Andrew Erdos & John Drue S. Worrell

11 Newel Gallery is excited to present Work on a Spinning Rock, a two-person exhibition of sculptures by Andrew Erdos and John Drue S. Worrell.

Like estranged cousins reuniting under unusual circumstances, the works of these two artists share an eerie family resemblance when placed side by side. Balancing different approaches to craft and concept, they represent a survey in miniature of two distinct trends in contemporary sculpture that seamlessly combine medium specificity with the redefinition of medium as such.

Andrew Erdos lets process and material lead concept. All of his work follows a similar vein, using traditional glass blowing techniques, digital media, and mixed media to effectively alter his material (and one’s perception of this material) to emulate naturally occurring forms.

His sculptures of spindly fused glass covered in aluminum, otherworldly, primeval, and mineral, identify the coexistence of industrial and natural materials––or rather bring attention to the insincerity of the distinction between them. It is through his technique of layering molten metal over glass that this new series of sculptures conveys a meeting point between the geologic and human time scales in which artifacts of the human lose their distinctness from traces of the non-human. Erdos swirls the ancient, enduring silver of the moon around the inside of a glass vessel: a symbolic wedding of twin human universals, the lunar calendar and clay pot.

John Drue S. Worrell on the other hand uses concepts that dictate his approach to process. Combining a heady mixture of cartoon reference, art historical reference, and an unsettling use of space, Worrell accomplishes the technique of “architectural jumping” which he describes as a non-linear “swooping” of psychological structures made up of references and symbols, sometimes his own but often of a collectively nature. His installations can feel at once familiar and strange as common figures, fauna, and objects are transformed through a contextual refashioning. The darkly comedic nihilism of cartoon violence creeps through Worrell’s portrayal of the Big Bad Wolf, farm tools, and animals, producing a twisted and abstracted view of rural life in North America. As each character (say Mr. Burns from the Simpsons, Droopy the Dog as private investigator, or once again the Big Bad Wolf) is cast three-dimensionally in brass, plastic, or silicone, they depart from their origin in media and experience to become unnatural and uncanny. In short, Worrell gives tactility and form to a representation of what was only ever virtual.

Erdos and Worrell share in common a preoccupation with the uneasy relationship between what is familiar and what is strange about human/non-human interactions. Worrell recalls seeing how vultures were kept away from the smokestacks of the local powerplant in his hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana, by the suspended corpses of mock vultures. Where is the line between the human and non-human if the traces of both can be confused for one another?

Andrew Erdos (b. 1985) is an artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Trained in traditional glassblowing techniques since he was 15 years old, his practice often combines glassblowing, casting and mixed media sculpture. His work has been shown internationally at venues including: The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (Kansas City); The Orlando Art Museum; the Oklahoma City Museum of Art; The Corning Museum of Glass; The State Hermitage Museum; Deitch Projects (Art Parade); the Hunterdon Art Museum and The National Center for Contemporary Art Moscow.

John Drue S. Worrell (b. 1986 Terre Haute, IN) received his BFA in painting and art history from Herron School of Art (IN) and an MFA in sculpture from Yale University in 2018. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. His works have been shown at Meredith Rosen Gallery, NADA Art Fair / Gern en Regalia and Yale School of Art. John’s works are featured in both public and private collections in the United States and Europe.