Each composition featured a solitary figure, facing away from the viewer and encased in an angular box, gazing off into the cosmic abyss. Unlike many of Dunham’s works, these figures are caught in a state of stillness; the bodies are not wrestling, nor are they having sex, nor shrieking in pain or passion. Yet the pictures are far from tranquil – they teem with psychological energy. Untethered from the natural world, the characters hang suspended in chambers of human contemplation and propose new forms of interiority and subjecthood.

This series was produced in the studio at Two Palms where the artist has been making prints for over two decades. Through years of experimentation, Dunham has devised new techniques for making monotypes using watercolors and the extreme pressure of a hydraulic press. The resulting body of work has acted as an essential exercise in continually pushing the boundaries of his artistic practice and vision. The term monotype refers to a print created through the transfer of an image from one smooth surface to another. Since there is no reproducible matrix on the original plate, the image can only be transferred once, creating a unique work of art each time. Dunham highlights an essential component of his practice and singular approach to mark-making and depicting figures in space with this new series.