Marinaro is pleased to present Nine Door Room, a solo exhibition of new works by Johannes VanDerBeek.
For the exhibition, VanDerBeek presents nine sculptures, each resting on a pedestal, bringing the work face to face with the viewer. The works plays on the traditional sculptural bust, taking a tenet of art history and transforming it into a representation of psyches of contemporary life. Faces are cut in half, brought back together, dissected and expanded, examining the ideas of growth and being propelled to change. The works represent dualities and different sides of the self and the constant work required to get ones self aligned.
Through the sculptural imagery, the viewer is able to channel ideas both figuratively and literally. The sculptures themselves burst with shapes and forms that allude to the specific—from flowers to butterflies—and from these representations abstract ideas come to light. The metamorphosis of a butterfly mimics the psychological change in a human and the forms in the works convey undulating emotion and frenetic energy, pervasive concepts in the current state of the world.
This series of works extends from VanDerBeek’s most recent panels and in these sculptures, his drawing becomes dimensional, his lines, spatial. Formally, the works present elegant shapes and contours that run the gamut of references from primitive drawing to Easter Island heads to Chagallian compositions. The viewing of the works becomes a physical experience as one navigates and weaves between the sculptures interpreting their meaning, reading their symbolism and confronting their presence.
Johannes VanDerBeek (b. 1982, Baltimore, MD) graduated from Cooper Union in 2004. His work has been featured in High, Low & In Between at White Flag Projects in St. Louis, A Disagreeable Object at Sculpture Center, Long Island City, National Projects at PS1/MoMA, Amazement Park: Stan, Sara and Johannes VanDerBeek at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College, Personal Freedom, Portugal Arte 10 Biennial and Trapdoor, an exhibition organized by the Public Art Fundat MetroTech. VanDerBeek lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.