I first met the multitalented Danny Moynihan within the early Eighties, however I didn’t see him once more till lately. Throughout that point, he’s labored as a gallerist and an impartial curator, revealed a satirical novel concerning the artwork world (Boogie-Woogie, 2014) and a collection of his assortment of erotic pictures (Personal Assortment: A Historical past of Erotic Pictures, 1850–1940, 2014), written An Set up for Agongo, an opera, and exhibited his work in England and Los Angeles (which I used to be solely capable of see in copy). As a result of I felt strongly about his work once I noticed them within the Eighties, early in his profession, I used to be notably curious to see In Reward of Limestone at Nathalie Karg Gallery, his first solo exhibition in New York. I knew his work had modified, however I wasn’t certain how.
The exhibition’s title comes from considered one of W. H. Auden’s best poems. In a letter to his biographer, Edward Mendelson, Auden wrote of limestone “that rock creates the only human landscape.” I point out this as a result of Moynihan’s work, which start with direct commentary of various landscapes visited by Paul Cézanne, invite allegorical readings, however with a twist. The hidden which means of his photos, which meld human and nonhuman varieties with rocky landscapes, stays opaque. They’re invitingly impenetrable, whilst they fire up all types of associations, from mythological beginnings to rampant lust and greed.
Danny Moynihan, “Quarry” (2021–22), oil on canvas, 40 x 60 inches (101.6 x 152.4 cm)
Whereas the exhibition’s 10 work primarily depict rocky landscapes, every one has its personal character. Since one of many present’s underlying themes is the connection between a human physique and an detached panorama, discovering other ways to convey that alternate was considered one of Moynihan’s challenges, together with making every panorama particular and distinct from the others.
In “Quarry” (2021–22), which takes Cézanne’s depictions of Bibémus Quarry as a place to begin, dinosaur bones merge with massive tough stones, and collectively evoke the physique and flesh. It’s this ambiguity that held my consideration. Are we stones or buttocks? The tough areas can recommend scar tissue or wounds, including one other layer of which means to the work.
By reminding us that we reside on a planet that has been dwelling to innumerable different animals, a lot of that are lengthy extinct, Moynihan frames the current inside an expansive stretch of time. By imbuing among the stones with a fleshy presence that ranges from youthful to decaying, he provides one other a measure of time. The sky above the land that speaks to those two measures of time provides one more sense of time, underscoring our insignificant existence in an detached universe. I feel this understanding of time’s disdain for humankind and the myths we derive from the rocks and soil of the earth — whether or not they are often up to date and remodeled with out dropping their primal energy — are on the artist’s thoughts.
Danny Moynihan, “Gaia” (2021–22), oil on canvas, 40 x 60 inches (101.6 x 152.4 cm)
The contour of the mountain in “Gaia” (2021–22) resembles Paul Cézanne’s Mont Saint-Victoire, however Moynihan has remodeled it right into a volcano. An irregular row of enormous, different-sized, orb-like shapes protruding from the foot of the mountain is animated by the Cyclopean eyes that appear to stare again at us. They belong to creatures we can not see. What are we to make of them? And, equally essential, what do they make of us? The work attracts out a sense of mutual estrangement attributable to our incapacity to see the whole creature.
“Charge” (2021–24) is the one portray populated by energetic creatures, which resemble pigs. The 2 on the left facet of the work are licking and nuzzling what appears to be an unidentifiable milky white creature, just like the only one on the suitable. Behind them is a formation of porous limestone from which staring eyes might be seen. The juxtaposition of eyeless porcine figures and bodiless eyes, smooth flesh and porous rocks, suggests the alienation of thoughts and physique, rational considering and animal greed. Is lust an impulse that we will management? What can we do concerning the greed of the tremendous wealthy? How does their greed have an effect on us and the earth we share?
By starting with motifs impressed by Cézanne, is Moynihan charting how far now we have devolved because the single-minded French painter who walked for miles in pursuit of the right view of diffident nature? What does it imply to animate the stones with flesh and eyes? There are not any straightforward solutions to the questions that come up in these work.
Danny Moynihan, “Charge” (2021–24), oil and sand on canvas 65 x 90 inches (165.1 x 228.6 cm)
Danny Moynihan: In Reward of Limestone continues at Nathalie Karg Gallery (127 Elizabeth Avenue, Decrease East Aspect, Manhattan) by way of December 20. The exhibition was organized by the gallery.
