For its participation in the first iteration of OVR: Miami Beach on the occasion of Art Basel Miami Beach 2020, Simon Lee Gallery is delighted to present new and existing works by artists from the gallery programme, including Mel Bochner, Werner Büttner, Dexter Dalwood, Jeff Elrod, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Rachel Howard, Yun Hyong-keun, France-Lise McGurn, Mai-Thu Perret, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Josephine Pryde, Jim Shaw, Gary Simmons, Garth Weiser and Clare Woods.
Highlights include a new painting by Gary Simmons, which continues the artist’s interrogation into the politics of race in the United States. In Counter Jockey, the composition centers around the cartoon character, Bosko, a racist caricature from early Looney Tunes animations.
Rachel Howard’s poignant Controlled Violence (the way we live now) examines religion, morality, and violence in a palette of deep, blood red, referencing acts of brutality planned and calmly executed. By contrast, Clare Woods’s The First Time seemingly presents a classic floral still life painting that nevertheless is concerned with themes of fragility and mortality. Equally, France-Lise McGurn’s Little Pets Get Big Baguettes invokes the common art historical trope of the bather, or woman at her toilette, bringing her into dialogue with artists from across the canon.
Werner Büttner makes his gallery debut with One of the Countless Nos of My Days (Eines der unzähligen Neins meiner Tage), a recent work that captures the artist’s dark and absurd sense of humor. Rounding out the presentation is a historic painting by Yun Hyong-keun from 1973, which offers a uniquely clear example of the artist’s use of ultramarine in his oeuvre.
