Adam Marnie
Phantom Limb
September 7 - October 5, 2013
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 7, 6-8pm
Derek Eller Gallery is pleased to present Phantom Limb, an exhibition of new work by Adam Marnie. The
exhibition will consist of a major architectural intervention in which he removes 24 inches of the lower part
of the gallery wall; three wooden cube sculptures; one site-specific wall-work; and eleven framed
photographs depicting a vase of flowers rendered in saturated, tenebrous hues. Whereas Marnie
previously intermixed mediums, he now separates the elements of his practice, bracing them against
each other to form unanticipated antagonisms and harmonies.
The architectural intervention returns the gallery to a state in its recent history that lies between
catastrophe and reconstruction, thus creating an environment of trauma and contemplation. In this
setting, the sculptures and photographs vie for control. In their rigid geometry, seriality, and spacial
theatricality, the sculptures draw on the language of Minimalism. The wall-work, a red color inkjet print
mounted on drywall panel in an elaborate lattice frame, is aggressively turned toward the wall in a
rejection of visibility. The three floor sculptures echo the reversed red wall-work with the same lattice
construction, but rather than being structurally integrated into the gallery’s architecture, they occupy a
space voided by the wall removal.
In contrast, the photographs inhabit a lush and maximal terrain. Leaning heavily on the history of vanitas,
they depict a vase of flowers in an ambiguous room over the course of five days. Intuitive and
expressionistic, the photographs are meditations on light, color, beauty, and decay. Despite the clash
between these three sets—the architectural intervention, sculptures, and photographs—and the resultant
specter of disorder, what predominates throughout is Marnie’s characteristic performance of restraint.
Adam Marnie was born in Minneapolis in 1977; he currently lives and works in New York. His work has
been seen in exhibitions at New York galleries including Andrea Rosen, Untitled, Higher Pictures, and
James Fuentes, as well as Dittrich & Schlechtriem, Berlin, and Night Gallery, Los Angeles. The Rose, a
collaborative book with poet Ed Steck, is being published by Hassla Books, and will be released this
October as part of High Desert Test Sites 2013. Phantom Limb is his second solo show with the gallery.
Derek Eller Gallery is located at 615 West 27th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues. Summer hours
are Tuesday - Saturday from 11am - 6pm. For further information or visuals, please contact the gallery at
212.206.6411 or visit www.derekeller.com