FOR 8-31

JEFF BAILEY GALLERY SHOWS CHRIS GENTILE PHOTOGRAPHS

AK/LSB SET 8/22 #71001

NEW YORK CITY — “Chris Gentile: Photographs” will be on view at Jeff Bailey Gallery September 6–October 6.

Gentile’s photographs are presented as allegories of his studio practice with alchemical overtones. Lightning bolts, surfboards and lifeguard chairs are meticulously cast in small scale and mixed with a variety of functional studio objects, like plywood, sawhorses and a trashcan. The combination of his sculptures and studio ephemera suggest an inconclusive narrative, and imply the after effects of both creation and decay.

Gentile’s earlier photographs are images of sculptures, or sculptural scenarios, that he created in his studio. Disembodied from any specific context, scale and verisimilitude are questioned. Building upon his practice, his most recent photographs include the addition of basic studio objects and partial glimpses of the studio itself.

For Gentile, the process of making the photograph is as important as the photograph itself. The studio serves as the artist’s refuge, laboratory and cathedral: a unique place to both conceive and execute ideas. His combinations of the symbolically important and the obviously mundane allows Gentile to explore themes of hope and abandonment, and search for greater meaning in the mysterious alchemy of disparate objects grouped together.

Jeff Bailey Gallery is at 511 West 25th Street, No. 207. For information, 212-989-0156 or www.baileygallery.com.