Films
Avery Singer at Frieze Los Angeles
‘I kind of see these works as being experiments. If I simply change the software and the application of airbrush, what would it produce?’—Avery Singer
Presenting five new paintings for her first presentation with Hauser & Wirth, Singer combines gesso paint with digital and manual techniques to create works on canvas. The works blur the lines between digital and analog, abstraction and figuration, historical and contemporary narratives. In these paintings, characters emerge through a remarkably complex layering of paint.
Installation view, 'Jordan' (2019) & 'Heir' (2020), Avery Singer at Hauser & Wirth Frieze Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 13 – 16 February 2020. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen
In these works, the artist has applied a satirical sensibility to examine traditional, romantic notions of the artist as a bohemian. Engaging stereotypes, Singer updates historical narratives to look at contemporary attitudes toward various subjects. In ‘Jordan’ (2019) and ‘Studio’ (2019), she references 19th-century European painting and the theme of the intoxicated painter as jumping-off points. The work is also strongly informed by her interest in color theory. The paintings on view in the presentation focus on the interplay between colors and a juxtaposition of black and white. The artist utilizes a palette of inky blacks, blues, and pinks that peek through sections of darker pigments, as in ‘Heir’ (2020). In this painting, Singer hybridizes abstraction and figuration through her layering of hues. – A solo exhibition of new paintings by Avery Singer is on view at Frieze Los Angeles 15 - 17 February, 2020.