SHELTER SERRA – 'Array', London 

15 February – 13 March 2016

Coburn Projects is delighted to present ‘Array’, a solo exhibition of new works by American artist Shelter Serra. Best known for his thought-provoking recreation of iconic objects with a settled cultural status such as the Hermes Birkin bag or a pistol in cheap resin, a Camellia pearls necklace as hand-coloured gyclée print or a gasoline bottle in aluminium, this new body of work brings to waver objects and places in a different medium, painting.
 
Since ever, Shelter’s work is built on questions rather than based on ideas, transforming them into a wide range of materials and media from drawing and print to sculpture and video. By representing most recognizable products or moments in a neutralized and homogenous form, the artist urges the spectator to discover the absence in the presence and to reflect on the deeper cultural meaning of things and their social, economical or political challenge.
 
These new paintings quietly distill our current intermingling world of conflicts and progress. Although the subjects look familiar, they remain in semi tangible moments and with absence of any narration. They appear like memorized drafts from black and white film stills that keep us in a tension of feeling familiar with and distant to at the same time. There is no given place but we are placed in the confrontation of cultural relationships. As the artist states: These recent paintings reflect my interest in the relationships between nature, technology and self-identity. By re-presenting seemingly mundane objects and environments I hope to question the functionality of painting as a catalyst to progress pictorial history.
 
Born in 1972 in Bolinas (CA) and nephew of major minimalist artist Richard Serra, Shelter completed a BA in Studio Art from the University of California at Santa Cruz and an MFA in Painting & Printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at galleries including Mead Carney Gallery, Marlborough Gallery, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, and Renwick Gallery (New York). Serra currently works and lives in New York.

http://fashionunfiltered.com/culture/2016/the-shelter-serra-experience