Henry Gunderson

The paintings in the exhibition take on a diagrammatic logic, composing seemingly arbitrary images into a functional harmony with one another. In one painting, The Venus of Tan-Tan floats above the bone from 2001: A Space Odyssey while in another an orthopedic walker poses with a pinecone and a pair of tennis balls. Similar to Fischli and Weiss' 1987 film The Way Things Go, the paintings reveal kinetic progressions that unravel through a sequential ordering and placement. Gunderson's paintings digress as the images don't simply chart the relationship between things, but display an antiseptic mania to achieve an unlikely order.

Gunderson's sculptures are generic and drab on their exteriors, reminiscent of nondescript industrial grade devices, designed without frills to fulfill an elusive purpose. Each object has a single job to do: they vibrate, clock hours, and pick up radio signals. In contrast to his paintings, the sculptures conceal their mechanics leaving the viewer with the facade of function without any invitation to reveal its inner workings.

Gunderson examines the imprint of physical and cultural devices embedded in popular culture and the social imagination. Although opposite in their approach, both paintings and sculptures lampoon automated production within the aestheticization of hysteria.

-Jamian Juliano-Villani

Two & Two is Gunderson’s first solo show with the gallery. Recent exhibitions include Synecdoche at Jessica Silverman SF, Makers Mark at Regina Rex NY, and Believe You Me at 247365 NY. He lives and works in Brooklyn New York.