TM Davy: Candela

TM DAVY Candela November 22, 2013 – January 5, 2014 | 11 Rivington St, NY

Eleven Rivington is pleased to present a series of new intimately scaled paintings by TM Davy on view at the gallery’s 11 Rivington Street location from November 22, 2013 – January 5, 2014.  The artist’s second exhibition at the gallery is titled Candela, referring to the candle flame central to each composition, a singular unit of luminous intensity radiating in a particular direction. This installation follows Davy’s recent exhibitions in Europe and the US, including a solo show at Exile, Berlin (2012); and his inclusion in The Temptation of AA Bronson at Witte de With, Rotterdam; Face & Skin at Thomas Fuchs, Stuttgart; and Work at Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York (all 2013).  A limited-edition handmade artist’s book accompanies this exhibition.

Candela is comprised of a focused series of 10 x 8 inch oil paintings which the artist began last year, following a group of figurative works that were presented as a solo show at LISTE, Basel in June 2012.  In these canvases, painted from observation, full figures were posed and defined by ambient candlelight.  The new works featured in this exhibition focus even further on this initial, simple idea: a single, lit candle defining the object, figure or space adjacent to it.  Each painting contains light and delineates the subject, proposing simple and poetic pictorial narratives. The candela becomes a phenomenological source, conceptually weighted by the spectral sensitivity of the human eyes.  The act of looking becomes the primary subject, with the artist suggesting an autobiographical chronicle based on the surfaces, colors, forms and details shown in each canvas, among them: domestic textiles, musical instruments, book pages, his husband Liam, their cat, flowers and foliage.  Each canvas becomes a measure of time and a record of the act of private contemplation.

TM Davy was born 1980 in New York, NY and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.  He was educated at The School of Visual Arts (BFA, 2002) where he currently also teaches.  In 2011-12, Sarah Michelson included commissioned portraits by TM Davy as part of her set, at performances at The Kitchen, NY (Devotion #1); The 2012 Whitney Biennial at The Whitney Museum of American Art, NY (Devotion #2); and The Museum of Modern Art, NY (Devotion #3).  Davy’s work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including Summer Camp at Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris (2012); B-Out, curated by Scott Hug at Andrew Edlin, New York (2011); Con Amore at Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark; No Soul for Sale, curated by Maurizio Cattelan and Cecilia Alemani, at Tate Modern, UK (2010) and X Initiative, New York (2009); and Nudes at Galeria Fortes Vilaca, Sao Paulo (2009.  Reviews and articles include The New York Times, Time Out New York, Out Magazine, and Village Voice, among others.